For the Colored Transgender Person Who Has Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Backfires
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b5b-vNhVdE
Hi, My name is Jonathan, and I use masculine gender pronouns like “he” or “him” to express my identity.
I have far too often taken for granted how easy it is and how privileged I am to be able freely express my gender without constant repression or ridicule. I think privilege has to be one of the most complicated themes of my life. I can be marginalized one day on the basis of my race and sexuality and on that very same day I can receive benefits on the basis of being a man and my gender expression. I am both routinely and simultaneously forced to recognize my privilege while coming to terms with my lack of privilege.
We have been of no assistance.
We, us who benefit from birthrights and silver spoons.
We have been loved “assiduously”
for centuries and still today
we reap the benefits of stolen lands
that were snatched from the
weathered hands that it belonged to,
to begin with.
We have been of no assistance,
to gender-queer individuals
who have 3 shades of makeup,
5 judgment glances,
and 11 thoughts of suicide per day
depending on if the weather
isn’t too cold outside to offer a warm smile.
They have carried burdens of acceptance for centuries
without any assistance of guidance from us,
and all we offer in the end is our cynical opinion.
“this note is attached to a plant
i’ve been waterin since the day i met you
you may water it your damn self”
I saw that Keith Boykins is coming out with a new book, and even though I would be considered apart of the constituency that the book is trying to reach, this blog is a reflection is what a book should really be written on. What happens when the LGBQ community itself is also “of no assistance” to a transgender community? What happens when gay rights, stop at gay rights? What happens when the rainbow backfires? I think Keith’s book is one that is needed, but I cannot help a kindling fear inside of me that is noticing a subgroup within a larger group being forgotten. Please, let’s be of some assistance.
I’d like very much to read this book but I think that the Trans community especially a female to male transgendered person gains privilege that a lesbian or gay person will not have. Their ability to pass within a dominate culture can sometimes corrupt and create a person who no longer wants to fall under the LGBTQ blanket and instead would rather be a “regular guy.” That mentality of course is what would make a lesbian feel a specific disconnect to a person who was born in a body that is degraded and oppressed by males to feel resentment. A lot of transgendered men forget who and what they grew from and decide instead to become apart of the dominant culture. Transmen like Chaz Bono and other brave individuals who speak openly about their transition and personal obstacles are the exception. But I think transpeople can provide that invaluable link to explain the shift of power in privilege that results from switching genders. A lot of FTM’s miss the major contributions they can make to feminism and patriarchy.
I’d like very much to read this book but I think that the Trans community especially a female to male transgendered person gains privilege that a lesbian or gay person will not have. Their ability to pass within a dominate culture can sometimes corrupt and create a person who no longer wants to fall under the LGBTQ blanket and instead would rather be a “regular guy.” That mentality of course is what would make a lesbian feel a specific disconnect to a person who was born in a body that is degraded and oppressed by males to feel resentment. A lot of transgendered men forget who and what they grew from and decide instead to become apart of the dominant culture. Transmen like Chaz Bono and other brave individuals who speak openly about their transition and personal obstacles are the exception. But I think transpeople can provide that invaluable link to explain the shift of power in privilege that results from switching genders. A lot of FTM’s miss the major contributions they can make to feminism and patriarchy.