Manning writes: "I worry that, with full marriage equality, much of the
queer community will be left wondering how else to engage with a society
that still wants to define who we are - and who in our community will be
left to push for full equality for all transgender and queer people, now
that this one fight has been won."
Same-sex marriage supporters rejoice after the US supreme court handed down
a ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. (photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Same-Sex Marriage Isn't Equality for All LGBT People. Our Movement Can't End
By Chelsea Manning, Guardian UK
28 June 15
Who in our community will be left to push for full equality for all
transgender and queer people, now that this one fight has been won?
It wasn't that long ago - 4 November 2008 - that the US had an election that
galvanized a generation of activists to change policies in this country that
would have enshrined into law the continued marginalization of a large group
of people. I'm not talking about who was elected president, or which
political party took the most seats in Congress: rather, a ballot initiative
in the state of California, called Proposition 8, passed by a four-point
margin that night and successfully amended the state's constitution by
adding language that defined marriage as being between "one man and one
woman".
Now, not fully eight years later, the US supreme court ruled in favor of
full marriage equality across America. And while on that night back in 2008,
as I considered the long term consequences of California's newly enshrined
discrimination against same-sex couples - including the possibility that the
thousands of couples who married in the months prior might have effectively
been "divorced" by a voting majority of their neighbors, coworkers and
families - I felt faint and ran to the bathroom to throw up, today I am
happy for that part of my LGBT community which has gained a well-deserved
measure of equality.
But I worry that, with full marriage equality, much of the queer community
will be left wondering how else to engage with a society that still wants to
define who we are - and who in our community will be left to push for full
equality for all transgender and queer people, now that this one fight has
been won. I fear that our precious movements for social justice and all the
remarkable advancements we have made are now vulnerable to being taken over
by monied people and institutions, and that those of us for whom same-sex
marriage rights brings no equality will be slowly erased from our movement
and our history.
The unexpected shock of a marriage equality loss in California in 2008 - a
state that I, like many others, ignorantly deemed "too liberal" to actually
pass such a measure - brought millions of people together to focus on
marriage equality - crystallizing a previously fractured LGBT rights
movement that had seemed to have lost its way politically. The purpose of
the movement was to educate and promote the equality of all people.
Transgender folks have been part of the push for LGBT equality from the
beginning, and we've spoken with loud and intelligent voices, and have found
political and personal success and advancement all over the world. We fought
police discrimination during the riots of Compton Cafeteria in San Francisco
in 1966, the Stonewall Inn in 1963 and the White Night in San Francisco in
1979. We have been inspired by leaders from Sylvia Rivera and Miss Major,
and from Janet Mock to Laverne Cox. We have created political organizations
for ourselves, like the Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (Star)
to Sylvia Rivera Law Project and Black & Pink.
But despite our successes and our participation in the struggle for LGBT
equality, there are still queer and trans folks who struggle every single
day for the right to define themselves, to access gender-appropriate
healthcare and to live without harassment by other people, the police or the
government. Many queer and trans people live - and lived - in our prison and
jails, in our homeless shelters, in run-down houses and apartment buildings,
and on the corners of every major city. Marriage equality doesn't help them;
and the potential loss of momentum for trans/queer rights after this win
could well hurt them.
I had the extraordinary honor to come out a trans woman on 22 August 2013,
the day after a military judge sentenced me to 35 years in prison. Though
not present myself, my attorney at the time, David Coombs - without giving
the Today show staff any notice until several minutes beforehand - read a
statement from me in which I asked that they announce to the world that I am
a trans woman, refer to me with female pronouns and use my name, Chelsea. I
also announced my intent to seek gender-confirming healthcare treatment
while in prison.
For me, this was an incredibly empowering moment: nobody can control or
define our identities unless we let them, and so I chose to come out and to
define myself - nothing more. In the two years since, I am always awestruck
and inspired by the queer and trans kids out there all over the world who
reach out to me and send letters from very real places like Noblesville,
Indiana, Arklow, Ireland and Abeokuta, Nigeria.
We do have to, as a movement, give hope to these kids, and especially young
trans youth like Leelah Alcorn, who committed suicide last year after
leaving a devastating indictment of the world that she experienced, or Islan
Nettles, who was murdered on the streets of New York in 2013. It's hope that
my younger self, who, like many trans/queer kids, struggled to survive while
living homeless in Chicago in 2006, could've used.
We need to send a powerful message to the world in a unified voice: that we
can fight for social justice for everyone, everywhere and change the world,
not just get married. We can continue to build our communities and address
the root causes of queer and trans poverty and deaths. We can work to get
queer and trans people out of the prisons and jails and off the streets, and
to improve our access to housing, education, employment and
gender-confirming healthcare.
As Harvey Milk - the first openly gay politician in America who was
assassinated in 1978 - said after getting letters from kid: "We gotta give
'em hope."We can do all of these things, but only if today is just the first
of many victories for LGBT rights. My name is Chelsea Manning, I am trans
woman and I am here to recruit you to the next stage in the equality
movement. Join me.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Same-sex marriage supporters rejoice after the US supreme court handed down
a ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. (photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/26/same-sex-marriage-equal
ity-all-lgbt-people-our-movement-chelsea-manninghttp://www.theguardian.com/c
ommentisfree/2015/jun/26/same-sex-marriage-equality-all-lgbt-people-our-move
ment-chelsea-manning
Same-Sex Marriage Isn't Equality for All LGBT People. Our Movement Can't End
By Chelsea Manning, Guardian UK
28 June 15
Who in our community will be left to push for full equality for all
transgender and queer people, now that this one fight has been won?
t wasn't that long ago - 4 November 2008 - that the US had an election that
galvanized a generation of activists to change policies in this country that
would have enshrined into law the continued marginalization of a large group
of people. I'm not talking about who was elected president, or which
political party took the most seats in Congress: rather, a ballot initiative
in the state of California, called Proposition 8, passed by a four-point
margin that night and successfully amended the state's constitution by
adding language that defined marriage as being between "one man and one
woman".
Now, not fully eight years later, the US supreme court ruled in favor of
full marriage equality across America. And while on that night back in 2008,
as I considered the long term consequences of California's newly enshrined
discrimination against same-sex couples - including the possibility that the
thousands of couples who married in the months prior might have effectively
been "divorced" by a voting majority of their neighbors, coworkers and
families - I felt faint and ran to the bathroom to throw up, today I am
happy for that part of my LGBT community which has gained a well-deserved
measure of equality.
But I worry that, with full marriage equality, much of the queer community
will be left wondering how else to engage with a society that still wants to
define who we are - and who in our community will be left to push for full
equality for all transgender and queer people, now that this one fight has
been won. I fear that our precious movements for social justice and all the
remarkable advancements we have made are now vulnerable to being taken over
by monied people and institutions, and that those of us for whom same-sex
marriage rights brings no equality will be slowly erased from our movement
and our history.
The unexpected shock of a marriage equality loss in California in 2008 - a
state that I, like many others, ignorantly deemed "too liberal" to actually
pass such a measure - brought millions of people together to focus on
marriage equality - crystallizing a previously fractured LGBT rights
movement that had seemed to have lost its way politically. The purpose of
the movement was to educate and promote the equality of all people.
Transgender folks have been part of the push for LGBT equality from the
beginning, and we've spoken with loud and intelligent voices, and have found
political and personal success and advancement all over the world. We fought
police discrimination during the riots of Compton Cafeteria in San Francisco
in 1966, the Stonewall Inn in 1963 and the White Night in San Francisco in
1979. We have been inspired by leaders from Sylvia Rivera and Miss Major,
and from Janet Mock to Laverne Cox. We have created political organizations
for ourselves, like the Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (Star)
to Sylvia Rivera Law Project and Black & Pink.
But despite our successes and our participation in the struggle for LGBT
equality, there are still queer and trans folks who struggle every single
day for the right to define themselves, to access gender-appropriate
healthcare and to live without harassment by other people, the police or the
government. Many queer and trans people live - and lived - in our prison and
jails, in our homeless shelters, in run-down houses and apartment buildings,
and on the corners of every major city. Marriage equality doesn't help them;
and the potential loss of momentum for trans/queer rights after this win
could well hurt them.
I had the extraordinary honor to come out a trans woman on 22 August 2013,
the day after a military judge sentenced me to 35 years in prison. Though
not present myself, my attorney at the time, David Coombs - without giving
the Today show staff any notice until several minutes beforehand - read a
statement from me in which I asked that they announce to the world that I am
a trans woman, refer to me with female pronouns and use my name, Chelsea. I
also announced my intent to seek gender-confirming healthcare treatment
while in prison.
For me, this was an incredibly empowering moment: nobody can control or
define our identities unless we let them, and so I chose to come out and to
define myself - nothing more. In the two years since, I am always awestruck
and inspired by the queer and trans kids out there all over the world who
reach out to me and send letters from very real places like Noblesville,
Indiana, Arklow, Ireland and Abeokuta, Nigeria.
We do have to, as a movement, give hope to these kids, and especially young
trans youth like Leelah Alcorn, who committed suicide last year after
leaving a devastating indictment of the world that she experienced, or Islan
Nettles, who was murdered on the streets of New York in 2013. It's hope that
my younger self, who, like many trans/queer kids, struggled to survive while
living homeless in Chicago in 2006, could've used.
We need to send a powerful message to the world in a unified voice: that we
can fight for social justice for everyone, everywhere and change the world,
not just get married. We can continue to build our communities and address
the root causes of queer and trans poverty and deaths. We can work to get
queer and trans people out of the prisons and jails and off the streets, and
to improve our access to housing, education, employment and
gender-confirming healthcare.
As Harvey Milk - the first openly gay politician in America who was
assassinated in 1978 - said after getting letters from kid: "We gotta give
'em hope."We can do all of these things, but only if today is just the first
of many victories for LGBT rights. My name is Chelsea Manning, I am trans
woman and I am here to recruit you to the next stage in the equality
movement. Join me.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
