Transgender Day of Remembrance 2011: The War Wages On
Posted: 11/18/11 06:27 AM ET
Laverne Cox
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laverne-cox/tdor-2011-the-war-wages-o_b_1098777.htmlThe function of violence in this world, I believe, is to attempt to put people "in their places." I learned at an early age that violence toward me would be a potential consequence of me daring to step out of place, and I never knew my place when it came to gender. Though they said I was a boy when I was born, I never acted the way boys were allegedly supposed to. Those kids who chased me home from school every day during my elementary and junior high school years were trying to put me in my place. "They beat the girl out of my boy... or so they tried," to quote the transgender addition to Eve Ensler's iconic play "The Vagina Monologues." I was often threatened and called a sissy, a ->-bleeped-<-got. (Often when trans folks are verbally assaulted, homophobic slurs are used.) I was a fast runner as a kid, but sometimes the bullies caught me. I remember one such time being held down, kicked and hit before I finally got away. I knew that even though I didn't want to fight back, I was in a fight, whether I liked it or not.
