Laverne Cox on cover of TIME

[BunnyBee]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mylestanzer/laverne-cox-is-on-the-cover-of-time-magazine

Kind of a big deal, and after they snubbed her for the TIME's 100.  The tagline calls us the next civil rights frontier, and i have been hearing from progressives for a while that with the great strides being made on gay rights, trans people are really the next issue to be focused on.  And you can just feel it building can't you?

They don't turn the hoses on you till you start asking for more rights, so I'm a little nervous about that, but these struggles always lead to better lives for everybody, so whatever happens, I am ready for it.

[PoeticHeart]

First of all, a big yes about Laverne Cox being on TIME.

[/quote]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mylestanzer/laverne-cox-is-on-the-cover-of-time-magazine
They don't turn the hoses on you till you start asking for more rights, so I'm a little nervous about that, but these struggles always lead to better lives for everybody, so whatever happens, I am ready for it.

Somebody has to have the fight. If no one ever did, nothing would change.

[Hikari]

I think it is great, but I do have a worry about it. The big worry is that the trans rights we have now, that is the ability in most states to change documents and such seemed to be reasonably nonpartisan, but it is clear to me that the second this gets pushed in a national conversation now, it is going to politicize being trans because everything is partisan now. The part that worries me about this is people who before might have been indifferent are going to be very anti-trans once your fox news types starts saying crazy things like "Transgenders aren't real, they just want attention" and such, and that sort of dehumanizing may well create even more chances for violence against us.

I am very happy that we are getting a light shown on our issues, but it worries me that the process of moving forward is going to be messy with a certain amount of backlash is the point I am trying to make.

[Ltl89]

I think it is great, but I do have a worry about it. The big worry is that the trans rights we have now, that is the ability in most states to change documents and such seemed to be reasonably nonpartisan, but it is clear to me that the second this gets pushed in a national conversation now, it is going to politicize being trans because everything is partisan now. The part that worries me about this is people who before might have been indifferent are going to be very anti-trans once your fox news types starts saying crazy things like "Transgenders aren't real, they just want attention" and such, and that sort of dehumanizing may well create even more chances for violence against us.

I am very happy that we are getting a light shown on our issues, but it worries me that the process of moving forward is going to be messy with a certain amount of backlash is the point I am trying to make.

I think that's inevitable though.  There are always going to be vocal people that are against us.  That doesn't mean that education and spreading the issue will do more harm than good.  Remember, those same regressive voices were around during pretty much every single "rights" struggle.  I'm just not sure if time is on our side yet.

[JennX]

Wow... and interesting.

"Trans... the final frontier" [in William Shattner voice] 

[HoneyStrums]

The final frontier, Id like to think so.

[FTMDiaries]

I am very happy that we are getting a light shown on our issues, but it worries me that the process of moving forward is going to be messy with a certain amount of backlash is the point I am trying to make.

Perhaps. But as Gandhi said: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win".

So we have to go through that messy process in order to win. But history shows us that we will win.

[suzifrommd]

The big worry is that the trans rights we have now, that is the ability in most states to change documents and such seemed to be reasonably nonpartisan, but it is clear to me that the second this gets pushed in a national conversation now, it is going to politicize being trans because everything is partisan now. The part that worries me about this is people who before might have been indifferent are going to be very anti-trans once your fox news types starts saying crazy things like "Transgenders aren't real, they just want attention" and such, and that sort of dehumanizing may well create even more chances for violence against us.

Hikari, I think a conversation about this would be a really, really good thing. Our biggest enemy is lack of understanding. People don't understand why we do this or what it's like to live like we do. People who don't like us, usually do so out of ignorance. When they finally get it, they're very often supportive. A national conversation is a great chance to change the general level of literacy on trans issues.

[Androgynous_Machine]

Get a paragraph on a 100 list or get an entire issue devoted for you.


I'll take the latter hands down.  I'm actually damn proud of Time Magazine and I'm a libertarian.  Not only did they have the cord to put a transwoman on their cover, but a African-American transwoman.  Talk about crushing the glass ceiling.

-AM

[BunnyBee]

Not only did they have the cord to put a transwoman on their cover, but a African-American transwoman.

This is also actually a big deal

[Androgynous_Machine]

This is also actually a big deal

Exactly right.

It doesn't get much more "minority" than African-American transwoman.


This is my own opinion and I can't say I can back it up but, I think mtf is dominated by first Asians, non-Hispanic Whites, Hispanics, and then African-Americans.

Not to mention African-American's overall view of transwomen.

This took a lot of guts on the part of Time Magazine.  As they say in the Navy: Bravo Zulu.

-AM

[aleon515]

Politicization is inevitable, imo. You start talking trans people and bathrooms and invariable there are already far right wing fundamentalist types talking about men  parading around in the women's bathrooms and men going into women's rooms in drag. (I think this has never happened but they won't allow facts to interfere with their current paranoias.) In lots of civil rights battles it's always, at some level, about someone getting "our women" and so on. I'm happy to see a proud transwoman of color on the cover of Time. (On FB, there was a picture of Ellen DeGeneres on the cover of Time in 1997. Interesting.)

--Jay

[BunnyBee]

In lots of civil rights battles it's always, at some level, about someone getting "our women" and so on.

Very astute observation.  It's such a common manipulation tactic, and it's so subtle almost nobody realizes it's happening when it does.  Which is why it can be so effective.