Transgender students asked Betsy DeVos for help. Here's what happened.

[Zoe_Kay]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/18/transgender-students-betsy-devos-trump-education-department-743162

Wow..

by Caitlin Emma/  Politico

[Gertrude]

I guess the lessons of Brown vs the board of education of Topeka Kansas is lost on folks in certain parts of the country and political parties. They must love Plessy vs Ferguson.


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[Zoe_Kay]

You are right, and they want to take up back 60+ years.  Ask me again why I live abroad!

[Shams_Ibtisam]

I am completely amazed by the retrogressiveness of this administration. My heart goes out to
all transgender students who have to deal with substandard treatment. This is a civil rights struggle.
To me, I think it's a total reversal and it's up to each of us to support. I think the only way to go is
basically do what the real civil rights leaders have done like Malcom X and Martin Luther King, Jr.

How is it that this inequality and injustice is allowed? The conservative dialogue going on right now about
this is so deceptive. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Now it's you're guilty transgender,
can't use the bathroom?

[KathyLauren]

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[Lucca]

I think the only way to go is
basically do what the real civil rights leaders have done like Malcom X and Martin Luther King, Jr.

You know, here's something I've wondered before; why are there seemingly no super-famous activists for the minority groups that are receiving the most attention today? We all know about people like Martin Luther King Jr. or Susan B. Anthony, but I can't think of a similar figure for trans people, gay people, Arabs, or Muslims, either currently or in the past. I'm sure they exist, but they certainly aren't household names.

[itsApril]

We all know about people like Martin Luther King Jr. or Susan B. Anthony, but I can't think of a similar figure for trans people, gay people, Arabs, or Muslims, either currently or in the past. I'm sure they exist, but they certainly aren't household names.

Those modern-day leaders and activists ARE out there.  It's just that we have a hard time recognizing them.  Leaders like Anthony and King are now revered figures in history - but ONLY IN RETROSPECT.  During their careers they were hated and vilified as troublemakers.

Susan B. Anthony was defamed as an enemy of morality and the family.  She was mocked and criticized relentlessly by politicians and the press.  She was arrested and prosecuted in 1872 for daring to vote in an election.  She was convicted at trial by an all-male jury - women weren't allowed to serve on juries, just like they weren't allowed to vote.

Martin Luther King was denounced from coast to coast as a racial agitator.  FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover considered him a Communist and directed a campaign of surveillance and harassment against him.  King was arrested and jailed numerous times and, of course, was ultimately assassinated.

Only in retrospect were Americans able to recognize Anthony and King as heroes who made the country a better and more just place.

So if we're looking for modern leaders and activists who will be recognized as the Susan B. Anthonys and Martin Luther Kings of the future . . . we can expect to find them among those who are currently numbered among the agitators and troublemakers.

[Lucca]

That's true, but I'm talking more about fame than I am about public perception. I can't think of one individual transgender activist who is as well-known as Martin Luther King Jr. was and is.

[Linde]

The reason for this is that the community is infighting, and many leaders stay in the closet because they feel it is to critical to come out in order not to loose their job or social standing/

ML King could not hide that he was black, but nobody knows who is LGBTQ if we do not tell them!

I was  heavily involved in liberal leaning politics (I ran for office), and even with our pretty clear goals we had a lot of infighting.  Liberals and left leaning people tend to be very much individuals who do not want to put into a certain box!

They prefer to remain individuals.  And this preference makes it hard to get all of us onto the same band wagon!

[Sarah1979]

That's true, but I'm talking more about fame than I am about public perception. I can't think of one individual transgender activist who is as well-known as Martin Luther King Jr. was and is.

The closest I can think of is Laverne Cox, and she's not that big of an activist, she speaks out some, which is nice, but she's not the loud voice for trans rights that she could be considering her public profile.

Sarah