Zichrono Livracha: Today We Remember Transgender Lives, Blessed Memories 20Nov2008 Filed under:
JVoices,
Transgender Author:
S. Isaac Dowd http://jvoices.com/2008/11/20/zichrono-livracha-today-we-remember-transgender-lives-blessed-memories/ (Photo of S. Isaac Dowds)
I chose the name "Isaac" as my legal name because it means "laughter," and because I relate to Isaac's story. It is what I do in times of adversity, a trait I inherited from my father. No matter how dire the circumstances, when the going gets tough, I laugh. A lot.
November 20th,
Transgender Day of Remembrance, is not a day I observe out of mere obligation. It is necessary to my very existence to commemorate the ones who might not be as lucky as me. Any who know me would find this amusing. I am a 26-year-old, Jew by choice, transman who came out and began physically transitioning in the wondrous state of Kansas, well-known both for its Jewish-friendly ways and its overwhelmingly liberal acceptance of people outside of the binary gender system. I say this, tongue in cheek, because I have been outrageously lucky. I go to a small Catholic liberal arts university where the Order the sisters belong to is liberal, (The Vatican finds their Pro-Queer-Catholic support annoying) and the faculty consists largely of Unitarian Universalists, Episcopalians and the odd liberal Mormon.
