Tampa City Council-ground zero
November 20, 5:50 PM
Raquel Vallerand
http://www.examiner.com/x-30089-Tampa-Transgender-Issues-Examiner~y2009m11d20-Tampa-City-CouncilGround-ZeroI am sure most of Tampa Bay Examiner readers have already heard about this ongoing story and how the ordinance for the protection of Transgender individuals in Tampa was passed on November 19th, 2009.
What I wanted to write about; however, is the personal side of this story and my own experience attending this event. Event? Yes. For me, it was. I have never attended any type of political gathering before and had decided that it was time for me to be visible as a transgender individual. I have never hid it, but I was ready to be seen on a larger scale, so to speak. I called my good friend Nicolette who is also transgender to join me, and off we went! Nicolette felt it was also a good idea to bring her husband (a rather tall, strong and handsome looking man) in case it got ugly. We had no idea what to expect. In my head, I was envisioning picketers, police...you know, like a Lifetime movie.
