Existence

[Shana A]

Existence
   
Transmissions
Published 03/25/2010
by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

http://www.ebar.com/columns/column.php?sec=transmissions&article=133

One key thing about being a transgender person today is simply being able to exist. Taken to its most extreme, this refers to those who murder us, who attempt to erase us from the earth in over the top acts of violence.

Yet violence and murder are not the only way to erase our existence. Transgender people have, for decades, had to deal with our non-existence in the great world at large. We were kept out of "polite society," and relegated to talk shows and tabloids. By and large, we still are.