Gwendolyn Ann Smith
Founder, Transgender Day of Remembrance; managing editor, genderfork.com
Inauguration 2013: A Transgender Call to Action
Posted: 01/23/2013 3:51 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gwendolyn-ann-smith/inauguration-2013-a-transgender-call-to-action_b_2531240.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gwendolyn-ann-smith/inauguration-2013-a-transgender-call-to-action_b_2531240.html)
It was with some pride that I listened to the words of President Barack Obama as he addressed the nation from the steps of the United States Capitol. He laid out a lot of the agenda for his next four years and called upon all of us to play an active part in shaping our country. In one of the more notable moments for me personally, he spoke of equality being a star that guides us, "just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall." He so deftly tied together the fight for LGBT rights with the women's rights movement and the struggle for civil rights for people of color. He then continued, saying, "Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law," and adding, "If we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal, as well."
As someone who has been in a same-sex relationship for decades, this was a great moment. Yet as a transgender woman, this also is a call for action.
The Stonewall riots were indeed a flashpoint in the struggle for gay rights in America. That one assault by police on a bar in Greenwich Village -- and the reaction to that assault -- ignited the movement in the late 1960s and early '70s. At the same time it is vitally important to view the history of the Stonewall rebellion much more closely and not let that fight be reduced to simply the right of gay and lesbian Americans to get married.
It is important to note that during the era of the Stonewall riots, LGBT Americans were largely still very much in the closet. The Stonewall Inn was a sort of haven, a brick-fronted, dark-windowed bar that people could sneak away to and socialize within. Such was our community. While much of its clientele were gay men and women who were forming relationships that should indeed be allowed to be truly called marriage, this was also the safe home of those who would today be called transgender.