Embracing Trans Diversity is not a Luxury
July 8th, 2009
By Monica F. Helms
http://www.monicahelms.com/blog/transgender/embracing-trans-diversity-is-not-a-luxury.htm (http://www.monicahelms.com/blog/transgender/embracing-trans-diversity-is-not-a-luxury.htm)
also http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2009/07/embracing-trans-diversity-is-not-luxury.html (http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2009/07/embracing-trans-diversity-is-not-luxury.html)
Over the 12 years of living my life as Monica, I have been privileged to learn many things about the TBLG community, but mostly about the trans community. The biggest lesson in my short life as a woman has been the diversity of our people. Trans individuals have covered every segment of human experience since the dawn of time. We span all races, all sexual orientations, all gender identities, all gender expressions, all social and economic levels, all job experiences, all education levels, all ages and all health issues. If every American trans person populated just one city in America, it would be the third largest city in the country and every job in the city would be covered.
When I moved to Atlanta in 2000, I received the most important part of my education on diversity, that of the African American community. Living in Phoenix most of my life, I received a big education on the Latino and Native cultures of our population, but not much on the African American culture. But, coming to Atlanta had been the biggest eye-opener for me in finding out about the rich history – and sometimes tragic history – of my African American brothers and sisters. Moving here has proven to be one of the best decisions in my life.