I wrote this for another site but wanted to copy it here as being trans had everything to do with my choice to work on the 2008 campaign.
I had already heard things I liked from candidate Obama in August 2007. I'm not given to appreciation of how politics is practiced in our nation and accordingly wasn't paying much attention to the 2004 democratic convention and so he hadn't been on my radar until the media started paying attention to his campaign in mid '07. The phrase "yes we can" spoke to me and when I heard he would speak on lgbt issues in the HRC/Logo forum I made sure to listen.
Mr Obama had me at the word "transgender" I identity as trans and my experience to that date was even in the LGB arena there was still grumbling about including a T at the end of that acronym. The portrayals of transgender people in the media were (and largely remain) one dimensional and tended to cast us as jokes at best and perverts at worst.
And here I saw a credible (if then still long shot) candidate for the arguably most powerful office in the modern world said the following:
Quote"There's a reason why I talk about gays and lesbians and transgender people in my stump speeches. I'm somebody who I think is willing to talk about these issues, even when it's hard, in front of black ministers."
Nothing spoke as clearly to me that this was a person of both courage and understanding to here that one word, not just the T tacked onto a four letter acronym for political correctness.
And I did something I haven't done since John Anderson ran as an independent against Ronald Reagan, I canvassed, heading to NH during the primary campaign. I gave money to
change.org and after Barack won the nomination, I gave to the DNC. I borrowed my partner's car and drove to Ohio to work 12-16 hour days for the campaign in Medina, bringing my 1980's bicycle to knock on more doors per hour than could be done on foot. I would return from a day of canvassing to send our numbers back to the campaign.
I was impressed with what a great job the campaign did of delivering technology to the people working on the ground, tabulating walking lists that were based on data coming back from the previous day's data entry. And finally, when GOTV was done and the polls had closed I hugged my fellow volunteers goodbye and left for home around 10pm. I listened to returns on the radio and pulled off the road shortly before midnight to hear Mr Obama projected to win the election sometime around midnight, I think I was 20 miles or so into PA.
Having caught a couple hours of sleep not far from Albany NY, I got back on the road and arrived at work around 8 AM, showered and changed and put in a regular day. I was laid off from that job 3 months later in anticipation of the worsening recession. A few months later I was back to working at my university first doing volunteer work and eventually finding a great job in sponsored research.
In the years since I've shared this president's successes and trials. I helped the campaign again in 2012, making phone calls from Boston. It's been a great 8 years and I'm proud to have been a part of it. In Ohio I worked canvassing the day that Barack spoke in nearby Cleveland. To this day I haven't see our president in person and I don't regret missing that opportunity. As President Obama returns to private life, I may just seek out an opportunity to see the man who's done so much for our country in person.
Together we have made real change, we've inspired hope, we've accomplished a lot and there's plenty left to do. The campaign's rallying cry will forever be a part of me, I'm still ---
Fired up! Ready to go!
