Seven.

Ciara McElveen. Chyna Doll. Mesha Caldwell. Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow. Jojo Striker. Jaquarrius Holland. Keke Collier. 

At least 7 transgender women have been murdered so far in 2017. 

 Their names need to be known. But this goes beyond a hashtag. This goes beyond cries of anger and sadness on Twitter. This is a wave of hatred and fear spreading across the United States. 

 We know that we most often fear what we don't understand. We must create a society where everything tries to understand. I don't think anyone is asking for the 60+ year old's in the retirement community to suddenly have a clear understanding of all the progression we've made regarding sexual orientation and gender. But we can sure as hell ask them to try. 

 We can ask everyone to feel compassion. 
We can ask everyone to feel empathy.
We can ask everyone to feel open to new concepts and ideas. 

 The future of the trans community depends on it. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Gloves Are Off: The New York Times Comes Out Swinging

Image
For the first time since 2010, The New York Times ran a television commercial during tonight's broadcast of the Oscars.  The New York Times is a popular subject of Trump's Twitter feed. Constantly being criticized for 'failing' and reporting 'fake news.'  The video ended with bold, black letters on the screen that read "The truth is more important now than ever." This takes me back to Media Law with professor Hanebutt. His ramblings about Denny's coffee during law school and countless stories about previous students have gotten lost since then, but five words will always stick with me from his class. "Seek truth and report it." We cannot be driven to a society where the only news we receive comes from President Trump's Twitter feed. We, as a nation, demand truth. We need publications - such as The New York Times - to report that truth. I applaud this ad. I applaud the messaging. I applaud The Times.
Read more

Justin Timberlake: From my Schoolgirl Crush to 20-Something Year Old Crush

Image
"If you are black or you are brown or you are gay or you are lesbian or you are trans, or maybe you're just a sissy singing boy from Tennessee, anyone who is treating you unkindly, it's only because they are afraid or they have been taught to be afraid of how important you are. Because being different means you make the difference, so fuck 'em." Justin Timberlake gave a heartwarming inclusion speech while accepting the Song of the Year award for 'Can't Stop the Feeling' at the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards. My heart absolutely melted. Like it usually does when Justin Timberlake does... basically anything. This was such an inspiring message JT delivered to the iHeartRadio audience on Sunday. He picked a huge platform to share his message and it has millions of RT's on Twitter to share with the world.  He is embracing being different. Though he isn't much different himself, being a straight white boy from Tennessee, it is inspiring t...
Read more

What It Took To Get Bill O'Reilly Fired

Let's be clear. It was not because of the investigation into the accusations of misconduct at the office. He was fired because we weren't supposed to find out about his behavior. He was fired because Fox was losing advertisers. He was fired because they had no choice. He was not fired for his behavior or attitude towards women.  I heard someone say that this sort of redeems Fox News for them. I overheard a conversation that this brings some credibility back to the news station. And I was just sitting there boiling as hot as my red hair and screaming in my head. But apparently it is frowned upon to scream at strangers, so I refrained. They will continue to treat women the same. By they, I mean any man of power at Fox News that knows rape culture will protect him. It marks the end of an era, and the introduction to a brighter one (hopefully) (I'm not holding my breath).
Read more