Hallway to Nowhere

Tag: North Carolina

  • Hope And Despair As A Trans Person

    Hope And Despair As A Trans Person

    Over the past week, I’ve been visited by outrage over the continuing rollback of LGBTQ rights by Trump (#notmypresident) & Co. There were Trump’s obnoxious and factually incorrect tweets about not allowing trans people to serve in military, though the armed forces are not yet reversing their policies. The Justice Department headed by Sessions is arguing that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not cover discrimination based on sexual orientation. And in a further slap in the face to us Trump appointed Sam Brownback, known for his vociferous anti-LGBTQ views, as his religious ambassador. (In case you’re wondering, the religion that Brownback is representing is Christianity. Like we really need that. Snort.) Texas joins NC in stating that trans individuals who are government employees or attending public school must use the bathroom which corresponds to the gender stated on their birth certificate. (So should you be visiting Texas, make sure you have both proof of citizenship and your birth certificate on hand!)

    BUT…I found a glimmer of hope in a very unexpected place: An acquaintance of mine who is a confirmed Trump supporter evinced great disgust at the administration’s positions on LGBTQ rights and Trump’s anti-trans tweets in particular. You could have knocked me over with a feather when he told me this! Of everyone I know, I would have never considered that HE would prove an ally! He said that the violence against LGBTQ individuals that he reads about makes him sick and that we should have the same rights and protections as everyone else. Wow. This coming from a member of Trump’s base is extremely heartening.

    I am probably the only queer trans person he knows. But I have been very outspoken about being queer and trans (and progressive and atheist) as part of my one-person consciousness-raising program. One of my doctors told me that he has fears for my safety b/c of this, in fact. Perhaps it’s actually having an effect? I do this b/c I want the people I know to have a face when they hear about LGBTQ issues. That makes it much harder for them to demonize us, imho. If someone they know and like is queer, then perhaps they’ll think twice before endorsing heinous policies regarding us. They’ll remember that these do not only affect nameless strangers but are meant for someone who has helped them with their groceries, paid their  bus fare, inquired about their health, etc. So being visible is important to me. The more people see that we are their neighbors, friends, and family members, the more they will realize that we are people and citizens not unlike themselves. This is what I hope.

  • Hitler Comes To North Carolina

    Hitler Comes To North Carolina

    First the state has the notorious HB2 bill that causes it to lose business and engenders bad press, rightly so. It then elects a new Democratic governor but he has almost no power to do anything. Then the HB2 bill is rescinded, sorta, kinda, in a compromise that is designed to bring business back but not to REALLY give legal protection to NC’c LGBTQ population. And now there is a bill being proposed again to ban gay marriage, something that has been settled as the law of the land by the Obergefell decision in the U. S. Supreme Court. Just to add insult to injury, the representative who is sponsoring it, compares Lincoln to HITLER. He is Representative Larry Pittman, and he did this publically on Facebook.

    I want to discuss this. The Hitler reference, coming as it did after Sean Spicer’s egregious Hitler reference, shows boneheaded stupidity. Spicer had ALREADY made an ass of himself by an inaccurate statement about Hitler DURING PESACH and his clumsy apology compounded it. For another lawmaker to go and then use Hitler as a referent still during Pesach is astoundingly idiodic. Had he not read the national news? There are many many reasons that Hitler and Lincoln are not equivalent, such that I believe them self-evident if you are a rational human being and not a Southern Republican North Carolinian. I won’t enumerate them here. But just for reasons of common sense,  THINK! It’s PASSOVER!!! You don’t go making HITLER references during a MAJOR JEWISH HOLIDAY!!! Get a clue!!! This is offensive!!! And I know that you have Jewish consituents! We do live in NC, too! And WE VOTE!  (For all you reading out, I’m Jewish, btw. Atheist, yes. But Jewish, nonetheless. Just not observant.) So for all the Sean Spicers and the Larry Pittmans out there, stop with the Hitler stuff! Oy gevalt iz mir!

  • Rigged Elections?

    I want to comment about Trump’s paranoiac remark that upcoming election could very well be rigged. He is clearly setting the stage for a voter revolt, should he lose. Now, Republican talk about rigged elections is standard fare, part and parcel of Conservative lore. But this is putting the process at risk, for I do not think that Trump will do as previous candidates have done in  the past, as for example when Gore lost and his supporters booed, he calmed them as  he asked that they support his opponent as the elected President. Rather, I have heard his supports warn of  more that civil unrest, of actual uprising and violence. The U. S. could potentially face the sort of disturbance seen in Europe after an election, something we have never before seen. This, because of the clever machinations of a slick sociopathic demagogue.

    As to the actual content of his remark, yes, the election might well BE rigged! The Federal Courts are doing their best to address that, however! States which have enacted highly discriminatory voter identification laws have been having them stricken-Kansas, North Dakota, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Texas. These laws would have affected those voters most likely to vote AGAINST Trump-the poor, Latinos, African Americans, and other minorities-and it is precisely these voters, along with women, against whom the system has traditionally been rigged. For voters in Trump’s demographic swath not to counted is extremely improbable, despite his delusions. But, then again, Trump has never let reality get in the way of a good story.