People must be free to be themselves

Opinion Editorial in the Times-Picayune of New Orleans

Men in dresses.  The very idea makes people laugh and squirm.  It jostles assumptions and turns expectations upside down.  That may begin to explain why the American Film Institute recently ranked "Some Like It Hot" and "Tootsie" as the best comedies of all time.

In those celluloid worlds, Jack Lemmon and Dustin Hoffman show some whistle fetching leg.  And in the process, they loosen us up and encourage us to question our ideas about gender roles and identity.

More recently, the Academy Award winning "Boys Don't Cry" told the gut wrenching story of Brendon Teena, a transgendered youth whose unshakable faith in himself partially freed him from the female body that felt like a prison.

These films trigger conflicting emotions in most of us.  We don't want anyone shoving us into a narrow pigeonhole, yet we like the comfort of thinking the rest of the world fits into clear-cut categories.  Gender-bending forces us to live with ambiguity, whether we like it or not.

Living with ambiguity -- or celebrating it -- defines a civil rights movement that is boldly shaking up assumptions in families, friendships and workplaces to encourage acceptance of people who don't conform to standard gender categories.  Now in its third decade of organized activity, the transgendered civil rights movement has only recently hit its stride.  It has much to teach the rest of us.

"The goal is to let people be productive, to be safe and to be contribute to this society -- and not be held back or hurt because of their gender identity or gender expression," says Shannon Minter, an attorney who aligned his body with his male identity through medical procedures.

"Transgendered" is an umbrella term that covers transsexuals (whose sense of themselves clashes with their original biological sex), cross-dressers and others whose appearance is at odds with traditional gender expectations.  As in the rest of society, some trans people are gay while others aren't.

Being transgendered puts men and women at extreme risk of being ridiculed and humiliated, being fired without cause, being kicked out of restaurants and stores, being denied housing and being refused medical treatment.  Male-to-female transsexuals are especially likely to be victims of brutal hate crimes.

"This is a community of extremely wounded people." Says writer Jamison Green, a female-to-male transsexual.

Yet trans people are making real progress as more of the rest of us come to see them as kindred spirits battling fierce versions of old familiar enemies -- sexism, rigid gender roles and violent hatred.  As Minter reminds gay people, "You can't really fight back against homophobia without dealing with gender stereotyping and sexism."

Striking a special cord with those of us who're gay, Minter adds, "I don't want to have to hide who I am in order to be safe."

Trans people scored their first legislative victory in 1975, when Minneapolis protected them from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.  Now four states and 26 localities include them in anti-bias or hate crime laws, according to "Transgendered Equality," which maps out the movement's history and ways to build on its successes.

California included transgendered youth in its 1999 "safe schools" law.

Lucent Technologies took the lead in the private sector, declaring in 1997 that it won't discriminate.

The recent breakthroughs of recent years are going to multiply because major employers and society are becoming more familiar with -- and thus less threatened by -- trans people.  "We're at a critical point.  So many more people are willing to be relaxed and allow others to be who they are."  Green says.

People in rewarding lives.  Isn't that the universal goal?

Deb Price

Columnist for the Detroit News