The political trananigans I've discovered in Utah are vast and abundant. Just the other night, for example, I attended a trans-specific lobbyist training that was presented by Equality Utah and we had another transtacular activist meeting. Go red state go!
I decided to go to this training since, well, the prospect of lobbying has always been an intimidating one to me. Not just because it sounds very foreign and daunting, but, on another level, I’ve worried that my presence would do more damage to a cause I care about than aid it just due to being gender variant and having a more non-LDS-looking appearance.
Even if I spruced up, I’d worried that an LDS (Latter-day Saints/Mormon) representative, for example, wouldn’t be able to relate to me in any way, shape, or form and could even be afraid of me. I feared that it would be an entirely ineffective – even potentially damaging – experience.
I’ve been feeling differently about this lately, though. On one level, being out has boosted my esteem and self-empowerment, and, on another, there’s a big ol’ progressive tide that’s come crashing down around the United States, even in this red state. Thousands of citizens have felt empowered by actually witnessing their participation matter and are all fueled in building that momentum.
I’ve mentioned it briefly before, but right now in Utah we have the Common Ground Initiative, which is a series of 5 bills where the basic rights of Americans who are LGBT are being decided upon by a mostly heterosexist and misinformed pool of suits wearing suits making suitly decisions that supposedly represent their constituency – which I’m a part of, damnit, gender blurring and all!
There were initially 6 bills - but one, Wrongful Deaths, was defeated in the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 4-2 vote. And how? The ‘sanctity of marriage’ was mentioned numerous times. One person even said something to the effect of how every bill being proposed here is a ‘dirty shirt’ all leading towards a ‘mass pile’ with the end goal to destroy the definition of marriage.
What the? Marriage was brought up repeatedly despite the fact that these bills have nothing to do with marriage and everything to do with Americans who are LGBQT having basic legal protections.
It’s painfully obnoxious that we have legislators who actually buy in to the fear-mongering perpetuated by hate groups.
“Why, this person doesn’t want to be fired because they’re perceived as being gay? That threatens the sanctity of marriage!”,
“This person doesn’t want to be kicked out of their apartment because they’re transgendered? That threatens the sanctity of marriage!”.
What the fu? Really?!
Back to the point I’m trying to make here: the Common Ground Initiative is really exciting, especially to a Utahrded trans person like myself. These bills are also getting a LOT of publicity and provoking a lot of thought and discussions amongst Utahns.
And it’s working.
Three polls have come out – two from our conservative newspapers – that reveal that over 80% of Utahns believe that LGBT Americans deserve these basic legal protections.
Still, civil liberties and rights have been the focus of bitter conflict throughout American history for a long ol’ time. For the most part, what strong supporters of civil liberties consider to be basic freedoms have appeared to many others to be threats to order, morality, or community. And for most of American history free speech has been repressed, individual privacy invaded, and numerous minorities treated as second-class citizens.
There’s a lot of good ol’ wholesome discriminatory tradition at stake here!
Just today KSL TV, a conservative news program here in Utah, aired a debate of sorts between Senator Scott McCoy (Utah's first ever openly gay state senator) and Gayle Ruzicka (scary conservative Eagle Forum lady who is now operating with a group calling itself the ‘Constitutional Defense of Marriage Alliance’). There’s a little viddy on the KSL site:
Oooo Ruzicka makes me mad! Who listens to this lady? Seriously! It’s astounding to me. She almost literally finds a way to throw ‘marriage’ in every other word. “If they oppose gay marriage, they'll oppose these bills!" Oh you're a mean one, Ruzicka.
And another article came out today in the Salt Lake Tribune:
Just within the past 10 years Utah has a gone a long way and history is great at repeating itself, demonstrating time and time again that the Ruzicka and minions of the world are great at slowing progress down, but not stopping it.
I mean, the struggle by African Americans and their allies for civil rights took frickin’ DECADES. And that struggle didn’t just succeed in prodding the white majority to act but it also ended up inspiring similar movements for equality among Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Americans with disabilities, women, etc.
And these groups’ victories, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and subsequent victories (like our most recent presidential election!) have consistently redeemed and strengthened a basic promise of popular democracy: respect for the dignity of every citizen.
And I'm not done ranting yet!
For those of us who are gay, lesbian, bi/pansexual, or transgender, recognition of equal rights has been super problematic and even though public attitudes have become more tolerant, legal affirmation of our equal rights has been slow in coming. But it’s happening, bit by bit. The fact that it’s even happening here, in one of the reddest states in the country, says a lot.
Still, it is discouraging that the legislators we have here are, for the most part, pretty radically conservative. Some of them aren't, though. And in every instance where there have been political leaders who have aided legal affirmation there were movements on the ground to which these leaders were appealing. I mean, without the dynamic labor movement of the 1930s there would have been no New Deal. Without the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s there would have been no Great Society.
Politicians, whether liberal or conservative, green or socialist, are only as good as we can pressure them to be. This isn’t an ideal – it’s a historically accurate reality. Ruzicka and minions know this all too well, except for they replace the word 'good' with 'mean!!!'.
There are also thousands of bills introduced every year and thousands of them die due to lack of interest. With that anti-trans bill HB225, for example, directly due to feedback from numerous citizens, the representative who proposed it has promised to let it ‘die on the vine’ so to speak. 2 points for team empowerment!
There’s also the confidence of finally being an out trans person. And, as a trans person, despite a politician fearing me or not relating to me, I’m still a part of their constituency. I’ll just shower, comb my hair, smile, and act as friendly as I can possibly muster. Represent!
Long rant short, I'm excited to wander up to the Capitol, pale-faced and petrified, sweaty and awkward, to lobby for the first time in the near future here (and there are a gazillion other effective things to continue doing like letter-writing, participating in phone banks, showing up to demonstrations - ya know, mass movement stuff - a lot of which Equality Utah is helping to organize)
I get discouraged, of course. But these days my encouragement is much louder than my discouragement. I’m hearing and reading about the results of empowered citizen action every day, and it's much more exciting than the discouragement is discouraging.
p.s. Today is injection day!
I decided to go to this training since, well, the prospect of lobbying has always been an intimidating one to me. Not just because it sounds very foreign and daunting, but, on another level, I’ve worried that my presence would do more damage to a cause I care about than aid it just due to being gender variant and having a more non-LDS-looking appearance.
Even if I spruced up, I’d worried that an LDS (Latter-day Saints/Mormon) representative, for example, wouldn’t be able to relate to me in any way, shape, or form and could even be afraid of me. I feared that it would be an entirely ineffective – even potentially damaging – experience.
I’ve been feeling differently about this lately, though. On one level, being out has boosted my esteem and self-empowerment, and, on another, there’s a big ol’ progressive tide that’s come crashing down around the United States, even in this red state. Thousands of citizens have felt empowered by actually witnessing their participation matter and are all fueled in building that momentum.
I’ve mentioned it briefly before, but right now in Utah we have the Common Ground Initiative, which is a series of 5 bills where the basic rights of Americans who are LGBT are being decided upon by a mostly heterosexist and misinformed pool of suits wearing suits making suitly decisions that supposedly represent their constituency – which I’m a part of, damnit, gender blurring and all!
There were initially 6 bills - but one, Wrongful Deaths, was defeated in the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 4-2 vote. And how? The ‘sanctity of marriage’ was mentioned numerous times. One person even said something to the effect of how every bill being proposed here is a ‘dirty shirt’ all leading towards a ‘mass pile’ with the end goal to destroy the definition of marriage.
What the? Marriage was brought up repeatedly despite the fact that these bills have nothing to do with marriage and everything to do with Americans who are LGBQT having basic legal protections.
It’s painfully obnoxious that we have legislators who actually buy in to the fear-mongering perpetuated by hate groups.
“Why, this person doesn’t want to be fired because they’re perceived as being gay? That threatens the sanctity of marriage!”,
“This person doesn’t want to be kicked out of their apartment because they’re transgendered? That threatens the sanctity of marriage!”.
What the fu? Really?!
Back to the point I’m trying to make here: the Common Ground Initiative is really exciting, especially to a Utahrded trans person like myself. These bills are also getting a LOT of publicity and provoking a lot of thought and discussions amongst Utahns.
And it’s working.
Three polls have come out – two from our conservative newspapers – that reveal that over 80% of Utahns believe that LGBT Americans deserve these basic legal protections.
Still, civil liberties and rights have been the focus of bitter conflict throughout American history for a long ol’ time. For the most part, what strong supporters of civil liberties consider to be basic freedoms have appeared to many others to be threats to order, morality, or community. And for most of American history free speech has been repressed, individual privacy invaded, and numerous minorities treated as second-class citizens.
There’s a lot of good ol’ wholesome discriminatory tradition at stake here!
Just today KSL TV, a conservative news program here in Utah, aired a debate of sorts between Senator Scott McCoy (Utah's first ever openly gay state senator) and Gayle Ruzicka (scary conservative Eagle Forum lady who is now operating with a group calling itself the ‘Constitutional Defense of Marriage Alliance’). There’s a little viddy on the KSL site:Talking Point: Gay rights legislation
This evening , conservative activist Gayle Ruzicka and Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City, joined us to discuss the issue in Talking Point.
Oooo Ruzicka makes me mad! Who listens to this lady? Seriously! It’s astounding to me. She almost literally finds a way to throw ‘marriage’ in every other word. “If they oppose gay marriage, they'll oppose these bills!" Oh you're a mean one, Ruzicka.
And another article came out today in the Salt Lake Tribune:
Same-sex marriage? Legal experts question gay-rights foes' fearsUltimately it’s a losing battle for peeps like Ruzicka. A losing battle even IF none of the remaining 5 bills pass. A losing battle because things change and average people who have been displaced from the political discussion have been empowered for the first time in a long time.
Utah's conservative-moral crusaders -- who are brandishing what they call "common sense" to rebuff the push from gay-rights advocates for "common ground" -- may be making a common mistake.
Just within the past 10 years Utah has a gone a long way and history is great at repeating itself, demonstrating time and time again that the Ruzicka and minions of the world are great at slowing progress down, but not stopping it.
I mean, the struggle by African Americans and their allies for civil rights took frickin’ DECADES. And that struggle didn’t just succeed in prodding the white majority to act but it also ended up inspiring similar movements for equality among Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Americans with disabilities, women, etc.
And these groups’ victories, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and subsequent victories (like our most recent presidential election!) have consistently redeemed and strengthened a basic promise of popular democracy: respect for the dignity of every citizen.
And I'm not done ranting yet!
For those of us who are gay, lesbian, bi/pansexual, or transgender, recognition of equal rights has been super problematic and even though public attitudes have become more tolerant, legal affirmation of our equal rights has been slow in coming. But it’s happening, bit by bit. The fact that it’s even happening here, in one of the reddest states in the country, says a lot.
Still, it is discouraging that the legislators we have here are, for the most part, pretty radically conservative. Some of them aren't, though. And in every instance where there have been political leaders who have aided legal affirmation there were movements on the ground to which these leaders were appealing. I mean, without the dynamic labor movement of the 1930s there would have been no New Deal. Without the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s there would have been no Great Society.
Politicians, whether liberal or conservative, green or socialist, are only as good as we can pressure them to be. This isn’t an ideal – it’s a historically accurate reality. Ruzicka and minions know this all too well, except for they replace the word 'good' with 'mean!!!'.
There are also thousands of bills introduced every year and thousands of them die due to lack of interest. With that anti-trans bill HB225, for example, directly due to feedback from numerous citizens, the representative who proposed it has promised to let it ‘die on the vine’ so to speak. 2 points for team empowerment!
There’s also the confidence of finally being an out trans person. And, as a trans person, despite a politician fearing me or not relating to me, I’m still a part of their constituency. I’ll just shower, comb my hair, smile, and act as friendly as I can possibly muster. Represent!
Long rant short, I'm excited to wander up to the Capitol, pale-faced and petrified, sweaty and awkward, to lobby for the first time in the near future here (and there are a gazillion other effective things to continue doing like letter-writing, participating in phone banks, showing up to demonstrations - ya know, mass movement stuff - a lot of which Equality Utah is helping to organize)
I get discouraged, of course. But these days my encouragement is much louder than my discouragement. I’m hearing and reading about the results of empowered citizen action every day, and it's much more exciting than the discouragement is discouraging.
p.s. Today is injection day!
wow!!! I wish I had more guts to actually go up and talk to people there. If you need a straight person by your side who has no direct ties to the LGBT movement, other than I believe in the Common Ground Initiatives, please let me know what I can do. I couldn't do it alone, though. When they had the rally two weeks ago, I had purchased tickets to "Dirt! the movie" and was otherwise obligated. I'd still like to do something that could make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much of this actually has to do with anti-gay or anything other than LDS sanctified marriage rights, and how much has to do with fear of validating some sort of polygamist situation? As legislators, there seems to be so much fear mongering, but what is so fearful about other people's lives? I think they are more afraid of how it will change and affect the way mormons are perceived nationally. Or grant rights through some loophole to the people they try to distance themselves most from; the polygamist splinter groups. The mo's have a huge image complex, huh?
dscokween: We all do. At the training they even talked about this cute mom who had called Equality Utah and latched on to one of them on one of their group lobbying days. She was completely petrified, silent, wild-eyed. But, even then, she was another body in support putting a face to issues the legislators are very misinformed about.
ReplyDeleteHere's the kicker. The next day, she was up there ALL ALONE lobbying all by herself.
Now THAT is guts and also incentive that, no matter how scary any kind of involvement sounds, once you do it, get over the hurdle, it ends up being a lot of fun, surprisingly simple, effective, and really empowering.
well let me know how to contact folks or when the next group lobbying event is - when, where, etc.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to just post this here because the word verification is "ovies" and that made me laugh a little.
alright, sorry to spam your blog with all these posts; I found the info at equalityutah.org and it looks like there are plenty of ways to help out under the GIANT "GET INVOLVED" button. Phone bank and rally next week. Check.
ReplyDeletei've had the displeasure of dealing with ruzicka myself. what a scary ignorant fucking bitch. yep, that's how i feel about it. she never has any logical goddamn basis of what she's supporting.
ReplyDeleteelbie: I have to ask - what was your experience with her, aside from being a Utah citizen living under the consistent wrath of her nonsensical political influence?
ReplyDeleteFor some reason Mel, when I think about you fighting for equal rights, I get this mental picture of you, quite literally, fighting for your rights, dressed like a space marine from StarCraft or Warhammer 40k (might have to draw that...). I think you'll do a great job.
ReplyDeleteOh, btw, "pansexual"?
Kammorremae: Sounds like a pretty accurate interpretation to me. The actual costume is fashioned from a yellow leotard and a potato sack. I know it doesn't sound like much, but the yellow adds the umph and flexibility while the sack provides the durability. Practical, see. I'll consider the costume you've conveyed, however, especially if you had a picture to illustrate it.
ReplyDeleteAbout this pansexual bidness, it's essentially bisexual but is a sexual orientation not ... how to put it, limited (not to say bisexuality is limited - poor phrasing) by the gender binary. It doesn't necessarily have to even be gender dependent; or can be open to attraction to people who are intersex, transgender, genderqueer, etc.
I suspect wikipedia defines and explains it much better than I have. ;)
ummm.. this is random. a few years ago an uneducated someone was trying to pass a bill removing a parent's right to "ok" ECT treatment for their children, a subject i'm familiar with.... ruzicka just blabbed ON and ON and ON and ON about NOTHING pertaining to the actual bill. it was amazing. i was appalled by her ability to drone on about basically NOTHING in order to pass a pointless bill, i went to 2 sessions, she demonstrated her unending "knowledge" regarding the subject both times.
ReplyDeleteGet it!! Love :) This costume of your... I assume you have illustrations? Maybe even a prototype already hanging in your closet. Please post pictures :)
ReplyDeleteIt's really crappy, drew it with dry erase markers...
ReplyDeletehttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/Kammorremae/IM000265.jpg
The caption says, "Heh, 'airgun'..."
Kammorremae: That is above and beyond badass. Your design definitely seems to have an advantage over the leotard/potato sack concept, and I will give it some serious consideration!
ReplyDeleteThe great thing about Ruzicka is that she's all but incoherent. Words come out of her mouth and yes, we generally get the sense that they are hateful and disgusting, yet do we ever really understand what, exactly, she is attempting to say? There must be a point concealed somewhere in the mass of verbiage, but I certainly can't find it.
ReplyDeleteIn a weird way, people like Ruzicka give me hope for the future: they are just too goddamned stupid to keep people's attention forever.
raedances: Ha! That is a very good, uplifting point.
ReplyDelete