Tikkun Magazine, July/August 2010, Online Exclusives
Trans Issues in Electoral Politics
By Dana Beyer
I stood there, silently, the older boys already wound in t'fillin, shuckling at an increasingly rapid pace. I was frightened of the stench of all that testosterone, mixed with the sweat of the rabbis at the head of the class, leading the davening. And I was expected to say, Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, for not having made me a woman." Saying it felt like swallowing crushed glass, so I didn't say it out loud.
So what does a girl trapped into living as a boy, unable to remove the mask of maleness, do immersed in a religion which praises purity as an ideal, one to which I could never aspire, having been born with a blemish more impactful than a pimple on a parah adumah, a red heifer? She does what her father ordered her to do -- face forward, with attached blinders, and immerse herself in the traditions of her people as well as the Enlightenment, and go forth and become a doctor. But go forth detached, dissociated from self, playing a role with morbid pleasure while feeling her gut slowly corroding in the acid of self-deception. I was trained well, and it almost killed me.
I went out into the world I had been trained to see through Jewish eyes, to use a prism of social justice to engage with the pain and suffering of the marginalized. Whether I was putting my pennies in a tzedakah box, or feeling sorry for the struggling elderly proprietors of the "mom and pop" stores that lined the streets of the town in Queens through which I passed on my way to school, I was grounded in the ethics of my fathers. I grew from studying Pirke Avot to serving the poor in Africa and Asia, and then the uninsured in Mississippi. When the time came and I had liberated myself so I could act in the world, traverse (or transgress, take your pick) the border between the sexes and go from becoming to being, I had my rigorous grounding in Jewish ethics to steer me.
My political role model is Bobby Kennedy, a man who was regarded as a bastard until, seared by his brother's murder, he became a fighter for the common man. His assassination had crushed my hope in 1968, but his life became a guide when I finally faced my fears.
Which I did in 2001, coming out, transitioning and slowly becoming involved in community service. Advocating at the state and local level showed me that I had the skills and experience to play the inside game in politics as well as the outside one, and the nurturance of social skills, aforehand completely inaccessible to me, allowed me to step up and enter the fray. I did so in 2006 when a vacancy suddenly opened in my state legislative district, and now I intend to finish the job I nearly completed then, becoming a Maryland state delegate, the first openly trans state representative in American history. I will succeed not because of my gender history, but because of my service to the public across a wide range of issues. By making a difference to others, my personal difference will be less of an issue.
I am very fortunate to have the support of the larger gay and lesbian community. I work as assiduously for gay rights as I do for trans rights, and it is important to note that since most homophobia is simply regurgitated misogyny, what we're really talking about is women's rights and equality between and across the sexes. Protections on the basis of gender identity and expression cover all gay and straight cisgendered* people who do not express themselves according to traditional conventions. The divide [between gay rights and trans rights, ed.] which became manifest during the 2007 ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act) debates has been bridged. ENDA will be completely inclusive, and its only obstacle is the reluctance of the Democratic party to stand firmly for civil rights. Cowering in fear from an opposition which despises your very existence is a futile exercise, and it's about time for all this country's decent people to recognize that giving in to bullies simply facilitates more abuse.
If we stand together, we can't be wedged apart. If we stand with our progressive allies, with whom we actually work in the trenches, they will stand with us. If we stand in the proud American tradition of civil rights and equality with today's youth, who don't see sexuality as a tool for division, we will not be divided.
Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, is now just a matter of time. The moral battle has been won. Passage of ENDA is within sight and can be accomplished by carving out some accommodations for religious expression, and this will lead eventually to an omnibus civil rights bill that will cover housing and accommodations as well. Repeal of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, is further away, but will only take some more work to educate Americans that marriage is not only a religious institution. Europeans and South Americans already separate civil from religious marriage, so extension of marriage equality for them is relatively easy. By empowering clergy to act as agents of the state, we have created our own problems in the U.S., but we can overcome those as well. We can, and we will, move forward together.
Dr. Dana Beyer is currently campaigning full time for State Delegate in Maryland's District 18, with the slogan "Put A Doctor In The House." See http://www.danabeyer.com/
* Editor's note: "Cisgender is a neologism that means ‘someone who is comfortable in the gender they were assigned at birth'... ‘Cisgender' is used to contrast ‘transgender' on the gender spectrum" (Wikipedia).
