A call to stand up for every member of the LGBTQ community

Sitting in my fifth period art class one rainy Friday, the usual things crossed my mind: what I was going to eat when I got home, dreading work the next day, and the latest New York Fashion Week (NYFW) shows. That day, however, I was pulled away from my daydreaming by the horrendous prejudice a peer felt the need to share.

He thought that the perfect time to say that “trans people have the devil in them” was during a watercolor session.

My initial response was to avoid confrontation and remain quiet. I hoped that avoiding the conversation would get him to just shut up already and cork the ignorance, hate, and prejudice he was spouting. To my dismay, however, he just kept going, and it wasn’t until he decided to say something about gay people that I was angry enough to speak up in attempt to correct him.

I expressed that his information was biased and just flat-out wrong.

Did I change his mind? Probably not, but he did eventually stop talking. What a blessing that was.

Throughout the day, this event kept popping up in my mind, not with anger or malice towards the student, but guilt. I did not regret that I snapped at him. I mean, he was kind of a jerk. I got to thinking about how long it took me to say something. Why did I wait until his statements pertained to me to speak up? Why didn’t I try to speak up for the trans community who didn’t have anyone there to defend themselves?

Whether we chose to believe it or not, this trans erasure and a fear of sticking up for others is a national problem, and one that has crept its way into PRHS.

Your opinion about another person’s identity shouldn’t ever determine whether someone has the right to exist or not. As a country and as a community, we have to come to terms with the fact that these are people that we’re talking about. They aren’t just some science experiment or monster that we can call whatever we want. Labelling the trans community as “devils” is hurting people, and according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, “41 percent of trans men and women are estimated to have attempted suicide.” It’s a sad day when people begin to value their political values more than the lives of fellow people.

Historically, the LGBT owes a lot of our freedoms to the trans community. Arguably the biggest push for our rights sprung from the Stonewall riots, and Marsha P. Johnson –a trans POC– was the first to throw a brick at the building, which many see as the start of the gay rights movement. So now, 50 years after the riots, when kids like those in my art class insist on misgendering trans people or calling it a mental disorder, anyone of any background should try to correct them, but those within the LGBT community are especially indebted to do so.