A NATURAL TRANSITION

In 1984 I arrived in Toronto, Ontario and soon became very familiar with the intersection of Church and Wellesley.  It was where the Gay Community hung out.  For the most part, we identified ourselves as "The Gay Community".  It was from that intersection that our movement fought our long and painful fight.  If someone was wronged in our community, we marched from "The Steps" of Church and Wellesley to wherever we had to in order to ensure our family members were heard.

Shortly after that, we became known as "The Gay and Lesbian Community" and rightfully so.  So much effort and energy had been put into the rights of gay men that we forgot about the "specialness" of our Lesbian sisters.  I remember that many of these loving women were the caregivers of so many of our gay men who contracted, suffered with and eventually died of AIDS.  When our community needed loving, compassionate and respectful people to step up to comfort a dying population, our Lesbian sisters did so willingly with the utmost love and compassion. They richly deserved inclusion into our community identity and we were proud to stand by our sisters in respect and love.

When acronyms became popular, we naturally progressed to become the GLBT community. I sat on our city's police GLBT Task Force where our Chief of Police, front line officers and community members came together to discuss the issues facing our community and its policing.  Our mayor had a GLBT advisory committee that helped our city ensure that its GLBT citizens were treated fairly by our city.

Somewhere along the line, the GLBT community became the LGBT community. Our wonderful sisters in spirit lead the identity of our great community.  Everywhere around the world, we spoke of our community as the LGBT community. 

Today it is once again time for a change in the arrangement of our community identity.  I am asking that all of us begin referring to our community as the TLGB COMMUNITY because it is time we give the transgendered members of our great community the respect they deserve for all the support they have given us over the years.

When our community was in the midst of the AIDS crisis, when most men who contracted HIV died within a very short time of AIDS related illnesses it was the TRANS community who held thousands and thousands of fundraisers raising millions of dollars in order to support people with AIDS.  In Toronto's community, there wasn't a single night where there wasn't an AIDS fundraiser going on led by our trans community.  Many of these same trans individuals were HIV+ and some were suffering from the effects of the opportunistic diseases associated with AIDS.  In the dressing rooms of many of these fundraisers, trans individuals would put on layers upon layers of panty hose in order to cover up the Kaposi Sarcoma spots on their legs.  We lost many members of our trans community to AIDS. 

Despite living in poverty themselves, many of these performers would donate their tips to the charity they were performing for.  Many would use their last few dollars to buy raffle tickets or 50/50 tickets in order to support the charity at hand.  These people were TRULY selfless people who thought of others rather than themselves.

For years our community has fought for the rights of lesbians and gays to marry the person they love. We've fought for pension rights of surviving lesbian and gay partners.  We've fought for so many things that benefited just a portion of our community.

OUR FIGHT IS NOT OVER UNTIL ALL MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY HAVE THE RIGHTS THEY DESERVE!  INCLUDING OUR TRANS FAMILY MEMBERS.

I hereby request that the acronym, "LGBT" now be changed to the "TLGB" community because it is NOW time for us to focus our fight on behalf of all those who have stood by this community in its worst times.  To THANK those trans individuals who died fighting for our rights.  To give PRAISE to the many trans individuals who gave so much of themselves when our community needed them the most. And - because, mostly -  it is the RIGHT THING TO DO!

Let's fight for better healthcare during one's transition. For access to better mental health support during one's transition.  For funding for necessary treatment and surgeries that our trans community needs. To build shelters specifically for people who identify as transgendered.  To re-write the laws pertaining to gender identity to give dignity to those who are not comfortable with the gender they were born with.

Let's give renewed power to the TLGB COMMUNITY!