A bridge over a beautiful waterfall

A bridge over a beautiful waterfall
Nature brings magic

Saturday, April 5, 2014

E is for Equality




There was a wonderful announcement by George Takei on my Facebook feed last Saturday that I just had to look into. He posted that England and Wales had lifted their ban on same sex marriages. As of midnight leading from Friday into Saturday, gay and lesbian couples were already lining up to be married.

Marriage equality is not a privilege. It should be a right, along with equal pay, equal insurance coverage, businesses should not be able to discriminate against someone just because of their gender identity and/or sexual orientation.

For many, being LGBT isn't just about what gender they prefer to have sex with. It's how they identify themselves. For some in that community, it's now how they're born it's what they feel and believe they are inside. Not all gay/lesbians feel they should have been born the other gender. They just prefer the relationships with their own.

The ones who suffer worse than the gay/lesbian/bi cultures are the trans-gender. I don't know as much about their lives as I'd like but I know what I've read. And what I've read makes me sick at the cruelty of some people. Forcing a male-to-female to use the men's room even though she's likely to be attacked all because her physical birth gender was male.

There was a M-to-F that used to work where I did. Let's call her Maria. Maria was a brilliant, beautiful, and hard working woman. She was smart, funny, and had a way of making even the worst customers seem ridiculous and amusing. One day, when she was using the restroom, her stall door didn't latch all the way and someone pushed it open while she was using it. The shit hit the fan.

Maria hadn't gone through the surgery. It's not cheap around here and she was waiting until she and her partner had a little more saved before she went through it. She was going through the hormone treatment so in every aspect except one, she looked and for all intents and purposes was, female.

But because someone saw a penis instead of a vagina she was badly mistreated by the company. For an employer who prides itself on being LGBT friendly, they treated her like shit. It took a debate all the way to corporate before Maria was allowed to use the women's restroom. But every time she went in some woman went to management and screamed about how uncomfortable they were with Maria in there. No one stopped to think about how uncomfortable Maria was with that.

Maria finally gave up and quit. I don't know if she found another job that was more trans friendly or if she just stopped working because of the cruelty she suffered at the call center we worked at. I didn't even know she was gone until I overheard someone call her a freak and laugh about the fact that she was gone.

I had a gay co-worker who ran into similar circumstances. One of the ultra-conservative Christians working for the company saw his wedding pictures and threw a fit. She tore the pictures down and ripped them to pieces one day while he was off. She claimed she was saving us all from the devil.

When he came back and saw what had happened, he went to his manager. His manager told him she had every right to destroy his personal possessions because "we can't go against someone's beliefs". He handed in his notice right there and left.

I think in the time I was there, I witnessed every gay/lesbian/trans co-worker of mine driven off by the small minded exploits of the people I worked with and for. I was disgusted and eventually when my health ended the possibility of me working there, I was thrilled. I'm bi and a few people knew that. I was already getting some dirty looks and was once told to stop staring at a female co-worker's ass. My shoe was coming off and she was wearing a tight skirt. She thought when I bent down it was to try to look up her skirt.

Several states have marriage equality laws passed. There are countries that have done the same. When will everyone - lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, whatever you identify as - when will we all get the equality and the same rights as everyone else?

12 comments:

  1. The whole "someone's beliefs" thing pisses me off. THEY get to treat someone like shit because it's their religious freedom, but people aren't allowed to react to being treated like shit because FIRST AMENDMENT. Which apparently only applies to people who hold up the bible and yell persecution.

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    1. I've seen all people discriminated against, regardless of their religious associations. I know Christians who are treated like crap because of their views. I've seen Muslims assaulted because of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. I've seen Jews spat on because of their history. There is so much hypocrisy and bigotry in this world to go around.

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  2. responding more to JE Oneil than to the post- as a Christian, I've experienced much more discrimination than I have seen towards non-Christians. I've had jobs where LGBT and any religion that didn't consider the Bible as some foundation were given anything and everything, but a group could not quietly meet in the lunch room to read the Bible together (even though management had approved), and you might as well just pack up and leave if you dared to ask a quick blessing before you ate. I find that 'tolerance' is all well and good, and everyone must be accepted for who and what they are- except Christians. "Diversity" includes everyone but a white middle class men and their wives.
    I'm not denying that other groups get treated like shit. I'm not denying that there are those who claim to be 'Christian', and I want nothing to do with them. (Westboro?) What I am saying is that the discrimination is a two way street.
    Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go walk in the alley, K?

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    1. You're right. And I've seen the kind of discrimination you're talking about. It's not fair, it's not right, and it's not what's supposed to happen. But it does. To a lot of people. And we need to remember - and work on - being accepting of everyone no matter what faith/gender/identity/race/etc. that they are.

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  3. too many make assumptions and react in fear when they encounter something different than what's normal in their small world :(

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    1. That is very true. Instead of wanting to broaden their horizons and entertain a rational conversation they judge, they hate, they try to make the person feel like they're trash. It's such a disgusting way of doing things.

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  4. I dont know people should wait for givernment instructions to start treating others with decency, nice meeting you Annikka.

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    1. Personally, I think people should be sensible enough to respect everyone else. Unfortunately, what I think and what's reality is far different. Nice to meet you too Wendy.

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  5. Wow, what sad stories :( I hate hearing about people who just can't leave others live their lives as they choose to. Finding love and someone to spend your life with is what's important. I too hope that some day (SOON) everyone can enjoy the same rights and opportunities in life, marriage and the workplace. I wish people would just mind their own business and stop worrying about what others are doing. :)

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    1. I agree with you there, Wendy. It would be a far better world if people just minded their own business. A little compassion and a little understanding of people wouldn't hurt either.

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  6. I have a gay brother, father, and ex-husband. Our lives are all about the battle for equality and fairness. Thank you for spotlighting the need.

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    1. I sincerely hope that there will come a day where we don't have to fight for equality for all people. Thanks for the comment.

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