Recently I read a news article talking about the British scientist and mathematician Alan Turing being honored on a postage stamp. I knew of Alan's story before but this article reminded me all to well of a great problem we have in the LGBT community. The story of our lives is scattered, censored, even destroyed.
As a community it's important to know who we are, where we came from, and even the contributions we make to greater society. It's part of the reason so many of us struggle with ourselves. We usually have few references. A lot of times what we do find leaves us wanting and unsatisfied because it does not relate to us.
We are all a part of history and always have been. Many LGBT people have made this world a better place and fought to ensure a brighter future. We need to learn and know that however. We need to understand as much as our lives have been denied we are here and we are valuable.
So what am I saying? Record your life, your experience, even your passion. You are the voice of tomorrow. Someone needs to know they are not alone, progress has been made, and someone out there is like them. I know many of you are saying I am not a great writer or my story is not so important. You are wrong however.
We are all important and contribute to what shapes our lives and our future. Maybe you are a gay Christian, Muslim, or Jew and can show faith is not limited to sexuality. Maybe you are in a same sex marriage raising a family and can show we are not the enemies of family. Maybe you can shed the truth on all the abuse rendered to us, a witness or a victim. Our testament of our lives is a tantamount priority many of us don't realize.
Write a blog, make a video, collect LGBT stories, campaign for LGBT history inclusion in libraries, and fight for our existence. Many of us know the hollowness of having to define ourselves without reference. Let us make ourselves known. The voices of tomorrow are those built upon voices of today. For without reference we must repeat our long struggle every generation.
You are a chronicle of life! Express it however you can. In the words of George Washington Carver "When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world."
For the longest time I thought that I couldnt be transsexual. Why? Because I only knew of male to female transsexuals, never female to male. And then I came across Jamison Greens book, and there I was! Sounds rather stupid to think that transsexuals could only be M2F yeah? But that's all I knew of. Didnt even have words to define me, for the longest time I just thought I was odd. The first term that sorta fit me was androgynous. And funnily enough, thats where I find myself at this point in time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, we need to write down our stories, but we need them to be easily found with a google search, and most blogs are very hard to find with a google search. I think a .org would be a better idea. But we need to speak up, to help others know they aren't alone, to help others find who they are, and to be a light in a dark place.
As usual T, you hit the nail on the head. Bravo