Buried In The Wrong Gender

Ask any transgender person what his or her greatest fears are in this life, and you will probably hear about being slandered, harrassed, beaten, fired or evicted--and of losing longtime relationships with family members, friends and colleagues-- simply for being who he or she is.  

I have experienced all of those things.  So have many other trans people.  I am fortunate in that I am alive to tell about them.

Which leads me to another great fear many trans people have:  What will be done with, or to, us in death.  Even if we have been stripped of all of your dignity when we are alive, we can be deprived of whatever is accorded to other people in death.  At least, that is what can happen in most states if we change our names, take hormones and live and work in the gender of our mind and spirits but, for whatever reasons, don't undergo the surgery that makes us members of that gender in the eyes of most people and the law of most places.

That is what happened to Idaho trans woman Jennifer Gable.  Last month, she suddenly died from an aneurysm.  That was shocking enough to those who loved her, but what happened next was even more stunning:  In her open casket, she was presented with short hair and in a suit, as a man. 

Her paid obituary gave her name as Geoffrey Charles Gable and mentioned the details of her birth, baptism, membership in a church, marriage (which ended in divorce) and work for Wells Fargo Bank.  There was not a word about the way, or the name under which, she lived the last few years of her life.  

As appalled as I am, I am not surprised:  Idaho is still one of four US states (Kansas, Ohio and Tennessee are the others) that will not change the gender on a person's birth certificate even if he or she has gender reassignment surgery.  Knowing that, I suppose it's a victory of sorts that her death certificate lists her as "Geoffrey AKA Jennifer Gable". 

The Whole World's IDAHO

"You learn something new every day."  At least, that's what my mother always says.  

At least it was true for me today.  I found out that this is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), and that it's being marked all over the world.  Following such initiatives as the National Day Against Homophobia, which was launched in the Canadian province of Quebec in 2003, IDAHO, French university professor Louis-Georges Tin launched an initiative to create an Day Against Homophobia that would be international in scope.  He prooposed that the Day would be observed on 17 May to commemorate the World Health Organization's decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. His efforts led to the first IDAHO in 2005, when a number of organizations and famous individuals signed the "IDAHO Appeal."


I am glad that this day, and the Transgender Day of Remembrance, are observed.  However--to paraphrase what some have said about Mother's Day, Father's Day, Thanksgiving and other holidays--every day should include efforts against homophobia and transphobia, and a commemoration of those who were killed for their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.


It's especially important to keep homophobia and transphobia--and the violence they generate--because of misconceptions some people still have. "Whenever I raise these issues, some complain I'm pushing for 'new rights' or 'special rights' for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people," says Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.  "But there is nothing new or special about the right to life and security of a person, the right to freedom from discrimination."