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Speaking of allies: Caryn Kunkle is certainly one.
Two of her friends were brutally attacked by a group of fifteen (!) boys and girls in Center City, Philadelphia. After asking whether the two men were a couple, the young thugs assaulted and robbed them while yelling, "Dirty faggots!"
One of the men was so badly beaten that police thought he was dead from a gunshot wound. Now he and his boyfriend want to make sure no one else has to experience what they did. So does Ms. Kunkle.
She is working with them, and others to change Pennsylvania's hate crime laws, which don't include crimes committed against people primarily because of their sexual orientation. I, of course, have signed the petition. I urge you to do the same.
Of course, there needs to be language to protect people attacked for their actual or perceived gender identity. That's the next step after Kunkle and her friends see the change they're seeking.
I found this in "The Homeless Hub":
How To Be An Ally To The Transgender Community
Certainly Do...
get to know me!
educate yourself!
use preferred pronouns!
Please Don't...
out me as trans without my permission.
ask what my name was "before".
make assumptions about my sexual orientation.
ask me about my genitals.
and learn my "real" name!
It's been said that politics makes for strange bedfellows.
Well, let me tell you, I've had some pretty strange bedfellows. And I've never been (and don't intend to be) in politics.
But I digress. I can think of something else that makes for some really strange, or at least unexpected, alliances: the issue of LGBT rights. Barry Goldwater, that bastion of conservatism, supported them. A couple of years ago, Dick Cheyney came out in favor of allowing gay marriage.
Now a hockey player who once described his ex-girlfriend as "sloppy seconds" says he's willing to support any player who's gay and is worried about the consequences of "coming out."
In a news conference, Sean Avery, whose behavior has caused a couple of teams to trade him in spite of his talents as a player, said, “If there’s a kid in Canada or wherever, who is playing and really loves the game and wants to keep playing but he’s worried about coming out, I’d tell him to pick up the phone and call (NHLPA executive director) Donald Fehr and tell him to book me a (plane) ticket.”
Now, if he's sincere--and somehow I suspect he is, believe it or not--I think that it's an example of what will really propel acceptance and rights for LGBT people. When a macho-guy hockey player like Avery is willing to stand beside a gay player, that just might influence others to do the same. We need him for the same reasons why we need the support of conservatives and of what is sometimes called "Middle America." When some churchgoing parent accepts his or her--or someone else's--gay kid, that example resonates more powerfully for most people than it does when it comes from some former ACT-UP member.
Of course, I don't mean to say that we don't need the support of our more traditional allies. But when the Sean Averys and Dick Cheyneys of the world put in a word for us, they're not preaching to the choir.
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