As a transwoman, I have to live my life openly and honestly. Unlike many, the transexual community has little choice in the matter. Unless they have the money and time to make the old you 'disappear' and go stealth, it is very hard for male to female trans people to hide.

Even then, there is always the possibility of discovery, no matter how well you may pass. The paper trail of your prior self can be discovered, or someone who knew you back when may come into your life at an inoppertune moment.

This is one of the reasons we have been at the forefront of advocacy for LGBT rights. It is not a matter of being able to stay in the closet if you want to be true to yourself.

The message does have to change about the LGBT community, and we have to be proactive in pointing out the hate and prejudice we face from some groups in this country. As long as the negative message is spewed out by the pulpit and stump speech, as long as people are not taken to task on their slander and misinformation, we will always face the very real possibility that someone will take the negative messages to heart, and act on their fear and prejudice.

Ellen is fabulous. I only hope she decides to speak out more after this. I'm sure she feels burned by her previous show's failure when she came out.

Regardless, she's exactly right. We need to change the message - as a country. It can no longer be acceptable to inflict violence on someone for their sexual orientation or gender identity. These differences can no longer be used to dehumanize us.

I look forward to the day that message rings loud and clear.

Poor Rebecca One Note....

And the saddest thing is that the note was written on a fantasy.

Oh, I forgot—David Smith had Vince Foster killed.

I do believe this is the first time I've been put on a list with Ellen! :-)

I agree with Michael Crawford completely: Having Ellen speak out about this case - and so eloquently - is important. Ellen has the power to reach a huge segment of the American public, via her show, and to get people thinking about the consequences of prejudice against LGBT people. I'm so glad to hear her talking about this. The case has not received nearly enough attention, in my view.

And, of course, I'm always at the ready to give a shout-out to Cathy Renna, who deserves the "brilliant" tag much more than I do . . .

Ellen, Steve and Cathy Renna. Not a bad list to be on, actually. :) (And I could care less about whether or not Mr. Smith is included - it's not really the point.)

I'm looking forward to seeing Dustin Kight here in Indianapolis when he leads an OUTSpoken session to help people learn how to talk about their families for the most impact. If you're in the area, sign up for the free session.

Diddlygrl: I am on the same page as you. It is we who don't pass quite so well who have to be fully involved to help all of us.

I am one of those optimists with some hope left that if we show up at political headquarters with
a desire to work for a candidate, those efforts will be recognized. When we support someone, that person will be more inclined to support us when the time comes.

You are making another point here, and I'd like to put it another way: Refuse to be marginalized. No, it's not easy, but when people see that we are leading productive, useful lives and contributing to society, they are less likely to dismiss us as weird or nutso.
Each of us not only have the ability to educate, we almost have a responsibility to educate those who don't understand us. If we only preach to the choir, while avoiding those who will never get it, there is a large segment of the population who simply don't understand, but are willing to learn. It's this group that we can and should reach out to. It will mean getting out of our comfort zones sometimes, but we can do it. And, we don't have to get on the Jerry Springer show to do it.