Excellent article, Monica.

I have a deep and personal knowledge and understanding of anger, and I'd like to elaborate a bit on that as it may be germaine in some cases.

I was raised in an environment that flat out denied me the right to express myself as a child in the manner that I chose.

I once told my mother I was a girl. I was not only told no, I am not, but I had anything remotely resembling a *possible* feminine aspect removed from my life, and was placed n many situations after that for the purpose of masculinizing me.

I deeply resented that, and at some point around the age of 6 I ceased to speak to my sole parent for 6 months solid.

Not once did I utter a word or acknowledge their existence.

If you have ever been around a child of that age, consider *just how pissed off* I was at that age to do such a thing. How deeply that event changed the relationship I had with my mother.

That anger festered, and it became rage, and it stayed with me as I grew up doing my filial duties, being the good son, the first and eldest of several generations of my family on whom so much was dependent.

And I resented all of that, too. I resented my body rebelling against me, changing not to what it was supposed to change to, but to something else that was *horrible*.

that anger affected everything in my life. And these days, as Monica describes, that lifelong anger continues, and for the reasons she pointed out above.

Anger is the most difficult of emotions, as it cannot be bargained with, it cannot be reasoned with, it cannot be confronted with more anger. All of these things feed into it.

Anger is typically based in resentment and frustration, and until those root causes are addressed, it will remain.

Unaffected.

Imagine waking up every single day of your life, when you've had a great night, well rested, and when you start to move you are reminded and you immediately get pissed off again.

Living a life of anger has taken me places that were very dark. I've had to take every sort of anger management course you can conceive of, every type of personal inventory that lies out there. I've had to learn to be all but enraged and still smile and act as if everything is perfectly fine, while feeling my insides slowly decay from the harm that anger does to one physically.

Anger can be righteous, and it can be unrighteous.

Transfolk don't have a lot of unrighteous anger when it comes to LGBT concerns.

Transfolk cannot simply be cut out from the LGBT community, either, nor can they work against LGBT causes, because *we are* LGBT.

There are gay men, lesbians, straight folk, bisexuals, and all manner of everything else within us.

We have been fighting for our rights and our recognition for thousands of years. Just like the rest of the LGBT community.

Just like the rest, we can trace the modern concepts to Hirschfield and his peers.

Just like LGBT folks, we can trace the current movement to Stonewall and Compton.

And we can trace the attempts to distance us from anyone else, the efforts to further marginalize us among the already marginalized, the whole time.

Yeah, good article, Monica.

Great article.

Anger is a gift, just as being trans is a gift.

Finding the positives in both can be the catalyst for individuals to rise up and focus their energies to removing the source of contempt.

Every human group has been oppressed at one time or another. Some have fought, some have gained, and some still continue to be denied their humanity.

It is rooted in the very essence of humanity itself, survival of the fittest so to speak.

Lest we learn sooner rather than later, we must take our seat at the table as no invitation shall be freely extended.

As a very wise man once said...

"The whole history of human liberty shows that all concessions, yet made to her august claims, have been born of earnest struggle; If there is no struggle, there is no progress

Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation; want rain without thunder and lightning; This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will." - Frederick Douglass

We live on the precipice of new enlightenment, yet the question remains; will we use our righteous indignation to make our mark for our ancestors, selves, and posterity, or shall we continue to sit on the sidelines merely talking about said grievances letting the indignation continue in perpetuity?

If we fail to act in this most righteous of endeavors, mark my words we shall become extinct.

If we fail to assert our rights to exist as a valid beings within the sphere of humanity. The day will come when medical science will "eradicate" our "deviance" inutero, and it will happen without a discussion.

The University of Vienna has just discovered what they are calling a "transsexual Gene", Google news the aforementioned terms for the article.

We must secure our seat at the table in order to guarantee that at a minimum a discussion does indeed take place.

Alli and dyssonance,
Thank you for your beautifully written comments. What you wrote greatly enhanced the article. I hope others can add their comments as well. Talking about our anger is also a way to work through it. But, I think that we will fully be free of that anger only after we are gone. It is, after all, one of the crosses we have to bare. And as Alli pointed out, we have to see our anger as a gift. It's the gift that keeps on giving. Thank you both.

Monica, I thoroughly enjoyed your explanation of anger and its need!

I think Mercedes Allen pointed out several reasons in “Transbigotry” for our anger in the very division of the T community.

Of course I have an admitted anger of my own toward the root of what causes us to suffer discrimination. We all deal with it in ways that we can! After all, what we have is a defensive anger, just the opposite of the offensive anger aimed against us.

I guess you could say my anger has become offensive since I aim it at countering discrimination in blogs on the internet mainly, but I also support the LGB+T community at home! This may be considered by some a small contribution but I do what I can with the time that I have.

The fact of the matter is we need our anger! Since it is pointless to keep waiting for the world to change, it’s our responsibility to create that change and anger, though unwanted, gives us the means to confront the opposition!

One day we will have no need of anger and the will of civilized rational people will overcome the menace of ignorance at all levels of society. Until that day comes we must “Shine like the Sun” from now on and after!

As several folks have mentioned, alot of the anger within the Trans community these days is bound in frustration. We, constantly, are marginalized by everyone including those who are supposed to be our allies. I spent 42 years trying to figure out how best to express the woman inside me thus living honestly and authentically. Need I say that this has been no easy task, pushing me to the brink of suicide on more than one occasion. That path led me through Gender Reassignment Surgery, electrolysis, therapy etc etc. I was fortunate to have the funds available to borrow against my 401K since, as the powers that be tell me "you're nuts(as stated in the DSM IV)but you're not nuts enough for your insurance to cover your treatment. (Personally I don't feel I'm anymore deranged than anybody else) but still that pisses me off! So...I take a huge loan against my 401K (which I'll be paying off indefinitely) to cover the expense of my surgery. Naturally, I deduct this uncovered medical expense from my taxes and... SURPRISE! The IRS in their infinite medical wisdom tells me "Nope, not a legitimate medical expense...this is cosmetic, unnecessary surgery".Believe me, if this surgery was not absolutely and totally necessary for my well-being you can bet that I would have avoided it like the plague!!! So now I face an audit because the IRS, along with everyone else, is telling me that this condition with which I have grappled for 40 of my 47 years on this Earth, is not "legitimate"....just a figment of my imagination. THAT pisses me off!!! Know what I say to that......... BULLSHIT, try being me for a day and see if your opinion changes.

Brainna,
Make sure you have the recent AMA resolution and the recent WPATH announcement that both give you ammunition to counter the "cosmetic" BS that has now been proven nothing more than institutionalized discrimination. Fight them SOBs.

Yes, this is another thing that makes me angry.

Yes, thanks Monica. I responded to the IRS "inquiry" in June and was told that it could be 6 months or more before they even look at what I sent them. Included in the material I responded with was some of the info you mentioned along with letters from therapists etc stating that GRS, for me, was absolutely necessary. I've also spoken with a couple of folks at GLAAD wrt my case and Rhiannons' which is still in judicial limbo a year later. We'll see if the judge in Rhiannons' case does the right thing.... if not, I'll be the next one in line. Of course, it is extremely frustrating to have to justify myself and my medical condition to some dolt at the IRS who thinks he knows better than me and my therapists. Would they deny someone a deduction or make them justify surgery for breast cancer...I think not. Again....this really pisses me off. Is my anger unjustified? Again, I think not.

Anger is our friend. Anger helps keep us targeted at the true source of the problems we face, which is the stupidity and narrow-mindedness of the world at large--as opposed to internalizing the bile thrown at us, & coming to believe that what *we* are is the problem. Righteous rage is a VERY healthy response to unwarranted assault IMO. Own it, use it, revel in it!

An observation: I have seen depression defined as rage turned inward. Many of us over the years had to live with deep and profound depression, and just getting up in the morning was a struggle, and our days went down from there.

I would submit that when our anger has no outlet, that it is turned inward, and even when we experience love and joy, these emotions are tainted by depression and they are diminished.

Someone important to me has helped me realize this and move beyond the depression that was a constant companion to me. Emotions I have now are truly genuine, and that even includes anger.

But I am afraid that we in the trans community all too often mistake anger for action. We all have seen vitriolic comments in some of these blogs lashing out at various organizations, groups and persons, but to what effect? Making these vicious remarks may help us vent and by doing so we feel better, but what has been accomplished? Yes, it gets us attention, but does it bring us any closer to the day when discrimination and transbigotry will end?

I would say no. In fact all the ranting and raving we do sometimes impedes our making any progress on the vital issues we have in our day to day lives.

I would suggest that a better course of action would be to simply take a step back, take a deep breath, and ask ourselves what we can do about the situation? The quotation, "It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness," may apply here. If all of us took a moment to light a candle, maybe the world would see the light and it would be a better place for all of us.

Transgender people, like Helms, do nothing to help their cause by pouring their fury into attacks on HRC. It generates no additional votes for an inclusive ENDA, and it alienates moderate gays who are sympathetic to trans causes but realistic about the difficult of trying to pass an inclusive ENDA.

It also does nothing to further dialogue to continue to misrepresent history. While Monica complains about "the people who created [a non-inclusive ENDA," as though that happened last year, she (once again) conveniently erases three decades of work - beginning in 1974 - on federal legislation to ban anti-gay discrimination in employment. The pretenses that ENDA did not exist until last year, that its first-ever incarnation was T-inclusive, and that the Frank bill was some kind of never-before-seen perversion are all propaganda that insult the intelligence of everyone who knows the three-decade-long history of the struggle over this bill.

Lastly, Monica's column, though sympathetic, doesn't convey any information that people don't already know. As insulting as the propaganda is the assumption by people like Monica that anyone who questions her political strategy must just be ignorant of trans issues. Plenty of us are not ignorant of trans issues and, in fact, support trans equality. But while Monica is assuming we all need to be educated about trans issues, she and others who take her position never, ever address the real issue. They never, ever explain (1) how they plan to secure the additional votes necessary to pass the inclusive ENDA, including how they plan to get the votes of conservative Southern Democrats or at-risk Democrats in Republican-leaning districts, or (2) how long they believe the community should hold hostage the rights of gay workers in Utah, Texas, Michigan, Florida, and elsewhere in an attempt to pass only a T-inclusive ENDA.

Until Monica and others forthrightly address these crucial issues, their advocacy will remain utterly ineffective because they fail to recognize that ignorance about trans issues isn't the problem. The problem is the complete absence of any realistic strategy for passing a T-inclusive bill in the near future and any justification for telling gay workers, who are suffering just as badly as T workers in plenty of instances, to suffer for another decade even though we might be able to enact some initial legislation to help them now.

So Monica and others can continue to assume that the problem is the ignorance of others and can continue to "educate" people who already are educated. The result will be no change whatsoever in the dynamics on this issue. If they want to persuade some of us, then give us the specifics on how they plan to get the votes of conservative Democrats.

Until then, I've heard all the whining about HRC I care to hear.

Not one word in my post demonstrated any lack of understanding of trans issues, and I resent Monica's reckless slander. As one who has actively supported trans measures at the state, local, and workplace levels, I demand an apology.

Monica does not get to serve up misleading spin about ENDA and then demand that no one challenge her on it because her post wasn't "about ENDA."

Nothing in Monica's post addressed either her own misstatements about the history of ENDA or the crucial questions of strategy. Nor did anything easily locatable in the link she provided.

Give me a realistic strategy for passing the T-inclusive bill next year, and I'm willing to support it because the need is great. So far, however, I see no realistic strategy for passage. All I see is a lot of distortion, denial, invective, and slander. If that's all there is, I'm content to continue supporting the traditional version of ENDA that doesn't piggyback trans issues onto gay issues and try to address both simultaneously.

No, Monica, I am not trans, I do not know more about being trans than transfolk do, nor did I ever claim to. If you can't respond to what's actually in my comment, please keep your snarky retorts to yourself.

While I do not know more about being trans than you, I was already well familiar with everything you described in your post. The fact that I disagree with your ENDA position does not mean I don't know anything about trans issues, contrary to your faulty and self-serving assumption that allows you to dodge substantive discussion of ENDA by attacking people as ignorant bigots. In addition to the things you did mention, you might also have mentioned restroom controversies in the workplace - including a bad Minnesota court decision on the subject - federal efforts since 9/11 to effectively override state control of sex designation, the failure of jails and prisons to effectively accommodate transgender people, anti-trans biblical interpretations that are even more strained than anti-gay ones, the refusal of insurance companies to cover sex correction surgery, and any number of issues that - shockingly! - I happen to already be aware of even though I'm not trans. Of course, you also failed to mention something that undermines your ENDA position: recent federal court victories for trans workers under existing laws.

One thing I'm not aware of, though, is any realistic political strategy for passing a T-inclusive ENDA in the near future. Without that, I won't support killing a good bill that has been pending for decades (the traditional ENDA) merely because it isn't perfect (i.e. doesn't include gender identity language). And your continuing evasion shows that you don't have a good answer to the crucial strategy questions, which in turn makes your self-righteous indigance about ENDA completely unjustified.

But by all means, please persist in slandering someone who is usually your ally and go ahead pretending that no one could ever disagree with your ENDA position for any reason other than ignorance or bigotry. You'll really win over House and Senate majorities with that tactic.

Steve, I am a transgender woman. My partner is a gay man. I'd like us both to be protected by ENDA. Now, if the only way to pass ENDA was without trans protections, then I'd be disappointed - but something is better than nothing and I want to see my partner's rights protected and sure, I'd take an imperfect bill over nothing. (My gay boyfriend, on the other hand, has said he'd be very upset if they passed a bill that didn't include transgender protections.) ** However ** what angers me about what happened last year is that the bill wasn't going to become law anyway, because George Bush was going to veto it, regardless of whether it was inclusive of trans folks or not. So it's really a symbolic bill. And if you're going to push for a symbolic bill, you might as well get it right and include everyone in it.

As far as strategies for passing an inclusive bill, this is where HRC needs to step up to the plate. They have the resources to fight back against some of the stereotyping and hate-mongering being pushed from the religious right, and they have at least *some* access to Congress, and they can have conversations with members of Congress about how transgender protections are important and are a key part of HRC's legislative agenda.

Unfortunate as it is, members of Congress are more likely to listen to gay lobbyists than trans lobbyists, because gay lobbyists are considered more mainstream. So - IMO, what needs to happen to pass an inclusive ENDA is for the HRC to have a change of heart and make it a priority to have conversations with wavering members of Congress about trans protections. They know how to lobby, that's what they do; they have only lobbied about trans rights peripherally -- when they make trans rights front and center, then we can start gaining votes for an inclusive ENDA.

And once we see the HRC pushing HARD for trans rights, I think you'll see a lot of the transgender community come around and start supporting them. And politics is about compromise, and I think many trans people will be willing to compromise and work with HRC for incremental changes once we know they are working hard for us and that they have our backs. But we need to see them working hard for our rights first. So far HRC hasn't done that. We need to see it to believe it.

I do have one more comment.

Since Steve couldn't provide the figures that dyssonance asked for, I figured I would provide some from the TAVA Survey. Keep in mind that not everyone who took the survey answered every question.

-- Have you ever been fired from a job for being a transgender or an intersex person? “Yes” – 126 out of 823 = 15.3%

-- Have you been fired more than once for being a transgender or an intersex person? "Yes” – 56 out of 820 = 6.8%

-- Have you ever been told you are being fired or not hired for being a transgender or an intersex person? “Yes” – 77 out of 815 = 9.4%

-- Have you ever worked as a sex worker because you could not find a job? “Yes” – 40 out of 819 = 4.9%

-- Have you ever resorted to illegal activities to have an income? “Yes” – 85 out of 813 = 10.5%

-- Have you ever faced any forms of discrimination on the job? “Yes” – 256 out of 814 = 31.4%

-- Have you ever faced any forms of discrimination other than job-related? “Yes” – 250 out of 801 = 31.2%

Keep in mind that these were transgender veterans. It is just as common in the rest of the community, and maybe even worse. Who say we want to wait for a fully inclusive ENDA? Not me and not those who took our survey.

Here's a strategy for you.

*An inclusive ENDA with the words 'gender or perceived gender' in the text of the bill language.

*No deals to cut that language.

*HRC and Barney browbeating and twisting arms to pass the inclusive bill the same way they did on the non-inclusive bill last fall while we do our part to flood Congress with phone calls urging passage of the bill.

*Barney/HRC or both handing over to the transgender community the list of Congresscritters they claim need to be educated on ENDA so they can be lobbied..

Since ENDA, I have encountered many incrementalists, often at the same time I encounter those for whom anonymity allows them free reign to express their sentiments.

I happen to be an incrementalist, myself. But I am also aware that when you leave a fallen soldier to die on a battle filed for incremental gains, you leave a part of why you were seeking that gain.

Steve, you seem to have realized that we know far more about this than you do. You avoid questions, you dance around points, and you insist on things that have been put out as true that simply are not.

You haven't realized yet why it is that in this *one* area, Transfolk are not only not going to back down, but they are more uniform on this one subject than anything else.

I've already described why, previously.

We fight for the rights of LGBT people, not merely Trans, because we can do nothing but fight for all since that T contains all the rest.

We are tired of living in fear and despair.

We will not do it any longer.