Activism – Page 5 – Kate Bornstein is a Queer and Pleasant Danger

The world’s verdict will be harsh if the US rejects the man it yearns for

Kate Bornstein · October 13, 2008

The title of this post is the title of an editorial that appeared in the UK Guardian about a month ago. My longtime friend, co-author and political standard bearer Caitlin Sullivan sent me the link. Please forward it on.

In his editorial, Jonathan Freedland makes clear the high global stakes in the upcoming election. Most of the world is cheering for Obama, says Freedland. Despite the fact that we allowed a mean-spirited fool take office in this country in two elections, Freedland makes the point that until now, most anti-American sentiment has not been aimed at the average American. Rather, anti-American sentiment has been framed as anti-Bush sentiment.

Generously enough, it seems that the world has given the American people the benefit of the doubt. But according to Freedland if we allow the ridiculous ticket of McCain/Palin to sail into office, our already shaky credibility in the world as Americans will be shot to hell. Sure, Senator Obama has a good lead in the polls, but this isn’t the time to sit back and relax. The Republican campaign is fighting dirty to win. Our response has got to be an active drive for unity on the Left.

Race has been plunked down on the table in the hopes of turning the tide to McCain. The Conservative Right is dragging the old radical socialist bogey man out of their old kit bag, further silencing the genuinely compassionate goals of the radical left. The solution seems clear to me. Even if race isn’t our issue, even if we’re not ourselves radical lefties, we’ve got to do the old Sixties thing and come together. We’ve got to embrace the Obama/Biden ticket as the clear choice of the American people. And we can’t afford to drop the drive for unity once Obama has won the presidency. That would be really stupid of us.

After President Obama is sworn into office as a result of lefty unity, we may very well have found the key to establishing an honest-to-goodness coalition that fights for safety, empowerment, health, and well-being on behalf of all world citizens—regardless of race, age, gender, class, citizenship, sexuality, looks, ability, religion, or ecological stance. Wouldn’t that be something? There’s never been a coalition like that in the history of humanity.

Senator Barack Obama has been talking about hope. Well, that’s what I hope for. I hope you do, too.

with love and respect, and in unity

Kate

I wanna be a girl just like Sarah Palin! I do, sort of.

Kate Bornstein · October 5, 2008

As a male to female trans person, I’ve had the opportunity to more or less pick the kind of girl I wanted to become—or at least navigate my life in that direction. And just look at Sarah Palin! She’s a corn-fed, gosh-and-golly perky, petite, pretty, and feisty girl from heartland America. I grew up as a chubby, egghead, clumsy Jewish boy on the Jersey shore. Of course I’ve navigated my life in the direction of something funner—like Sally Field, or Julia Roberts… and Sarah Palin.

The moose killing, not so much. I kill the occasional mosquito, that’s about it. The woman-hating, not so much. My journey to girl was guided by some swell feminists,and that’s how I see the world now. And the religious fundamentalism? No. I’m a fan of separation of church and state. Besides, people like Sarah Palin think that people like me are sinners in the hands of an angry god. And I don’t want anyone’s angry hands on me, or on any of my tribe.

A friend of mine sent me this video by Eve Ensler. Eve’s someone else I’ve modeled my girlhood on.

So, sure… I wanna be a girl like Sarah Palin, all pert and aw shucks and flirty. But I’d wanna be a woman like Eve Ensler, for her political smarts, artistic talent, and the energy she’s got for her tireless pursuit of equity for women. For the full text of the video, just navigate your life over to Eve Ensler’s post on The Huffington Post.

kiss kiss, you betcha

Obama Campaign Acknowledges Transgender Community As Supporters… Now What?!

Kate Bornstein · October 3, 2008

One of the terrible things about life inside a closet is you never get to speak out loud as the person you know yourself to be. When you’re living in the closet, no one who loves you ever gets to call you the name you’ve always wanted to hear. For over two decades, Trans activists, artists, educators, and bloggers across the USA and around the world have worked to open closet doors for trannies. That’s over 20 years of hard work on local, regional, national and global levels. And now it looks like our combined work has brought us to a tipping point in the history of Transgender politics.

Yesterday, I read the news on Helen Boyd’s En|Gender website. The presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama has publicly thanked the Trans Community for our support. I’m dizzy with joy that we’ve come so far in my lifetime, and this is a great opportunity to come together as a real community. There’s no monolithic transgender community in the world, and I hope there never will be. There are many Transgender communities, and all I want is for us to work more closely together with one another. We need to heal the divisions in our Trans world in the same way that we want Senator Obama to heal the terrible divisions resulting from eight years of government sanctioned and government sponsored oppression. So, how do we take a step from here on what’s going to be a long road toward Transgender unity? First, I think, we need to understand what it is that’s been keeping us apart for so long.

Seeing Beyond Red or Blue: The Value of A Transgender Perspective to a Successful US Presidency

Kate Bornstein · September 30, 2008

All this talk about Trans for Obama has got me wondering: what is it that trannies can offer a guy who believes he’s fully qualified to lead the free world? He says he wants to give us change we can believe in. Well, both Senators Obama and McCain are promising they’ll change things for the better. They both say they’re going to change this world into a better place for all of us. Change, change, change. Every other word in this furshlugginer campaign is change.

It’s my opinion that neither Senator should fiddle around with any change until they learn a lot more about the mechanics of change… and precisely what it is about our culture that needs changing—like the either/or bully tactics of junior high that are playing themselves out in the US presidential campaign. It’s time Americans change the way we see ourselves, far beyond Red or Blue. Trannies just may hold the key to accomplishing that. We know the principles of profound, complex change.

Gender Outlaws for Obama: the end… or is it just the beginning?

Kate Bornstein · September 30, 2008

Yesterday was a such a pisser! We started the day at 105 contributors. At 12:24 this morning (EST), Trans-blogging for Obama Day broke through our target goal of 200 pro-Trans contributors to the Obama/Biden ticket. We raised over $6000 for Obama’s campaign. AND, we accomplished this on a day that was not only the start of a Jewish High Holy Day, it was also the day that will go down in history as “Black Monday ’08.” Despite it all, we flourished. Wait… we’re trannies—we do everything with a flourish!

In the future, when I’m asked how far the transgender community has come since my day, I’ll point to these days as a great leap for trannies, and even a small step forward for the world we live in. At the level of national elections, we are invisibles no more.

Here’s how the day played out…

Gender Outlaws for Obama

Kate Bornstein · September 29, 2008

Today is Trans-Blogs for Obama Day. The Stonewall Democrats are sponsoring a cyber day on which the transgender community can publicly rally around Senator Obama. We can show him our support and our numbers on a full day of trans and ally fundraising for the good Senator from Illinois. Twenty years ago, I never envisioned a tranny community, much less a tranny community that could make itself heard on a national level.

When I’m out on tour, a question I’m most regularly asked is, “How far has the transgender movement come since your days, when you were transitioning?” I usually duck the question, because the answer isn’t as simple as “great” or “awful.” Over the last two decades, there have been some wonderful political and cultural advancements. Yet I’m pretty sure that I speak for the majority of trannies when I say that from our perspective, we could certainly use more change than what we’ve gotten over the last twenty years.

Here’s what it was like twenty years ago…

Honoring Virginia Ramey Mollenkott

Kate Bornstein · September 22, 2008

Remarks I wrote and delivered in New York City at the Union Theological Seminary on Friday, September 19th, 2008—on the occasion of the publication of the new edition of her book, Sensuous Spirituality, and the acceptance of Virginia Ramey Mollenkott’s archives at The Center for Lesbian & Gay Studies in Religion & Ministry at Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California.

******************************

One of the major blocks to going through with my gender change was my fear of God’s wrath. It makes sense—I’m a Jew, and we believe that God can be mighty wrathful when He wants to be—no matter that wrath is a deadly sin.

I left religion behind me, and embraced atheism as a spiritual path. Many transgender people do that: when our religious leaders tell us how angry God is going to be with us for messing with our God-given genders, we turn away from God. And we eventually reach a point of unbearable loneliness and inconsolable grief, with no God to comfort us. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott is the first person to address our spiritual conundrum. She is the first person to return us to God’s comfort and wisdom.

Race AND Gender Equity Advocates for Obama

Kate Bornstein · September 13, 2008

Look at Senator McCain! Please, look closely. You can do just that at the website of The Real McCain.

Two days before Governor Palin’s nomination. I turned to my girlfriend and said, “Y’know what? McCain is going to nominate a woman.” True story. I bet if Senator Obama had chosen a woman as a running mate, McCain would now be running with an African American man on his ticket.

It’s a mostly successful Right Wing tactic to splinter the Left into small groups of focused advocates, each grabbing for a seat at the master’s table. Unlike the different special interest groups of the Right Wing, race and gender activists haven’t worked together for decades building coalition. Gender versus race is costing the Democrats votes, damnit.

For my part I’m not going to be divided. I voted for Clinton in the Democratic primary, and I’m supporting and voting for Obama in November. Senator Obama is our best hope to push back the tides of racism and sexism that were unleashed and nurtured under the Bush administration.

God bless America, God curse the freaks.

Kate Bornstein · September 9, 2008

The closer we get to the US presidential election, the more frequently we hear, God, bless America. I’ve been embarrassed about that phrase all my life, because I’ve never known what God bless America (GBA) actually means. GBA is used variously as a statement of fact, a prayer, a wish, or a blessing. I think I’ve finally got it figured out… and God bless America is none of the above.

At first glance, GBA looks like a statement. But to make that work, you’d have to say, “God blesses America.” GBA sounds more like a command—a phrase generally spoken in an impressively commanding tone—as if to say, “God, I command You to bless America.” But no one commands God, right? Not even the people who claim to understand Him or His will.

Many people agree that God bless America is a fervent wish, a longing, or a prayer. If so, it sure is a strange prayer—intoned as it usually is, with fierce belligerence and/or an ear-to-ear grin. When spoken like that, God bless America can sure whip up an audience. Crowds of thousands respond to GBA with unbridled cheers of affirmation, and genuine tears of relief. And that’s the key to what GBA really is. It’s nothing so high and mighty as a prayer, a command, or a statement of fact. God bless America is a slogan. I mean, duh!

Of What Possible Value Is Transgender Experience & Theory In These Changing Times?

Kate Bornstein · August 31, 2008

Dear Friends, Family, and Tribe,

I’m preparing to head out on the road again—I’m looking for tribe. It’s my 15th year of touring, and I’m both excited and apprehensive. The USA is clearly polarized—scarily so. So, who will be moving into the White House next? There are only two choices. A sweet, young man who has captured the heart of a great number of Americans? Or another playground bully and his girlfriend, the mean girl?

The world’s about to change, big time. But, no matter who will have taken the reins of the so-called free world, those of us who live out on the edges of the culture aren’t going to see much of the change we need in order to make our lives more worth living. And those of us who live out on the margins of the culture aren’t going to be any more free than we are at this moment.

Some of us live outside the culturally acceptable limits of gender, and sexuality. Others of us live way-y-y out on the despised margins of race, age, and class. Lots of us may be spiritual, but not too many religions want to include us… except maybe as charity cases. For many of us—ever since we were kids—people have laughed at us for how we looked. Or they stared at our differently abled bodies.

We’re citizens of the world, but too many of us end up as second class citizens, or illegal immigrants. We are most of the people in the world, but the powers that be are building walls to keep us out and apart.