by WUUC | Oct 20, 2016 | Minister Blog
She said, “You’ve lost a name, not a person.” She is Marci Owens who used to be Marcelas Owens. When Marcelas’s mother became ill with pulmonary hypertension, she ended up missing so many days of work due to her illness that she lost her job and consequently her healthcare. She became an advocate for health care reform but died before seeing or benefiting from the Affordable Care Act. Her son, Marcelas, picked up her torch and became a tireless advocate for health care reform. At age 11,he and his grandmother were invited to the White House for the signing of the Affordable Care Act.
Now 17, Marcelas is a transgender woman named Marci. Her statement above was in response to her grandmother’s lamenting the loss of the little boy, Marcelas. His grandmother actually went on to say that she also loved that she has gained another granddaughter.
Marci nailed it as far as I’m concerned. Transgender folks haven’t been lost, they have been found. They have found themselves. Their name and gender may change but their personhood has not been lost. And yet, it can take time for family and friends to realize that what they perceive as being lost was really a case of being found. It is not uncommon for parents to go through grieving the child they had originally known as one gender. They have to celebrate and let go of that child and welcome and embrace a differently gendered child into their hearts. But as Marci said, what has been lost was a name, not a person.
So today I celebrate not just Marci but her grandmother who loved her grandchild so much that she gave herself over to both grief and joy. May we all follow her lead.
Peace, Shalom, Salaam,
Rev. Lo
by WUUC | May 19, 2016 | Minister Blog
I recently finished Kristin Schreier Lyseggen’s book, The Women of San Quentin– Soul Murder of Transgender Women in Male Prisons. The book is based on a series of interviews of transgender women who are incarcerated in U.S. prisons. It reveals the chronic abuse of, violence toward, and refusal to recognize the gender identity of transgender women in the prison industrial complex. For those of us who watch the Netflix series, Orange is the New Black, Lyseggen’s book provides a reality check about life for transgender women behind bars.
The book had an unexpected affect on me: I can no longer support our current prison system. I question the rehabilitative possibilities of such a system. I question the sanction of a system that dehumanizes persons at every turn. I found myself wondering if I could survive incarceration. Solitary confinement is now being recognized for what it is: torture. I have long known that our prison population is disproportionately made up of people of color due to a combination of both racism and classism. I have come to conclude that our current prison system actively participates in the “soul murder” of all within its confines. Soul murder has been defined as “the deliberate attempt t eradicate or compromise the separate identity of another person.”
One of the reasons that the Black Lives Matter Action of Immediate Witness at the General Assembly last summer was so controversial was because it included the dismantling of the prison industrial complex. At the time I found that clause to be troublesome. But I find myself wanting the United States to look at the prison systems of other countries like Norway. For in those systems, the “inherent worth and dignity” of persons is honored. The violence that exists in our prison system does not exist in other systems.
Do we need to potentially remove persons from the general population who are a threat to others and the fabric of safety in the societal web? Of course. But we need to remove race and class as a factor in who goes to prison and who does not. Do some persons need to be removed even from the general prison population? Probably. But they do not have to be dehumanized and tortured. Nor should beatings, rape, and all sorts of assault be a prison norm. We are far behind much needed reform to our prison system. Why can’t we invest as much in truth and reconciliation processes as we do in building more prisons? Why can’t we allocate monies for prevention and drug and alcohol treatment rather than the millions that go into death penalty cases?
Unitarianism: “ There is a Love holding us.” Universalism: “Love will not give up on you and neither will we.”
Peace, Shalom, Salaam,
Rev.Lo
by WUUC | May 3, 2016 | Minister Blog
Years ago, I had the privilege of hearing author and activist, Leslie Feinberg, speak about transgender issues and politics. What really made an impact on me was when Feinberg talked about the fact that transgender persons have to make a decision every time they need to use a public restroom: attend to an urgent, normal, bodily function or put one’s life in potential danger. As someone who is cisgender (meaning that my “self-identity conforms with the gender that corresponds to my biological sex”) I am never faced with that decision. No one should be. But that is just what the coalition, “Just Want Privacy” wants to make the law in Washington.
Initiative 1515 would declare “null and void” the 2006 Human Rights Commission’s rule that guarantees bathroom access for transgender people. But the initiative goes even further by banning the commission from ever “adopting rules related to gender identity in sex-segregated facilities.” It prohibits transgender students from using “sex segregated” bathroom in schools, allowing them to use only “single stall or unisex bathrooms “or controlled use of faculty bathrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms.” The initiative also allows students to sue schools for $2500 each time they encounter a person of the opposite sex when accessing sex segregated restrooms, locker and shower rooms.
Based on the fear and distortion of truth tactics used by the Just Want Privacy coalition, I have no doubt that they will gather the required number of signatures by July so that the initiative will come before Washington voters. Having lost the battle in the courts to discriminate against gays and lesbians, groups like Just Want Privacy and conservative legislators are now turning their discriminatory sights on transgender persons. Last Thursday, the group Washington Won’t Discriminate, kicked off its campaign to challenge and defeat Initiative 1515. The byline for this campaign is, “Discrimination is not a Washington value.”
This initiative needs to be named for what it is: discrimination. And it needs to be defeated. All of us need to educate ourselves and others on the facts of the initiative and the Human Rights Commission rule of 2006. We also need to educate ourselves and others about the facts and truths of transgender lives. One book that I have found very helpful recently is Trans/Portraits: Voices from Transgender Communities. And we are lucky to have an annual conference held each August in Seattle: Gender Odyssey which is for professionals and laity, as well as families, transgender folks, and allies. But we don’t have to become experts to understand that discrimination is not a UU value. I ask you to join me and others to defeat Initiative 1515 and any other future proposed transgender discriminatory legislation.
Peace, Shalom, Salaam,
Rev.Lo
