His humour. His wit. His openness. His acceptance of diversity and individuality. And I don't even KNOW the man! He has this incredible ability to make me laugh and cry at the same time. I'm speaking, of course of his Facebook posts (unless you want to think that I'm cool enough to know and talk to him, in which case, yeah, we totally just had brunch). He has these great memes and amazing sarcastic quotes, but then he fires out a post which scream injustice and demands action. I'm speaking mostly of the boycott of Arizona's 'Turn Away The Gay' bill, which would allow business owners to turn away any LGBT customers. Some might call it 'religious freedom' but it is, in my opinion, straight up discrimination. If two men walk hand-in-hand into a store, you don't turn them away because they're gay, you let them shop like you would any straight couple, because they're human. Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer vetoed the bill (yay Jan!). However, Mississippi has recently passed the law, which I understand will take effect July 1st. Shame on Gov. Phil Bryant.
But just this evening I read a post that Mr. Takei shared; "Parents Of Transgender Son Share Their Emotional Story With Inspirational Mini-Doc". It was one I had seen floating around my Facebook feed that for whatever reason, I didn't click on. Not because I wasn't interested in the subject matter, more because most FB share links send me to weird Norwegian diet sites. But I'm so happy I decided to take the plunge and read the article, because it restored my faith in some of the people we have in this world, and gave me hope that maybe we're not a completely screwed up society.
The article tells the story of beautiful 6-year-old Ryland Whittington, a transgender who was born a girl but who now lives as a boy. I was most intrigued by the fact that the son they speak of was so young when he realized 'she' felt like a 'he', just 2-years-old. I really had no idea that at that young an age, transgender is even a concept. I have a young daughter who, at the age of three, wanted to dress up as Buzz Lightyear for Halloween and totally rocked that space suit. She played with trucks in the dirt, wore a blue pair of shoes, and never took an interest in the pink side of the toy section. She was the quintessential 'tomboy'. And my husband and I never tried to sway her to 'the other side' or push Barbies and makeup on her. If it was a phase, she's grow out of it, and if not, we'd go on loving her just the same. But she did eventually develop an interest in dolls and Disney princesses. This boy Ryland never did. He (she, at this point still) identified himself as his little sister's 'brother'. He dressed up as Spiderman and Woody and hated wearing dresses. His parents finally figured out that he wasn't going through a phase and maybe they should pursue his preferences, after researching the staggering suicide rate of trans people. So they cut his hair into a handsome 'male' fashion, let him dress more masculine, changed the decor in his room to be boy friendly, and noticed how happy he was. Like he was complete, free to be himself.
I ended the video in tears. I couldn't imagine what it must be like to be so young, so vulnerable, so confused about who you are or who you 'should' be. He was trapped in a body that he didn't understand, that didn't match who he was in his mind. That terrified me. I couldn't help but think about my own children. What if one of my daughter's woke up each day, wanting her entire wardrobe to consist of blue jeans and Transformers shirts, who wanted a blue room and a train set and wanted me to call her by a different name (the boy in the story didn't bring up that point, but his name can be used as a boy's or girl's. My kids have distinctly female names). What would I do?
I would love her. I would accept her. I would call her him/he if she wanted. I would hug her as much and as tightly as I do now. I would cry just as hard when she falls and scrapes her knee as I do now. I would get just as anxious and excited for her (far in the future) wedding day as I do now, regardless if she wore a dress or a tux. 1 Corinthians 13:7-8a "Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen."
You can't mask discrimination with religion. You accept diversity with open arms, and an open heart. You stamp out hatred with the fervour of stopping a spark from catching on dry grass, and spread love like wildfire.
Let's hope that what these parents have done for their son will not only shape his life, but will reshape the views of those who are trying to take away his freedom, and the freedom of every other affected minority.
-N
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