Tomorrow's not just Easter Sunday

Tomorrow is more than Easter Sunday. It's also Transgender Visibility Day, a day to celebrate the Transgender people among us. And this year, it's even more important to recognize and support our trans folk because they are coming under attack by politicians who want to win votes from their ultra-right wing, anti-trans supporters.

The thing about ultra-anything and anti-anything folks is that they define themselves by judging others different from themselves for one reason or another, and scapegoating them rather than accepting their differences. (Good Friday was all about scapegoating...) But celebrating diversity and inclusion enriches our world.

I know there are a few Trans Day of Visibility events planned for March 31, but I am having a hard time finding details -- perhaps because, since the Premier of Alberta's declaration against the Trans Community two months ago, Trans folks are not wanting to draw attention to themselves for fear of reprisals from ultra- and anti- folks. They're celebrating quietly. Even so, I do want to acknowledge the day because I happen to love my own trans child, and I want our society to come to a place where everyone is accepted and encouraged to be who they are.

I want to believe that we can all work together to find common ground, and to listen -- to offer each other curiosity and compassion rather than become entrenched in fear and in demonizing those who see life differently than we do.

I hadn't given the people hiding behind divisive issues much thought until I read this article about a counter protest I attended in September. There was very little dialogue or discussion there because it was too loud to even have a conversation.

These kinds of disagreements play into the hands of divisive powers (like the aforementioned Premier) who prefer that we are so engaged in arguing with each other that we don't see how the people  with power are fomenting more and more fear and rage -- which keeps us feeling anxious, hopeless, and powerless rather than working together to discuss and address the issues that are most critical. And often those critical issues are making the powerful even more powerful -- to our detriment. (I saw a post somewhere yesterday that said the top 1% of the world's wealthy have 44 trillion dollars among them. If that isn't sinful, I don't know what is.)

So I guess I'm calling all of us, especially anti- and ultra people, to curiosity, compassion, and conversation rather than judgment and condemnation of people who are different. And I want to celebrate Trans people who are making a difference, like Captain Beatrice Gale, the first openly Trans chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces, who appears in the video below. 

And I am saying to the trans community that I see you, I know and love some of you, and you are wonderful just for being who you are. Happy Trans Day of Visibility!

Isn't it a wonderful world...

A few years ago, when my daughters were still playing soccer, Suzanna played against a team from the most ethnically diverse part of our city. My neighbour's brother, who has spent a lot of time in India and Asia, was standing next to me when I commented on the fact that every player but one on the opposing team had black hair. He turned to me and said, "Won't it be a wonderful world when people no longer notice things like that?"

This past weekend was the American Football Superbowl, when the two top teams played for the championship trophy, and advertisers pulled out all the stops to make commercials for their products that people will remember. A certain cola company's ad (click here to see it) has received a lot of negative attention because it took a national hymn and, while lines of the song were translated and being sung in the languages of different nationalities, it showed gorgeous images of people of those nationalities participating in life in the United States.

One of the really beautiful things in our world is the diversity of its people. Our different cultures, languages, beliefs and traditions give the world such richness and beauty. For a long time, my part of North America was pretty homogeneous, but in the last twenty years, things have really shifted, and now it's unusual to go through a day without the sound of a different language or accent in my ears, spoken by someone with skin colour different than mine. Coming from a bilingual country that is becoming more multilingual by the day, I think the sights and sounds our immigrants bring from their lands of origin are exciting, appealing, and expanding the hearts and minds of long-time Canadians, most of whose families originated in other lands, too. The fact that these more recent immigrants have been brave enough to join us in the Canadian multicultural mosaic, to learn yet another language and live in a different and much colder land, this time of year(!) fills me with admiration and appreciation for their resourcefulness and resilience.

We are all brothers and sisters, and isn't it a wonderful world when we can sing the same song together, even if our languages are different?!