The National Day of Silence

Tomorrow is the official observance of The National Day of Silence.

Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC held their observance yesterday. I was invited to speak during the ceremonies at 8PM. I always enjoy speaking at events. Each is special in it's own way, as was this one.

This photograph is going to be one of my favorites, not because I am in it, but because of who is in it with me. You can click to enlarge the photo. These are the leaders of Campus Pride at Winthrop University. They invited me to their off campus home for dinner at 5:30 PM. I had met a few of these young people during the HRC gala in February, but these couple hours gave me time to become better acquainted.

I write a lot on this blog about courage and the quest for human dignity. These young men and women have a courage and maturity that many of us older folks would do well to develop.

As much as I enjoyed speaking at the event, spending time with them on a more personal level overshadowed anything else. I have thought all day about the courage it takes to come out in view of the horrific amount of hate crime violence we have seen these last few months.

We talk about being true to yourself and reaching out. These men and women have already learned the lesson. I thought to myself today, they already get it when many of us are still trying to figure it out. I hope my words reflect my admiration for them. I also hope I have an opportunity to see them again. They definitely charged my batteries last night, although some friends think I'm a little too over charged already. I don't think that's a bad thing.

Something else happened last night. There was another speaker who had to cancel at the very last minute. My friend, Stephanie Marie stepped up and got there in plenty of time for the ceremonies. She did an amazing job of impromptu speaking. She was actually quite amazing.

The Campus Pride leaders will probably read this. Thanks to you all for the lessons you teach us old timers.

I don't think I will need physical therapy for my neck after the accident at work. The concussion was apparantly mild because I'm mostly conscious again of what I'm doing, although a couple friends disagree on that. The neck pain is getting better gradually.

Charlotte Gender Alliance is growing faster than I woud have imagined. Our meeting in April was perhaps our best yet. I have reason to believe the May 3rd meeting will be equally powerful.

As I have said, our situation in Charlotte is somewhat unique in that we have two transgender support groups which are mutually supportive of each other. I am a member of Kappa Beta as are many of the folks in Charlotte Gender Alliance. It is often asked if there will ever be real TG Unity, specifically NC TG Unity. I honestly believe we have it in Charlotte. It's pretty awesome.

April 10, 2008

I saw my personal physician this week for a second opinion on the injury I wrote about earlier. As I knew, there is no permanent damage to my noggin, but it's still nice to hear another doctor say it.

I will begin physical therapy for the sprained neck and shoulder. I'm still not where I need to be, but as I told a friend, I've never been where I need to be. It's all relative.

I went to new The Charlotte Gay and Lesbian Community Center open house this evening. Charlotte Gender Alliance has an opportunity for this to be our permanent meeting site. I think it will be perfect, but a group of us will look at it before making a decision.

We are growing to the point our current space, cozy though it is, is getting a little cramped. Not a problem there, we planned to grow and plan to continue.

One of the cool things about these events, you always meet people you have met at other functions. Our guest last week from HRC was also there. It was good seeing her again.

April 6, 2008

Our Charlotte Gender Alliance meeting last night was perhaps our most important ever. We had a larger turnout, which is fine, but the energy in the room was amazing.

We invited two local members of HRC. The dialogue we had showed me again we all want the same thing, the right to be who we are. Their participation was more valuable than they may realize. I hope they come back soon.

For anyone who has read previous posts on this and especially other blogs, the ENDA situation is clear. Everyone who knows me, also knows how I feel about unity. It is sitting down with each other over dinner that will enable us to, as the saying goes, 'Be The Change'. I feel stronger about that than ever.

It was not lost on me that along with the two HRC members, we also had two members of the Kappa Beta board of directors present.

We are not perfect and will make mistakes along the way. The unity we had last night sort of got to me. I mean, two support groups in the same city, no competition or dissention, only support......two HRC members being as supportive of us as we were them. I have to admit it was pretty darned cool.

What was not cool was an event at work last Thursday. The bottom section of a roll up door broke off and hit me in the head. I went to the E.R. where they did a CAT scan. The results showed no permanent damange. The E.R. doctor says I have a neck sprain and possible mild concussion.

I'm still having headaches and neck pain. I guess that's no surprise since it's only been four days. I will call my personal physician tomorrow and see how it goes day by day.

April 1, 2008

This past Saturday, a number of transgender people were invited to Greensboro, NC to meet the board members of Equality North Carolina for dialogue. They were very nice people and I really enjoyed meeting them.

I might add I also met some transgender leaders in NC for the first time. This in itself was a good thing. We also began dialogue with each other.

The discussion was pointed at times, but always respectful. Feelings continue to run deep over what took place with HRC, ENDA and a host of other issues.

It would be difficult to reach a concensus on anything in three hours. The one thing in agreement is the need for education, getting to know each other and focusing on our commonalities rather than our differences.

One course we all agreed on would be for board members to visit support groups around NC as they are able. This would put a face on the community and let them hear our stories. The fact is, this is good for any well meaning people and is something we are going to focus on in Charlotte Gender Alliance. Our potential for outreach is unlimited.

I spoke at PFLAG Salisbury last month. I'm going back to join this month, with a few friends coming along with me. This will give them an opportunity to meet two other ENC board members. I think we're off to a pretty good start.

As I said, feelings run very deep over ENDA and HRC. It's no secret to anyone, including the HRC people at the local level. I recently met one of local HRC members, a very nice lady. We have invited her to our meeting this coming Saturday evening.

The bottom line to all this, we speak of embracing diversity. We talk about inclusion and not exclusion. We hand out reams of paper during Pride week about accepting each other. I personally preach being happy with who you are, no matter who you are. Some people are probably tired of hearing it.

I think we're at the point where the rubber meets the road. Either what we preach is true, or it's not. If we are truly open, we will meet with our LGB friends, and also our so called 'straight' allies at every opportunity. They will learn about us and vice versa.

We aren't going to change the world, but we can begin by changing our own outlook. You also meet some pretty cool people doing this.

Speaking of cool people, if the two ladies I dialogued with during Pride and met at the HRC debate happen to read this, I would love to hear from you. You have no idea how much I respect you.