"We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."
Winston Churchill (June 4, 1940, speech to Parliament, in London, England)
The war has started
With your firing
The opening salvos
In the North Caroline Legislature
By passing ignorant based
HB2 legislation.
And now
This.
The revoking
Of President Obama's
Presidential decree
Allowing a trans-person
To use the washroom
Of their chosen gender.
Never thought
I would be saying
Or writing
These words:
"Thank you
President Trump."
For your words
And actions
Have united.
A diverse
And fractured community
As one.
Against you.
As we girth up
For the coming battles
Once more
"Manning" the front line.
Like we did
At the Compton's Cafeteria riots
In San Francisco (August 1966).
Or
The Stonewall Riots
That started
On June 28, 1968.
Except
This time
We will be remembered
By history
For our actions.
In refusing
The Gay and Lesbian communities
To speak for us
Like before.
Advancing
The civil and human rights
Of all.
Therisa © 2017
Author's note: The following is, an example of the growing anger, against President Trump., within the trans-community: https://ca.
17 comments:
This is very powerful and I agree with you here. A more tolerant world is what we need. Well put.
Thank you, Suyasha. Maybe one day, this dream can become a reality for all. Until then, I write, to right the wrongs done, in ignorance.
Oh no, he didn't! He reversed that ruling? Is he stupid, cruel or both?
I like your play on 'Manning' – one of my heroes. (No I'm not trans, just human, and I can recognise heroism when I see it.)
It defies all understanding, this wholesale determination to go backwards in time instead of progressing. I do hope that such draconian measures will be met with resistance on every level.
We have to keep speaking those fighting words! We can't go back in time. I am appalled by the actions of this President.... I think a lot of people will be joining in protests this time.
Sadly, Rosemary, President Trump has done so. There is a very important case that will heard before SCOTUS that determine the legality of this, by a brave Pa student, who is challenging their local school.
Must admit, I wasn't thinking of Ms Manning, when I wrote this line of verse. But, what she has done, takes real courage of the highest order. I do hope, she can live a normal life, after this.
Ignorance based fear defies all logic, Kerry, these actions by the NC legislature and President Trump, are such. Time will tell, if the American public, as a whole, will fight or accept these hate measures.
There's an old Canadian saying, "If the US sneezes, Canada catches the cold." Meaning, irrational ignorance based hate will spread northward, into Canada, which so far, has accepted our rights to use whatever washroom, we want. After several hearings, by various provincial human rights commissions, and legal challenges to it, the courts have upheld this right. Am hoping, this time, Canada can be held up, as a positive example for the US, to follow, when SCOTUS rules on the Pa student case for access to a washroom of their chosen gender.
I do hope so, Mary, but should it mean armed protests, the trans-community, in the past, has it's willing to die, to protect its rights.
I think that we can unite on that... so easy to forget that victories can be withdrawn... Maybe we can all share the same bathroom (like we often do in Sweden... after all there is a door to the toilet.
Well put, Therisa. This morning on facebook I shared a stirring song by a 1300 voice choir and MILCK of Toronto called I Can't Keep Quiet. Go look. Very affirming. It is unbelievable to me to see us being set back 50 years by the stroke of a madman's pen.
Bjorn, many of the local school boards, near me, are following similar policies of having unisex washrooms, now. A huge swing, from my days, as a student, during the 1970's and 1980's. Maybe, there's hope, for future generations of students, in Ontario. As for the United States, I feel like, it's 1950's and 1960's, all over again, with the Afro-American struggle for their civil rights.
Thank you, Sherry, but my heart is heavy, with worry that things will get worse, in the US, before positive change will happen.
inclusion and human rights are things we can never stop fighting for.
In these times is there anyone who is happy? Just sayin'.....sad.
Maybe, Trump supporters? Am guessing, here, Bekkie. Here's hoping for better time, when love and enlightenment rules the heart, and not hate and ignorance.
So agree, on these thoughts, Thotpurge. Maybe one day, humanity will be mature enough, to reach this goal.
You have so beautifully captured the thing that hate is powerless against....the community and momentum of those united in love.
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