I wish
We didn’t need
Black History Month
(Month of February, for Canada and the U.S.)
International Women’s Day
(March 8th)
Transgender Day of Visibility
(March 31st)
Or Day of Transgender Remembrance
(November 20th).
Sadly
We need these dates
And more
On the calendar.
Too long
A small cadre
Of white Christian men
Have controlled nations
As their own private fiefdoms.
Imposing their will
Whenever threatened
With being ousted.
Whether
It be politically
Economically
Or socially.
Am so tired
Of having people
Forced to place their dreams
On hold.
Due to the fear
A love one
Will be attacked
As retribution
For being honest.
Many ways
It feels like
We’ve drifted backwards
To the late 1970s/early 1980s.
When HIV/AIDS
Exploded on the world
Cutting a tragically deadly swath
Through the LGBTQ+ community.
From which
A renewed Gay activist voice
Fought long dark odds
Emerging from their stark closets
For overdue changes.
Now
Transgender community faces
A similar question
About our existence.
Now
Unlike then
Finding supporters
Is harder.
Given the stigma
That surrounds people
Like myself.
As draconian legislation
Is being globally enacted
By various countries
Limiting our rights
As a person.
Therisa © 2019
Author's note: The following op-ed article, from The Globe and Mail, inspired this very visible response, by me:
https://www.theglobeandmail.
Ironically, on the previous Thursday, I was talking about this very issue, with a local
librarian, expressing my fears that the trans-community was being forced back, into the closet. Which we have fought so hard, to escape from, over the past several decades. Now, through draconian legislation, the religious and social conservatives are rolling back the clock, to a time, when our hard fought rights didn’t exist, where it was acceptable for gay and trans bashing.
