Celebrating
Unique Lives

1

personal thoughts about the

Transgender Day Of
Remembrance Ceremony in
Burlington. I am a Male to >
Female trans person. When I
started my journey I took it for
granted that all people would
either accept me or ignore me.
Living in Vermont sometimes
one gets too comfortable, as
this is a pretty liberal, accepting
place to live.

I have been living full
time as a woman for a few
years and as I adjusted to my
new life I got interested in what
the lives of others like me were
like. I have had it pretty easy,
no one really has given me too
tough a time except a few com-
ments and problems at work,
which I finally resolved by

lam writing this to tell my

elizabeth

people die every year mainly
unnoticed by the public at large
and finding out some people
actually cheer — like we deserve
the hate or something. We don’t
ask for who we are, and most
will tell you if they had a
choice they would change the
inside not the outside — it would
be so much easier. It’s hard

Please come to our
service to honor

  those fallen -souls

who just, wanted to
live their lives.

Please come and
stand up and let
those who hateknow
we will not tolerateit.

‘ leaving my job and starting my

own business. As I looked
around and did research and
spoke to other trans folk I ‘
learned about the atrocities
done to others. I started won-
dering if my comfort level was
a bit too comfy for my own
good.

I remember the fear I
felt knowing so many trans

enough for us to find self
acceptance — many of us lose
family, friends and jobs, and to
top it off we find ourselves the
victims of hate. It has always
puzzled me how people can
hate others for being different,
when uniqueness is what makes
every one of us special. I am
glad we have found a way to
celebrate the lives of those who

 

just wanted to live their lives
how they wanted and to expose
the hatred and prejudice caused
them to lose their life.

As in all this concern
for terrorism, we cannot live
our lives in fear and let hatred
control our lives or they win. I
don’t care if you are
Gay,Lesbian,Straight or Trans it
shouldn’t matter. We are all
people on this little planet and
we either learn to accept differ—
ences in each other or we all
end up destroying each other,
and that would be sad. We are
all wonders of life, we are all
god’s creatures. We all have
something to give and that is
too precious for any of us to be
thinking we have the right to
take it away.

Maybe you don’t think
you need to go to our service

because you aren’t transgen-

dered and this doesn’t affect
you. Maybe you think it’s our
problem. Hatred is everyone’s
problem — not just trans people
or people in Iraq or poor souls
in the twin towers. We either
stand up together against hatred
or we all fall one by one. Please
come to our service to honor
those fallen souls who just
wanted to live their lives.
Please come and stand up and
let those who hate know we
will not tolerate it. We all need
to stand up for our children,
otherwise how can we say we
did the best we could to them?\I
hope you all show up and if
you don’t I hope you send
prayers for those in pain and
those who no longer have a
voice. Thank you. V

April Elizabeth is a carpenter
who lives in Milton.

    out in the ountains

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‘ _ charitable foundation Whiose mission is to
support and strengthen Vermont's gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgendered communities
today and build an endowment for tomorrow.

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