Transgender Awareness/Rememberence Week

So, i'm giving a speech at my school about these events.
Background of this day.
Transgender Day of Remembrance is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28, 1998, launched the "Remembering Our Dead" web project and a San Francisco vigil the following year. The event provides a forum for transgender communities and allies to raise awareness of the threat of violence faced by gender variant people and the persistence of prejudice felt by the transgender community. Communities organize events and activities including town hall style "teach-ins," photography and poetry exhibits and candlelit vigils. These activities make anti-transgender violence visible to stakeholders like police, the media and elected officials.
"Today is Transgender Remembrance Day. Transgender Remembrance Day is a day that we remember transgender people who are and have been victims of violence. This day provides a forum for transgender communities and allies to raise awareness of the threat of violence faced by gender variant people and the persistence of prejudice felt by the transgender community. We need to talk about why transgender people are being persecuted and what needs to be done. This is not just a call to action for trans people; This is a call to everyone who calls themselves a trans ally and every person who is friends with, family of or loves a trans person.
Being a part of the LGBTQ+ community is not what is killing transgender citizens. It is the culture we are living in. It is a culture that teaches people that transgender people aren't real men or women, one that reduces them to jokes intended to inspire visceral reactions of disgust. It is a culture that teaches people that such portrayals are not just acceptable but entirely justified. Transgender people are constantly bombarded with messages that they are not as important in our society today. We live in times more sensitive than ever to hatred based violence, especially since the events of September 11th and the most recent terrorist attacks around the world. Yet even now, the deaths of those based on anti-transgender hatred or prejudice are largely ignored. Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. This trend shows no sign of abating. No one should be subjected to violence simply because of their gender identity or expression. No one should be denied the basic rights that enable their safety and security. No one should consider taking their own life to escape harassment and bullying. Please join with us on this day to remember our departed friends, loved ones, and community members. Thank you for your attention."
This week is a very good week to learn about new things and become more accepting of others.
Gender identity, is the gender someone identifies as or feels in their mind. And there's an entire non-binary spectrum of genders. Often times people joke about these things, but it's a real thing and joking about it isn't something that is taken lightly with people. Cisgender is someone who identities as their given. And, someone who doesn't is trans+ whichever they identify as. It's not much as labeling oneself, it's finding what feels best for one. Someone's gender is never for another person to define or explain, it's for that one person to express, define and state however they feel comfortable. The binary is male and female (cis or transgender identifying as male/female) and the non-binary is all of the other wonderful genders.
Biological Sex, what someone is born as. Their parts to make it simpler. Male, Female, and Intersex.
Gender expression, how one decides to express and experiment with their gender. It could be to present themselves more masculine, feminine or neither at all. This includes makeup, clothes, etc. And makeup, clothes, etc never have a gender. People are free to express themselves however they feel. Things should not be limited to one specific gender.
Sexuality, is who or what someone is sexuality attracted to. There is a long acronym that explains all of the different sexualities.
Romantic attraction, as simple as it sounds it is true that this exists. Sexuality and this are different. It's who someone is romantically attracted to.
There are many many slurs transgender and gender-non conforming people hear on a daily basis. And a lot of people say to shake it off when they don't know what one is going through. It actually hurts a lot. It hurts me, and I am not speaking for the community at all, I am speaking from my own experience. Words like "Cross-dresser" and " Tranny" hurt a lot.
Gender dysphoria is a condition characterized by a disconnection between someone's assigned and perceived genders. Individuals with this issue usually identify themselves as transgender or transsexual, depending on their ideological feelings about sex and gender. Some transgender individuals also disagree with the categorization of it, or more specifically, gender identity disorder, as a medical condition, as part of a larger exploration of gender identity and what “normal” gender is. It is also important to note that this is different from being a transvestite; technically, a transvestite is someone who wears clothing belonging to the opposite gender, but he or she is usually both happy and secure with his or her gender identity. People of all ages can experience gender dysphoria, although most patients experience a sense of disconnection from a very young age. A child who experiences gender dysphoria may not seek treatment until he or she is much older, but the underlying feelings are still there. Adolescence is also a common time period for the emergence of symptoms, while, more rarely, some individuals only start to question their gender when they are much older. The acceptance of this issue as a condition requiring compassionate treatment, rather than an abnormality, began in the mid-20th century, but was not widespread until the 1980s.
Dysphoric feelings are never the best, I get them a lot and I am sure that others get them too. Things like body image, people using incorrect pronouns, birthname, and so on and so forth make me feel bad.
Pronouns, they honor a person.
When we we use pronouns like "she" or "he" to identify a person, we might be making an assumption about that person's gender that differs from their gender identity. Some people express their gender identity ambiguously, meaning you might not know which pronoun to use just by looking at them and have to make an assumption. For other people, appearances can be deceiving-- even people who clearly look to be one gender may identify as a different gender than you would assume. When someone has a different gender identity than you would assume that means a different pronoun. Never never never, call someone an it even if you don't know their pronoun. It can be very offensive to some people. If it is someone's pronoun then in this case, yes use it.
Gender roles. (Imo they are very dumb).
Gender roles are "socially and culturally defined prescriptions and beliefs about the behavior and emotions of men and women. For example, pink is for women and blue is for boys. Fun fact, it used to be the other way around. Gender roles are very pressuring and unneeded. A man can do and wear whatever he feels, and women can do the same and so on. Clothing, colours, music, makeup, jobs etc do not and should not be gendered. There is nothing wrong with a man wearing a dress and a women wearing slacks. Transgender people who have a goal of looking passing (which is very hard to do), are consumed by what a perfect man and perfect women is. You do you. I am one of the most feminine people ever, that does not make me less of a boy than any other boy, and so on.
Transgender rights and quality of living consist of very little.
Things like bathrooms are dangerous in some places, it's hard to get a job, bullying, getting your identity on your drivers license, marriage, enlisting in the military (U.S), basic services, and the list goes on.
If you look here you can look through the different polices in each state, http://www.hrc.org/state_maps
The gray means none. https://www.aclu.org/map/non-discrimination-laws-state-state-information-map
If you live in another country please tell me what the laws/polices, etc is like there because I am very curious so if I move someday!
I feel like this is all I have to say, but I know that it is not. If you don't care, please leave the thread or take time out of your day to read this. Thank you for reading and caring if you do. If you have negative things to say, please keep that outta the way. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! I am open for questions, and I hope I at-least answered some questions for some. If you feel like I left anything out, I can include that or you may explain below!

Thank you so so much for reading, and if there's a event for transgender day of remembrance on Friday, I recommend attending! I'm attending a event at an art center in Cincinnati c:

 

http://prntscr.com/93xyl5 This is why I love Illinois, it just accepts every single thing about LGTBP+.
Back on topic...
I'm really glad you made a thread about this, Eli. Genuinely. Props to you on that, this kind of situation really needs more respect and awareness. I really don't know if there's this kind of thing going on in my community though, but if there was, I would definitely attend it.

 

I will be attended the TDOR in SF with a few of my friends that are also LGBTQ+

Kudos to you Eli, seriously, someone give this kid a medal

 

I never said anything about religion? I am fully accepting of anyone's religion, and I understand your point. I am sorry if I offended you? I also never said that Christians shouldn't be able to express their opinion, if someone has any opinion that is fine but if it leads to where someone's basic human rights are being taken away and so on; it is not an opinion. I don't really understand what you're saying, sorry.

 

Can you explain a little more of these events?

 

I'm going out for the whole West Coast. I'm really glad these 4 states represent a large amount of different people. Your speech is already raising our thoughts and ideas, you made some of us to be much more acceptable to changes and be.. More aware..
Anyways, you should really have a high five for yourself, this is an amazing speech.

 

As a genderqueer student, seeing gender identities talked about in school makes me so happy. There are just so many incidents of feeling so upset and dysphoric because of other students. Thank you so much for talking to your school about this <3

 

I understand what you're talking about and I now have a better understanding of your perspective.

I'd love for things like this to be taught in schools, such as other LGBTQI+ issues.

 

I feel like imma be ganked if i say something

 

No no, feel free to say whatever you feel c: If you have the intent to be insultive, keep it to yourself.

 

Nah lmao not trying to be.

 

My opinion about Transgender and all that is neutral, I don;t support it but I don;t hate it either. People are to be what they want to be and if they want to be transgender then thats oke. It doesn;t affect my life at all so no point in being against it.
But there is just one thing that I cannot understand.

And as @ImNotOkayy knows I am trying to understand it all but one thing I just can;t understand, and when I read it I crawl up in confusion.
Why do people use the : Ze - Hir - Hir pronounces, like what?
To me it seems like something people would use to mock other people, and to me it doesn;t make any sense at all.
It doesn;t bother me that certain females uses him, and that certain males use her.
But to me it just doesn;t make any sense at all to use Ze, or Hir or whatever people come up with.
In my opinion if you are a guy and you want to be call a her, thats fine same goes for girls.
But zir - zor - ey - eim, like I wouldn;t call anyone that, even if they ask it. Personally I don;t think this adds anything to who or what you are.
Neither would I say Them to people as main pronounce, maybe it is just me but it is kind of hard to switch from him/her to them, so I wouldn;t bother with it. But little maybe I don;t understand, so if you do feel free to tell me and you might change my opinion about it.

 

I completely understand. I love how you're so open minded, and I respect that a lot. I'm not going to try to change your opinion at all, that's your opinion. People use Ze, Hir, etc pronouns because one, they're gender neutral and people normally think they is plural when it can be both. Second, it just seems for fitting for a person, they feel comfortable. People don't really come up with, they started being used by the "Americans" and the Danish. There have been gender neutral pronouns officially add to the Danish and English (American). I understand that you wouldn't call someone that, maybe if you come across someone someday that uses Ze pronouns, ask them if they have an alternative. c:

 

For someone who strongly agrees with gay rights and social justice this is the one area that always sorta confused me. I agree with the fact that transgenders should have equal rights (as should any other minority) but I disagree with the concept of transgenders. Most likely because I am not educated and don't have the same thoughts they do but to me transgender is a very contradicting topic. From what I understand transgenders are born with a male or female organs but inside they feel like they are the opposite gender. Now that's the part I don't get. How can one feel like a male on the inside if you have female parts; what does being a "female/male" feel like inside. There really is no problem with transgenders as its their body and they can do whatever they want with it but the fact that only 25% of transgenders get a sex change is another odd thing. With this concept I could say I'm black and even though I'm white people should call me and act like I am "Black".

 

Well, that's what a lot of people think. They don't understand because they aren't transgender themselves. It's something very hard for me to explain. It's not legal in over 30+ states to get a "sex change" and it's not as easy as you think to get treatments. There's testosterone for FTM, and estrogen for MTF. Those are hormonal treatments that either come in shots or pills that effect how the body works, looks, etc. It's very beneficial to help a transgender person to feel better, and look better/ more passing. It is very hard for me to explain. I could go into what each do but I do not want to waste your time. There's top and bottom surgeries for both. It's not as easy as going in, scheduling, and getting it. In some states it isn't legal to get an entire sex change. Race, and sex/gender are two different things. If you feel say "white" then that ties into stereotypes like you lets say enjoy those stereotypes.I don't understand that you disagree with the concept of transgender people. It's odd that it's only 25% because like I said it's not legal in some places, and the costs are out of this world.

 

Yeah sorry if what I said came off rude. Its hard for me to really explain myself and also express my tone over text. Instead of saying "I disagree with the concept" I should have said "I don't understand the concept." because like I said I support the LGBT+ community and equality for everyone but transgender is a foreign concept to me as I don't know anyone who is trans. Also I knew you must wait to be 18 to get a sex reassignment but I never realized its illegal in 3/5 of the US.