Seeing Beyond Red or Blue: The Value of A Transgender Perspective to a Successful US Presidency

All this talk about Trans for Obama has got me wondering: what is it that trannies can offer a guy who believes he's fully qualified to lead the free world? He says he wants to give us change we can believe in. Well, both Senators Obama and McCain are promising they'll change things for the better. They both say they're going to change this world into a better place for all of us. Change, change, change. Every other word in this furshlugginer campaign is change.

It's my opinion that neither Senator should fiddle around with any change until they learn a lot more about the mechanics of change... and precisely what it is about our culture that needs changing—like the either/or bully tactics of junior high that are playing themselves out in the US presidential campaign. It's time Americans change the way we see ourselves, far beyond Red or Blue. Trannies just may hold the key to accomplishing that. We know the principles of profound, complex change.

Americans must now climb out of the hole we dug ourselves into the day we allowed George Bush to bully us into being either with him or against him. One lesson that pro-Trans Obama supporters can hope to make clear to Senator Obama and American voters is this: it's never as simple as either/or.

It's not a matter of Democrat or Republican. It's not black or white, or rich or poor, or smart or stupid. It's not even a matter of Senator John Edwards' Two Americas that could be united into One America—as appealingly simple as that sounds. American culture is deeply divided—and subdivided, and subdivided, and subdivided again. It's the dividing that's got to stop. This is far from being a new idea. It's simply an idea that's never been implemented in American politics and culture.

Western ideology is steeped in the belief that divisions are good things. Western ideology insists that borders be enforced, never dissolved—even when those borders are imposed by archaic systems of oppression. Why? Because Western ideology has a deep-seated fear of chaos. Like there's no chaos going on now,with all the borders being held so damned firmly in place! It's authoritarian borders that separate Americans into small groups which are then easily managed by an oppressive government, a mean-spirited campaign, or the bully who lives up the street. They divide us, and then we're easily conquered.

What's Trans Got To Do With It?

I believe that change we can believe in means change that dismantles all the interlocking systems of oppression that are choking US culture: racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia—to mention but a few. Each of these systems masquerades as a cultural binary: black or white, rich or poor, queer or straight, and man or woman—that's where trannies come in: the man or woman part. We know how to dissolve those authoritarian boundaries.

A great number of people now have transcended either/or gender in their personal lives. Each of us has devised a uniquely personal set of tools to negotiate the gender divide. We've in fact put together the guidelines that could be used to break down other binary systems of oppression—be they imposed by posturing presidential candidates, or the bully who lives up the street. That's what we can offer Senator Obama. Ours are the tools Senator Obama will have available to heal this country's deeply nested divisions. All he has to do is speak our name out loud, because our name alone—accurately spoken—can melt the most stubborn of borders.

So Please, Let's Continue and Increase Our Trans For Obama Momentum

The number of pro-Trans supporters for Obama is still rising, and it doesn't look like it's gonna stop rising. If you haven't gotten around to it yet, please do click here to donate to the Obama campaign in the name of Pro-Trans unity.

The amount of your donation doesn't matter. $2 or $5 is fine and dandy. Yes, yes—if you can donate the max, please do. But what really matters is that the Obama campaign sees and acknowledges just how many Pro-Trans people want to help the good Senator facilitate the change he keeps talking about.

big love & big respect

Kate

Comments

[Alicia Nichols]

yay! im really sick of the me vs. you ideology america seems to be stuck in. red and blue, black and white, woman and man. obama at least knows more about blurring those lines than mccain. he literally pointed over and called him "that one." this and that, another me vs. you kind of thing. maybe i read too much into his words...

also im very veryyyyy scared after i saw mccains take on roe v. wade last night. obama pulled through though when he said "that kind of decision is personal and should be left for each individual woman to decide."

i cant BELIEVE he said he would work to overturn roe v. wade. (mccain)

by the way i love all the work you and other feminists and gender benders have done. the younger generation has definitely benefited, and i can't wait till we get the chance to show it.

- alicia
a92licia@yahoo.com

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