Letters to President-elect Obama: Mara Keisling

The Advocate, CA, USA
November 19, 2008

As the executive director of the National Center for Transgender
Equality I am, I suppose, writing to you as a transgender person. That
is my job, and I am humbled by the responsibility and opportunity that
brings.

I know you have some understanding of transgender people from your
legislative work. I'd like you to take that understanding beyond what
you have already learned though, and see that, like all transgender
people, I am more than just transgender. I am also a person who has a
job, a family, economic worries, and fears about healthcare access. We
have so much in common, you and I, and in understanding that, you
might come to understand how odd and wrong it is that one aspect of a
transgender person's life can have such unfair repercussions on
everything about them. You and I are about the same age. We are both
parents. At the exact time you were in law school, I was doing
graduate work in political science at the other end of the law school
quad. We are even just about the same height. You and I (and other
transgender people) simply aren't that different.

Yet this one aspect of my life calls me today to write to you and ask
you to stand with me, and millions of other transgender people, as we
work together to eliminate discrimination, stereotypes, and barriers.

I am excited by your calls for ending the American culture war. Yet I
must ask you to ensure that this does not mean suspending our national
dialogue on the policies that transgender and other LGBT people need
in order to overcome the discrimination, violence, and disrespect that
we currently face and will continue to face if that dialogue does not
continue. We will continue to suffer these injustices if you and your
administration do not have the courage, kindness, and wisdom to speak
out with us and for us.

I am, of course, profoundly supportive of your vision of a country
where everyone is honored and treated equally. I simply ask that as we
work together toward that vision, you continue to insist that your
idea of everyone means everyone-that it includes all of the vulnerable
yet strong people who face economic, social, and political injustice
every day in this yet amazing country.

If I can presume to have one thing to ask of you it is simply this: Be
there with us. Be there with us when we need a president who believes
in our worth. Be there with us when some fear that furthering equality
for us will be bad politics. Be there with us when policies are
considered that help or hurt us. And, most important, be there with us
when you have teaching opportunities with the American people.

Your job as president will be a difficult one. Transgender people will
be proud to stand with someone who stands with us.

Mara Keisling

Executive Director
National Center for Transgender Equality
Washington, D.C.

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