When I was a very small child, back in the the country side of Maine, where the ideas of equality had not fully begun to exist just yet, I watched a local news report that has been burned into the back of my brain ever since I first saw it. I do not remember the names of the people interviewed, and honestly, I would not share those names anyway as I'd rather both the family and the reporters to be allowed to go through their lives. Even safe from people who think they'd be helping them out, as even still there are too many people who are egotistical and self-serving in wanting to help and only make things worse. Aside from the people who do actively hope the make things worse do to being born with the decision that everyone else should suffer just so they can pretend it makes them better than the entire planet.
The report was about a little girl. As the local anchors informed me, it was very uncommon for young child to go through the sex change operation. So uncommon that it warranted a report. If I remember correctly, she was also something of a first. Maybe not the first in America, but either the first in Maine or the first in her county. As her surgery counted as a scientific breakthrough, or at the very least paving the way for the future of transgender operations, the anchors discussed exactly how the operation came about. The girl was interviewed as to her reasons for identifying as a girl instead of her original biological sex, her parents were interviewed on their personal thoughts and how they dealt with the surgery, and a few people from her school as well.
When it came to the science aspects, they talked about how transgender operations (called sex-change operations back then) were becoming more advanced and even commonplace as time was moving forward. When it came to the little girl herself, she was treated like a little girl involved in a local news story.
They knew she was a person, and their only response was to treat her like a person.
Think about that for a minute or so, and then think about how 2017 mainstream media treats racism and sexism. The first day, you get the condemnations, the slightly scathing words that suspiciously sound lacking, like they could back-peddle the second they want. And then the next day, they are more than happy to invite the same white supremacists or "alleged" sex offenders onto their show, and give them the same fake-ass smile they'd give if they were interviewing a famous author or an astronaut. Pretending to be unbiased by letting the scum of the Earth have the attention they wanted in the first place and see a spike in ratings because that was all they really cared about.
Back in the effing nineties, I got a respectful report from a local news station about a young transgirl, and you know what, because of the times I bet she faced at the very least a little bullying and mockery, but the news refused to admit that could be the case, they skipped over any sort of notion in favor of respecting her as an individual. But modern, mainstream, media? Attack and love both sides separately and see if that is what fixes the ratings from the last time they did that. The idea you can't polish a turd loses it's meaning when you hope that turd brings in hate-watchers, even if it hasn't before or isn't anymore since everyone has standards, which I honestly think tends to be the case based on how anytime I'm unfortunate enough to catch a glimpse of mainstream news, the energy levels are noticeably lower.
Now, on a more positive tangent, the question is: how did this interview immediately effect me?
The title of this post is how that interview "taught" me, not informed me. I was aware transpeople existed before the story, however, I only knew them as a sitcom joke from shows such as Becker (which I still think is a funny show but probably not the typical thing a young kid should be watching, it takes cynicism and blunt reality to darker levels than some kids might be ready for, even though apparently I was).
The nineties were an incredibly mean time to the LGBTQ community, mostly because of how much it very much pretended to be friendly towards the community. Try watching a nineties show that claimed to be pro-gay, and you will cry over how much it overuses stereotypes because it refuses to think gay people can actually be three-dimensional. The trans community was hit hard as well, only treated as a joke and nothing more. And the same joke too, an ugly guy claiming to be a woman with a rough voice. That was it. If you're familiar with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, imagine if people thought her completely botched operation was what actually typically happens, even though that play's biggest drama AND punchline is that it's a horribly botched sex change.
Before the interview, I was childish enough to not get the "joke" and just laughed at it anyway. After the interview, that horribly joke became strangely enough ironically funny. Every time I saw it, my reaction was to laugh by saying "That's not how sex change operations work!". Instead of thinking the joke was funny, I was openly laughed at how stupid the idea of the joke was. Again, I was a little kid. This one local news story opened my eyes and my heart, and I can't thank them enough for it. I'll admit, I grew up in an area where not everyone originally was pro-progress. Many kids I grew up with, and even I fell for some of the trappings, were not always open-minded until the state itself started growing up just as much as we were. Yet, even before I was fully open-minded, I respected the trans community.
I've been working on making myself more level-headed these past few years, and I think it's been working. Here's the thing, you can be level-headed and still pissed off.
I'm pissed off at how much a barely sentient grease stain with tiny ass hands can have the power to step all over trans people like he just did. I was not silent before, and I will continue to never be silent.
Resist.
Resign.
Impeach.
Thank God for Mueller.
And I am so sorry the world is still allowed to treat transgender people the way it is. This was never right and it never will be. Congratulations America, you've only now learned the lessons you should have learned decades ago. You've only now learned that other people's live do in fact matter, even when they don't look like you. We will heal, and these monsters will regret every action they've ever made, regardless if it was out of hate or greed.