Transgender Day of Visibility…
Can I be invisible now? Or at least have a cookie?
It’s another Transgender Day of Visibility, and I can already see all the social media signs that this one will be a doozy.
The Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV) is an annual awareness day celebrated around the world. The day is dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of transgender and gender nonconforming people, and raising awareness of the work that still needs to be done in the interest of equlity and justice. It has also become an informal special day of action by others, with rather different interests.
The first thing I saw on Medium was an article called
“What Happens If Trans Women Aren’t Women?” The author argues for the sincerity of people dedicated to pushing transgender women out of safe spaces, and in many cases out of visibility, and that trans women should just be content to be “trans women”, “trans men” should just be “trans men”, while somehow still feeling validated and recognized as human beings with human rights.
While I find the goal of a new culture that simply recognizes all human beings as human to be admirable, I’m not willing to sacrifice my own life, health, and happiness to the abstract hope that such a culture might emerge in a few hundred years. In a patriarchal culture hell-bent on demanding all follow its broken binary model, I need to find a way to live my remaining life while being recognized as a person, not “other”, the bogeyman, or the Monster in a rousing chase with pitchforks and torches raised.
Over to the mail app, where I find the usual collection of spewage has grown for TDoV, while mixed with pleas for funding and a few press releases. The mail filters have disposed of most of the rubbish already, and a quick pass weeds out the rest.
I still spend a few minutes every day checking on Facebook content, as that is how some of us senior citizens stay in touch with each other. Facebook figured out my gender-variant nature long ago, and the mighty algorithm sells ads into my feed which specified just the right keywords. There are the usual scams and such, along with a few fresh offers from online churches to help me repair my sinful ways. Yah. Been there, done that. Conversion therapy didn’t work in 1970 even with medical folks behind it, and it still doesn’t work today.
I check Twitter for activity for a few other friends. Fellow trans folks and allies have put up the requisite TDoV posts, naturally. Just as night follows day, the usual transmisic folks have shown up with their endless comments and shared wisdom. A quick scroll shows that many in the debate firmly believe in their 6th grade 1960s biology text as the summation of all human knowledge, while other practice the highly skilled strategy of the “ad-hominem” rebuttal.
Yes, it is once again the Transgender Day of Visibility. Where’s my damn cookie?
Michelle’s Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 1 c butter, softened (2 sticks)
- 1/2 c white sugar (100 g)
- 1 1/2 c packed brown sugar (310 g)
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp blackstrap molasses
- 3 c all-purpose flour (375 g)
- 1 tsp baking soda OR 2 tsp calcium carbonate — baking grade
- 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2/3 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 2 c semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and molasses. Add baking soda to batter along with salt if needed. Add in the spices; cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ground cloves, and ginger. Stir in flour until smooth, then add the chocolate chips. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans, preferably lined with parchment paper.
Bake for about 10–12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.
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