November 20 each year is a global day of remembrance for transgender people who have lost their lives to violence. This violence is for no other reason than being transgender. Yes, I think everyone can nod politely and agree that it is a travesty, especially since those numbers are in the hundreds. Then we can go about the rest of our day ignoring this reality. Still, there is much more to this than those few hundred lives lost out of the billions who inhabit our planet. Some would even argue that it is insignificant in comparison to other ongoing tragedies spawned by war and famine, and they would be right to point these out. However, when we look at any tragedy, we must also look at consequences, and the point of this article is to illustrate some of those and their causes.

As human beings, we have the freedom of choice. Each of us chooses for ourselves how we react to any given situation and those choices have consequences both intended and unintended. We often fail to recognize the latter since our choices are made to influence or establish a prescribed outcome by ignoring the "what ifs."

For the transgender population of this globe, both forms of consequence most often have negative effects. Frequently, these choices are made in ignorance, not from an informed position. We make them because of personal values that we are taught and learned. They become a part of us. We make the choice to continue to follow those beliefs or not. We choose to increase our awareness, challenge those values or not. This is not a generalization but a reality of each of our lives because our actions are influenced by our personal value system.

To illustrate this, we enter the workforce and learn our craft. We then make the choice to stay current with trends and technologies, or to sit on our basic education and experience, arguing that the old way was the best way. It may be partially true, but we cannot ignore change. It is no different in other aspects of our lives.

I can hear the 'Ah Ha!' already. "So, you chose to be transgender, or gay, lesbian or bisexual etc., see? You have admitted it!"

No, I have not; this is an argument of nature vs. nurture and is poignantly countered with the equally ridiculous retort of, "When did you choose to become hetero-normative? Was there a party with presents, cake and ice cream?" The obvious answer is you didn't and neither did I. It is not a choice anyone can make.

The choices we make are how we act or react to people who are in the LGBT population.

Children can teach us a lot. As toddlers and preschoolers, they have no real biases. They cooperate, they share (and sometimes squabble over toys), but they don't judge others because they haven't learned to do so. They don't care whether their playmate is culturally, racially, religiously, sexually different. They only seek companionship. As they grow, they learn their prejudices.

This is exactly the situation the LGBT population faces: learned prejudice within larger society. However, it can be "unlearned," as I said before. This is personal growth. The prejudices learned are sourced in religion, politics, fear, etc. and have become societal attitudes.

There is this human trait where there must always be an underdog: someone whose suffering validates our own lives and superiority. I invite you to reread that last line because it is crucial for our own understanding and growth. It isn't easy to accept, but it's the root of all prejudice — my own included, and yes, I do have them. However, my recognition of them is the first step to growth. The next is to question them, and finally, to become informed about those prejudices that will lead to change and personal growth. I can honestly admit to having overcome a huge one in the past half year and it has opened up a new world for me. Specifically, that one was spiritual.

Transgender people are the victims of widespread prejudice; of that, there is no question. Most often it is rooted in the three causalities I have already named. In order to delve into this even deeper, we must first accept that politics is shrouded in religion — always has been and always will be. History is the great teacher of this statement. We also tend to ignore the lessons of history, repeatedly. Why? Once again, I refer you back to the first line of the last paragraph.

Accepting this, we then must examine the learned lessons of religion and try to put them into context. Religion is old and it is based upon the writings of ancient men. These men did not have the understanding of the physical world that we do, and they often tried to write about what they did know, their perceptions based upon their reality, to create a treatise that would make sense within that reality. We look to those writings to guide us in our own lives. However (this is where the choice factor comes in), we choose to interpret those writings figuratively or literally, despite lost meanings in multiple translations over time. We let those interpretations form our opinions and prejudices. The question that needs to be asked, and often isn't, is this: If these men were present today with our knowledge of the world, would these writings be the same? Many times the answer is an obvious no, others would be affirmative. Certainly, the language would be different. What would persist is that we as human beings are charged to love one another without condition.

Our task is to decide what is right and what is wrong. It is a difficult choice and we choose to become informed or not. If we choose to not question, then we are accepting the status quo and therefore our own prejudices. I say this because in order to effectively question, we must be open to listening to opposing points of view. To listen is to accept the message and then argue it internally based upon our already established values.

For transgender people, the message has moved up the ladder to political systems that are resistant to providing equality to all humans. My question is simple: If we are modern and enlightened, then why do we insist on discriminating? Back to that one sentence again.

Health systems stand against us by classifying us as mentally ill. Yes, that is a fact. I defy anyone to categorize me as mentally ill, but I am transgender. I can equally point to dozens of people who are in the same situation as I. I can also show you people who suffer anxiety and depression, not because they are transgender but because they cannot cope with the adversity they face from society. Medical science can alleviate the physical symptoms we endure from being transgender, but, most often, refuses to do so.

Currently, the two most influential medical organizations in the world are revising their standards for diagnosis — the World Health Organization and the American Psychiatric Association — and both are resisting removal of transgender as a pathology from their manuals of diagnoses. This is in defiance of overwhelming science that disputes their position. Why? Keep reading.

Consequently governments continue to discriminate through access to housing, employment, education, health care, etc. As governments perpetuate the myths, society and commercial enterprise follow their lead, to the detriment of the transgender population. In many areas of the world where law is based in religion, being anywhere on the LGBT spectrum can be a death sentence. This is undeniable fact.

So, let me hypothesize for a moment. What if the biologist seeking a job who happens to be transgender is denied? Perhaps this person will have the cure for cancer. What of the software engineer in the same position is denied and s/he has the solution to ending criminal cyber activity? What if it is an architect who can design an earthquake-proof building that would have eliminated the Fukishima nuclear disaster? I think this point is made. We are the authors of our own demise and our own prejudices are holding us back.

The deaths of transgender people each year do impact our lives, whether we want to admit it or not, and just a single death, a single act of prejudice does, in fact, impact humanity negatively and restricts our growth.

While all of this is well argued here, we also ignore the many thousands more who are suicide survivors, injured and maimed each year. Their lives are impacted for as long as they live. These survivors are victimized over and over again each day when they awaken. To think their families are unaffected is equally ignorant. Is this what we as humans would want for ourselves or our loved ones?

Tomorrow is not a good day for change. It starts with each of us, this very moment. Your choice; you choose.

I have chosen to stand for humanity and progress. This November 20, I will light a candle and say a prayer for the dead from my community as well as those who are lost, maimed, and injured as they stand testament to our own cruelty of one over another. I hope you will do the same.

Kimberley is an advocate for transgender rights, active in the LGBTTQQI community, and a community advisor to the Positive Space Group with Fanshawe College. She is a co-founder of the London Transgender Coffee Social Club of London Ontario, a member of PFLAG among many other organizations that promote human rights locally, provincially and nationally.
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