14 Wing DTPAO presents open opportunities to learn, share transgender facts
One per cent of the population has red hair.
No one in this group had a choice of their hair colour; it’s buried deep within them. Redheads are not a homogeneous group: more than likely, there are those who have committed some sort of mischief or criminal act. No one is targeting redheads to be removed from society because of their red hair.
One per cent of the population is transgender.
No one in this group had a choice of being transgender; it’s buried deep within them. Transgender folk are not a homogeneous group: more than likely, there are those who have committed some sort of mischief or criminal act. Transgender people are directly targeted with threats, up to and including death, because they are trans.
There is a flood of incorrect, misleading, derogatory information regarding trans people. Most people have never (knowingly) met someone who is trans, and have no real means of gleaning the correct information from a sea of falsehoods. Trans people stock grocery shelves, service your car, are teachers, doctors, lawyers. Trans people are your neighbours, co-workers, teammates, family members. Trans people have never asked for additional rights above and beyond what is in the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms but, rather, to be recognized within the current framework.
Being transgender is not a fad, social experiment or whatever the current “cause” being touted is; it is just one facet of a very diverse human existence.
There has been an increase in the number of visible transgender people in recent years, not because there is some sort of contagion, but because people, young and old, feel comfortable in expressing their authentic selves. A similar thing happened years ago with left-handed people: being right-handed was once considered the only correct handedness, strictly enforced in schools with kids experiencing a rap across the knuckles with a ruler if they picked up a pencil in the “wrong” left hand. Once that was no longer enforced, there was a significant increase in left-handedness, as people were able to use the most comfortable and natural for themselves.
For an opportunity to learn more, hear a personal life experience and ask any questions, please join the 14 Wing Greenwood Defence Team Pride Advisory Organization at one of two presentations: 9 a.m., Thursday, November 13; or 1 p.m., Tuesday, November18, at the Birchall Theatre.
14 Wing hosts Transgender Day of Remembrance events November 20
Thursday, November 20, is Transgender Day of Remembrance. The Defence Team Pride Advisory Organization invites members of the Defence Team and community friends to join them in an 8 a.m. flag-raising event, and a 4:30 p.m. sunset vigil, both at the 14 Wing Greenwood main gate.
