223.3 - Good News: Signs of acceptance of transgender people

Good News: Signs of acceptance of transgender people

Another bit of good news, not so much for the particular facts as for what it represents, comes to us from Kansas City, actually from Gladstone, Missouri, part of the greater Kansas City area.

On October 1, members of the cult known as the Westboro Baptist Church showed up at Oak Park High School with their usual collection of multi-colored hate placards, spewing their venom there because the student body had elected a transgender student named Landon Patterson to be homecoming queen. A counter-protest by the students who drowned out the haters with cries of "long live the Queen" forced the cult to leave, with the students following them back to their car and cheering as they drove off.

Landon Patterson

Now, while it's always fun to see the WBC run away when they are challenged, as they often do, what struck me here was not only that the students elected a transgender student to be homecoming queen, but they were prepared to defend her against the abuse - which is an even more powerful statement than the election itself that they just don't see what the big deal is about being transgender. They realize that transgender folks face discrimination, but they don't see a legitimate reason why.

Just like support for same-sex marriage, acceptance of transgender individuals increases as the polled group gets younger. We are, with each generation, maturing as a society on questions of gender identity. And that is good news.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/08/1429134/-Westboro-Baptists-Protest-Transgendered-Homecoming-Queen-High-School-Kids-Force-them-to-Leave?detail=email
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqG1Ma_NCgs
http://revolution-news.com/westboro-baptist-church-run-out-of-town-high-school-students-in-missouri/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/18/1263463/-Transgender-Acceptance#