20 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY june 22-28, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com Four trans individuals talk about their experience in Monterey County, and beyond. By Agata Pop˛eda A Broader Rainbow In 21st-century California, gay and straight people expect to encounter each other in every walk of life. Many businesses market to the gay crowd, seeking the stereotypical quality stamp in the world of food, drinks and design. Gay people are celebrated, part of the fun. This growing tolerance, while still in progress, has not been widely extended—so far—to transgender people, many of whom remain in the LGBTQIA+ underground. Transgender rights are among the most politicized in the nation. According to the Trans Legislation Tracker, 558 bills have been introduced in 49 states so far this year that would limit trans people’s ability to access health care, education, athletics and legal recognition; 82 bills have passed and 365 others remain active. Bills target everything from drag shows to sports team membership to how birth certificate information appears. There is also physical violence. A transgender Florida teen, Chad Sanford, was physically brutalized in 2021 and in 2022; in 2023, a 15-year old transgender girl, Brianna Ghey, was stabbed to death in the UK. “Being openly trans is still a big risk for trans people,” says Tee Anderson, a trans man from Monterey, noting both the social and physical risk. Currently, Medicaid covers transgender-related health care in 26 U.S. states, and excludes transgender-related health care for all ages in nine states. In the last couple of years, 19 states have enacted bans or restrictions on transgender care. In the meantime, California proclaimed itself a “refuge” state for transgender youth and their families. “The same arguments that were once used with the gay people are now being used against trans people,” says Scout Luketish, a trans man from Seaside. Common arguments presented by anti-trans groups include that individual experiences are a cultural fad, a phase, a choice. But one way that many trans people describe their experience is the feeling of being assigned the “wrong” gender at birth. “They talk about protecting children,” says Tahani Lopez, a trans woman from Salinas. “But what about trans kids, dying at school, kicked out of the house? That’s why a lot of us are silent.” Step back and look at gender versus sex (see glossary, p. 24) and gender is revealed as a tool we use to organize society. According to philosopher Joan Dunayer and other feminist theorists, societies started to emphasize gender when people stopped being hunter-gatherers and men settled down to raise food—among constantly lactating cattle, constantly lactating women, and benefitting from the children that would come every year (hands for work). The rest is history—the last 10,000 years of it. For Pride Month (June), the Weekly is featuring profiles of four transgender community members. Two are trans men from the East Coast, who chose Monterey County as their homes. Tahani Lopez is a young trans woman from Salinas, in love with uber-feminine 1950s style. Another Salinas resident, Angela Soto Cerros, questions gender identification altogether, and is nonbinary. Trying to explain hate against trans people, Soto Cerros says: “The simplest answer is: People don’t want to go outside of their comfort zone. The moment something contradicts their belief, it’s a threat. That’s what causes hate. Some people are genuinely afraid and lack resources, or are simply not ready to be educated. Others are using it to their personal advantage.” Luketish believes that trans people already have many allies and will find more allies among cisgender people as their stories are shared. This is why he wants to be part of this article—to inspire more allyship. Scout Luketish is a writer, artist and a nonprofit employee. He works for We Will Rise, a project that aims to stop bullying, and One Starfish, a local safe parking service for homeless people. Photos by Daniel Dreifuss
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