Trans discrimination II via Clare Flourish

Gisberta Salce

Trans discrimination II by Clare Flourish

“It is not a free speech issue. You’re a man, really has little value as speech. Why would anyone want to be rude to me? To exercise power over me, to oppress me. A pointless, thoughtless cruelty for the sake of it. What do they gain? A fraudulent sense of their own correctness, understanding and control- but they don’t understand or control anything, not really.

The freedom that matters is the freedom to live your life as you choose. Freedom of speech has value where it allows people to work out new ways of living, but not when it restricts us. I harm no-one by expressing my femininity. I should not be deterred from it by the fear of not getting a job, or housing, or services. There is no value in being able to say to another, Ew! I disapprove of you!– unless that person is doing something which clearly harms someone else.”

Source: Trans discrimination II | Clare Flourish

Clare’s text doesn’t really need the addition of my comments, it’s self-explanatory. What I will do, however, is in the next few days tell you the story of that woman you see in the photograph at the top of this page. Here’s a ballad dedicated to her by Maria Bethania. It ends with:

I came with little
I left with less
And the distance to the bottom is so small
At the bottom, it’s so small
The fall.

And love is far
Love is so far

And pain so close (for the original Portuguese scroll down)

Trouxe pouco,
Levo menos,
E a distância até o fundo é tão pequena,
No fundo, é tão pequena,
A queda.

E o amor é tão longe,
O amor é tão longe;

E a dor é tão perto.