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BTL Editorial: We need more heros

Next week the LGBT community will commemorate the National Transgender Day of Remembrance to honor the "T" people who have lost their lives. Unfortunately, one more soul was added to that list last week when Ian Benson, a Holland transgender teenager, committed suicide.
It is unlikely that Benson wanted to become a martyr. But it is hard to not see a connection between how ostracized trans people are in this world and Benson's final, desperate act. All those who knew and loved Benson for the person he truly was, including his supportive parents, describe him as bright, engaged and aware of his identity and the world around him. Perhaps that realization was just too painful, and for that to be true we must all share a piece of the responsibility for this tragic loss.
The world is tough for trans people. Many are invisible even within the LGBT community. Others suffer indignities for simply having the courage to show their real selves to the harsh glare of public scrutiny. Our society is vested in the dual gender roles – boys and girls – nothing in between, and for some the threat that trans people pose causes them to literally see red. Too often it is the color of the blood they shed in their attacks.
That is why it is so important for us to appreciate and honor the life story of a heroine like Dr. Kathryn Wright. In the early 1990s, she saw the weakest in Detroit – teenagers who had contracted HIV/AIDS – and without judging them, she reached out to help. She heard terrifying stories, we are sure, about risky behaviors that resulted in infection, and she just loved them. She healed them, spiritually and physically.
One of Dr. Wright's early transgender patients was murdered, and she still grieves her.
We need more heros like Dr. Wright.
Perhaps the next time we encounter someone who is completely different, maybe even threatening, we respond with compassion. We resist our lesser selves who want to tease or harm that person who is so strange. We instead look for our better selves in their faces, and see the common qualities we all share as human beings.
It would be wonderful if someday the Transgender Day of Remembrance had to be cancelled because there was no more violence or discrimination against "T" folks. We suspect that if that day ever comes, the world will look very different than it did to Ian Benson.

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