FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE!

There have been a lot of Facebook posts lately regarding the Republican National Committee inserting a plank in their platform that is severely anti LGBT. While this type of thing can be depressing to many of us that identify with the LGBT community, I am confident that this mindset is not shared by the general public. I often go out and mingle in public, doing the normal , day to day stuff that we all need to do and am always gratified to see how well I am treated by the average person. I don't know what they see when they look at me (and Yes, I do get some lingering looks now and then) but I am always treated well. I have a lot of faith in people and try very hard to focus on the good things. In the picture above, all the dogs look different. No one who has a dog expects a Labrador to look or act like a Greyhound. Instead, we relish and enjoy the differences.

Today I attended a meeting at Muhlenberg college. The Theater Arts Dept had some questions about how to accommodate trans people into their program and they asked me for some input. The people that I met could have cared less about how I looked. The woman who invited me to the meeting was very concerned with learning how to work with the transgender students that they encounter. After the meeting I talked with several other people (one of them in the ladies room!) and the fact that I was transgender was a complete non-issue. It is these types of experiences that give me hope and reassurance that, in the not too distant future, being trans or gay will not be noteworthy. I will only be what is. The more that each of us interact with the general population, the sooner this "new reality" will come to fruition. We can't let the negativity of a few setbacks control us. If our interaction with the public is ruled by anger and disappointment, we will be sending the wrong message. It's easy to sail with the wind if it is going where you are headed but sometimes the wind is blowing in the wrong direction . In that case we need to fight the wind in order to get to our destination. The way we do this is by being "out there" and acting in a positive and friendly way. Yes, maybe people will expect you to look like a Greyhound but most will be happy to associate with you as a Labrador! Gay, Straight, Trans, Cis....It's just who we are.

Focus on the positive and don't dwell on the negative. It makes life a lot more enjoyable!

If you would like to meet like-minded people, why not attend a Renaissance meeting? Visits our website at www.renaissancelv.org for more information