We Belong

In exploring new music recently I found this song by Namoli Brennet. I had heard of her before, as she is well-known in the local transgender community, having once lived in my current home town. But I had not listened to any of her songs until yesterday. I like this simple song because it communicates a powerful and important message. Take a moment and listen to it.

This song resonates with me as a member of a marginalized group in our society. I speak up because the transgender community belongs in this society, in this world, as full and equal members of humanity. I also speak up because efforts to discriminate against us, to push us out of the social sphere and back into the closet, are directed not just at us, but reflect a desire by various elements in society to exclude anyone who doesn’t fit a narrow definition of normal and acceptable. It’s not just about transgender people. It’s about gay, lesbian, bisexual and asexual people and others with atypical sexual orientations. It’s about women, who continued to be viewed and treated as less than men. It’s about various ethnic groups who are viewed and treated as less than whites. It’s about excluding those who practice a different religion (though religion itself generally promotes an attitude and atmosphere of exclusion).

 Anytime we exclude a person or a group of people because they don’t fit our own narrow definition of normal, whatever that definition may be, we diminish ourselves, we rob them of their humanity, their dignity, their worth. And I will stand against that and shout “We belong.” We belong in society. We have inherent and fundamental worth and dignity. I will not continue to run away and hide. For me standing up for the equal treatment of transgender people is also about standing up for the equality of all other marginalized and excluded groups and for all those who have felt like or been pressured to run away. We belong.