Burden of Proof

You’ve got to demonstrate that you’re a part of society and can work and perform just as well as anybody else. (Marisa Richmond, first openly transgender African-American delegate to the Democratic National Convention)

This quotation appears in the Advocate’s recent article, “Pie-in-the-Sky Presidency?” by Julie Bolcer. Moving from Barack Obama’s soon-to-be first ever presidential candidate (and hopefully, the nation’s first black president), the central question posed by Bolcer in the article is “When—and under what circumstances—might an openly gay person move into the Oval Office?” The question isn’t one that’s particularly interesting to me, but it’s one that’s certainly not unexpected. What was unexpected for me, however, was reading Richmond’s quotation above.

I wonder, is everyone, equally, burdened with this task of demonstrating their belonging and worth to society?

I don’t think so.

And, moreover, I highly doubt that the evidence seemed acceptable to prove such a thing would be held consistent for all—that is, what would be sufficient for some would not be sufficient for all.

Maybe I’m a pessimist? Or, maybe I’m just a realist?

Well, and then there’s what Susan Stryker points out in her recently published book, Transgender History:

The state’s actions often regulate bodies, in ways both great and small, by enmeshing them within norms and expectations that determine what kinds of lives are deemed livable or useful and by shutting down the spaces of possibility that imaginative transformation where people’s lives begin to exceed and escape the state’s use for them. (51)

Just makes me wonder about all the recent talk I’ve been hearing about “the American dream,” as if the only thing standing between any one individual and obtaining that dream is only hirself. Given the regulations put upon us by others in society, industries, the state, etc., how can we not know how untrue that is?!