2023-06-03 11:00:00
I opened that door, not knowing exactly where it would lead me. But something pushed me forward like someone following a call. Until then, I lived in the comfort of shared convictions and beliefs. It was a common place, where the faith of one is like a fire that is lit in the lamp of the other. It was, is and will be an irreplaceable way to keep the flame alive. But I was missing something. It was not enough for me with the “we”, those of us who think alike. I needed to meet that “other” different from me, which in the end, ends up confirming our selfhood. This condition of being me (I-ness) is ratified against the you that makes me more complete in terms of humanity. That’s why I opened that door.
FIRST AND ABOVE ALL, PEOPLE
Crossed the threshold, the first and only thing I saw were people. I did not see ideologies, nor sexual orientations, nor assigned or self-perceived genders. I saw people suffering, suffering. Lives crossed by tragedy, loneliness, abandonment and marginalization. I opened the door to the trans world. I was not alone. We were five crazy people looking to heal wounds, in what we call Espacio Trans. I don’t know if we made it, but I’m sure of one thing: my life would never be the same again from that day on. Surely, that of my fellow travelers would also change forever.
I thank God for having cleared my glasses to see beyond makeup and trans aesthetics, to the human being that throbbed there. It is true that rouge abounds and prostitution is surrounding them, quickly. If families, society and the State abandon them, the street appears to them as the only way out. Many of them do not choose the street. Who wants to sell their body every night? Who would want to expose themselves to the cold, alcohol, violence or the permanent risk of living on the street? I remember that they were questions from one of those trans women, who questioned our moral schemes. It’s so easy to be stiff from the stage, I thought to myself.
SOLIDARITY AND PREJUDICES
I must say that I have rarely seen as much solidarity as in those communities of trans people. We were able to verify how trans women in adulthood, give accommodation and economic help to the youngest and most unprotected. Some of them from other countries. I did not see any gesture of xenophobia or exclusion. The street situation of many of them is alarming. Situation that worsened in times of pandemic. There was a need for food and warm clothing. And society and the provincial state, in general, responded generously. We visited trans people in very remote areas, who were struggling not to fall into prostitution. I have never seen so much poverty as in that trans community. I remember a group of them enthusiastically showing us the handkerchiefs they had embroidered in a community sewing workshop, to greet the Virgin in the procession. While they were talking, I was thinking of an imaginary dialogue between Mary and Magdalene.
But there was also a lot of prejudice. Some, I think, from ignorance, did not understand the verbs that we conjugate in that Space: listen, accompany, empathize, embrace. There were those who became angry and demanded resignations and clarifications. My cell phone was filled with offensive messages and hasty judgments. In spite of this, and of the companions of so many struggles lost along the way (whom I still miss), I would open that door again. Well, when I opened it, I not only found injured people, I met Christ who had come down from the tree to walk next to them.
By Miryan Andujar
Lawyer, teacher and researcher
Institute of Bioethics of the UCCuyo
#space #trans #people #Cuyos #diary