Pride Month is a powerful reminder of the work still ahead in creating an inclusive society. In this opinion piece, an LGBTQIA+ advocate challenges us to move beyond mere acceptance towards a wholehearted embracement of diversity.
A Sidenote to Pride Month
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Are we really ready to make our world more inclusive? Are we willing to give up on the strict gender binary?
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Are we able to abolish the false conservative patriarchy, eliminate misogyny and sexism?
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Are we ready to educate broader public on diversity and elevate inclusion to a core value in our society?
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Are we willing to talk to our children and free them from normative boundaries and gender stereotypes?
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Will we all commit to invest effort and adopt, to change how we behave, talk and relate to one another to create a diversity embracing culture and atmosphere?
Pride month is here, and I am thinking how to relate to the whole thing. As an LGBTQIA+ person I should simply love it probably, it is the celebration of my community. Yes, true, and I am happy we got here, happy for all the progress made.
There are three levels in relating adequately to minorities like the LGBTQIA+ groups. Level 1 is tolerance. Tolerance is already a kind of positive relation, but it does not mean more than that I do not wish you did not exist or would want your rights seriously restricted.
Level 2 is acceptance. Here we already show interest in learning and understanding, there might be affection even genuine liking of the diversity in the subgroups, but there is still an “us and them” separation; for the majority of people without daily meaning, impact or any effort demand. Legal equality is more or less ensured, but daily interactions range between love and hate with “only“ occasional harassment and violence.
This is where our society stands. Some countries are better within the category, some surely are worse. Pride is to me a symbol of this level 2 acceptance. The society is split: there are the queers and allies marching, the rest are watching, disengaged, uninterested or having aversions.
Critics of the Pride do not get that there would not be Pride if everything was great for minorities in our world. Pride, now Pride Month is an ever more prominent reminder of where we are in the struggle. The giant crowd flowing through the wide downtown streets of Zürich is impressive. It signals life, strength; the high representation of queer youth, families and allies proves that the movement is healthy and strong and that the future is bright, but we are not there yet.
I am not going to the Pride march. I will be doing community service at the LGBTQ community centre of Zürich the whole day. That will be my participation and celebration of Pride. I will also be speaking at multiple events mainly for larger organizations as part of their Pride month diversity and inclusion programs.
Switzerland is probably one of the best places in the world to live a transgender identity. I am happy and grateful for that, yet I am tired of the huge effort that is still necessary to successfully navigate through society as a transgender citizen.
What Needs to be Done
Here is an inconclusive list of what from my individual experience would surely need to be done. Please take this as a personal Pride proclamation. Here we go:
Eliminate entry barriers and long waiting lists in transgender healthcare
Establish transgender standards of care and roll-it out to healthcare professionals country-wide
Resolve supply shortage of all critical medications for transgender care
Amend regulations of health insurance companies to ensure easy coverage of medical interventions
Abolish the discrimination of transgender individuals in getting supplemental insurances
Adjust insurance fees to take into consideration the special needs and risks associated with being transgender
Issue a state policy on diversity and inclusion, regulate minimum expectations for social interactions, access, use of public spaces, facilities and for businesses with services facing the public
Go into every educational institution, every public-school class and with an educational program
Fund necessary statistics and medical research for the trans population
Launch a country wide educational and promotional campaign on diversity and inclusion
Introduce a third gender marker and legislate to limit the use of gender as a data in public and commercial interactions to the necessary minimum
Fund properly sized and equipped LGBTQ centres in major cities across Switzerland
Beyond acceptance the third level of relating is embracement. Being involved, internalizing, and celebrating diversity. It is not just wanting to learn and understand but to want to support and promote, to want to build on diversity, to see and live it as a core strength as a natural asset an energy which should be allowed to flow freely and allow everybody to tap onto.
And until the 5 questions are still open, meaning not fully answered and acted on, until most of the items of my proclamation are not addressed, we will not reach that level 3, we will not be able to claim title of fully open society nor best in class democracy. It is unacceptable that Sechseläuten (Zürich spring celebration) is live broadcasted every year and a 40+ thousand Zürich Pride is just a newsflash with moderation downplaying the number of participants.
And if all the above has not given enough indications and food for thought to what needs to still change and what needs to be done, for a personal development exercise I can recommend everyone to read the below statements and determine whether and to what extent they are applicable to you personally. If not, there is also work FOR YOU to be done.
If you are calling a woman, you do not personally know, but the voice sounds masculine to you, you will not be wondering if you have reached the wrong person, or your information of the person’s gender is incorrect.
You have no reservations in sharing a changing room with a trans person regardless of their presentation or body type and you have no considerations either of their genitals.
You would rather give your child to a same sex couple for adoption (if you were in that unimaginable situation) rather than a heteronormative cis one, because you think they are surely prepared for giving absolute love and care to a child after all they have gone through.
Happy Pride folks!
