So, I transgress against being boxed in by societal sex and gender constraints.

I’m also transgressive in how I now have embraced direct actions and civil disobedience to obtain gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) freedom, equality, and civil rights. I’m convinced we need an outside game that creates the tension for legislative change. I handcuffed myself to the White House fence last April for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), being arrested and confined for a day for that direct action. I plan in the future to engage with others in direct actions over DADT and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

I transgress against inequities against all my siblings in the GLBT community, so in this way too I am transgressive.

Thirdly, I consider myself to be a progressive. And by progressive, I mean both in being liberal in my politics regarding social issues and in a somewhat traditional understanding of progressive politics of the Progressive Era. The Progressive Era understanding of progressive means working against political corruption of all sorts, as well as trying to expose and undercut corporate control of legislative agendas, especially when these interests result in government that fails to adequately consider the public interest.

Lastly, a significant number of these Transgressive columns are going to be about teaching T to GLB. I don’t speak for all in the transgender community, just as I don’t speak for all in the GLBT community, but I’m going to be working to explain where GLB specific issues and T specific issues intersect, and introducing my thoughts about where GLB and T people have commonalities within our community experiences. I’ve found that many consider the idea that trans people and gay, lesbian, and bisexual people have community intersections and commonalities of experience to be a foreign concept and often worthy of contempt. So, for those who don’t want to be exposed to the idea that there may be intersections or commonalities between the subcommunities of our broad community, I will, as a trans woman, transgress yet again.

I own, heck, I embrace that my thoughts, as well as the way I personally live my life as an out transgender woman, are transgressive to many. So, I think it goes without saying that I’m not going to ask forgiveness for any of my sex and gender related “trans”-gressions.