I had the strangest conversation today and it forced me to really think about acceptance, and what pushes us as humans to want people to accept us for who we are. But at the same time, belittle or judge the reactions of others when they ask for acceptance in their most comfortable form. As a black man the first thing that stuck out to me was the issue surrounding my skin colour and after fighting for so many years for equality and rights, this is still a very polar issue. I simply believe that I should have the same rights AND privilege as any other human being on this Earth, regardless of the melanin in my skin.

The argument I alluded to earlier surrounded transphobia which technically is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings or actions towards transgender people or trans-ness in general.

For people who are transgendered, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming, coming into their authentic gender can be an important and affirming step in their lives. When you misgender someone, you also run the risk of outing them to other people. It’s never anyone’s right or responsibility to out a person who is transgendered or affiliated with any sexuality that deviates from what society refers to as “normal”, without their expressed consent. It’s a trans- person’s right and their right alone to tell others that they’re transgender, dependent on whether they wish to be out or not. For many people who are trans, not all, a shift in pronouns is an affirming part of the transitioning process. It can help a trans person and the people in their lives start to see them as their affirmed gender. Getting a person’s pronouns wrong is a fairly common example of misgendering.

For me though, simply put, it’s just a form of respect, whether in acknowledging that I have come to this turning point in my life or just as a form of privacy. Think about the fact that you have just completed your Doctorate and after spending literally thirty three years back to back in school, struggling to make this a reality, and then at a conference brunch, your faculty supervisor introduces you as Mr. Brown instead of Dr. Brown - a lot of people may not have an issue with it but quite a lot of people still would, given that there are no other issues between you and your supervisor. There’s just something about titles used to address people that is crucial in affirming identity. People of the transgender community could have gone throughout their lives and they have finally found the truth in themselves, how many years later. That in itself is a process which should be at least rewarded with the correct title.

The truth is that in the civil rights movement MLK and Malcolm X had two distinct polar approaches, you may argue which would have been the better approach or not but at the end of the day, there are lessons we could learn from each stalwart.