Generation Y Us?

For every person who does kooky things and publicizes it for the world to see, there’s a young person who’s not-so-much in the limelight, but totally deserves to be. Actually, there are lots of cool good-doers like this, who aren’t afraid to speak their minds, go against the grain, and work their magic behind the scenes. And today the spotlight shines on a Gen Y badass: Sarah Kay.

I first spotted her on TED, and it’s safe to say it was love at first buffer. Earlier this month, she posted a poem of hers on HuffPo called “The Type.” And sure, it’s about how women view themselves, but it’s also a great read/watch/listen for guys, too. Basically, if by definition you qualify as a human (hey, you never know), it’s worthwhile and could apply to you.

In “The Type,” Sarah redefines what it means to be a woman, on your own terms, by your own story, not in relation to someone else’s expectations or perceptions of you. Since cavemen, cavewomen, and cave-kid-raising days, relationships have been at the core of womanhood. But her point is that these relationships, while important, don’t need to define who we are as individuals. We are our own types, and that goes for dudes, too.

Poetry and spoken word isn’t everyone’s thang – and that’s okay. But I, for one, give major bravery points to her. Let’s hear it for the believers, the dreamers, the hopers, the healers, and the truth seekers and speakers of our generation.

Click below to check out the poem.

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Caitlyn Jenner has been all the buzz lately, and of course, everyone has an opinion about her story. And everyone’s opinion has a place on the Internet or some other place in the media.

I’ll admit that my bias comes from the fact that I’m a staunch LGBT ally, but like I said in my first-ish post, I’m going to try to come from a bias of basic human decency on this blog.

So, let’s talk about human beings – you know, that big group of evolved homosapiens to which we all belong and with which we share this big planet. Of those humans, there’s a group of individuals, called transgenders (the “T” in LGBT) who do not feel at home in their own bodies. They feel like they were assigned the wrong gender, like something went wrong at birth.

Here’s a staggering piece of information: The rate of suicide attempts among this group of individuals is 41%. I’m no math whiz, but that seems to be almost half, which is an extremely high number.

This means that almost half of these human beings, who feel like they’re actually supposed to be of a different gender, feel so hopeless, misunderstood and alone that they would rather not be alive at all.

Not to mention the intense level of violence and crime against trans people on a daily basis. They’re some of the most targeted and vulnerable. 

Caitlyn Jenner’s story matters for so many reasons, but the main reason it matters is these people exactly. In seeing her bravery, maybe they will also feel brave enough to come out and live their lives honestly and happily without the burden of hiding their true identities.

Time published a really great story on the subject of transgenders, and it covers everything from the first trans individual to make mainstream news (spoiler: around the time of World War II) to the current struggles of this community. I recommend reading the whole thing.

Laverne Cox put it better than I ever could in her interview with Time:

“Some folks, they just don’t understand. And they need to get to know us as human beings,” she says. “Others are just going to be opposed to us forever. But I do believe in the humanity of people and in people’s capacity to love and to change.”

These are real human beings with real struggles, who want more than anything to live in a world where they can be themselves freely, without shame or judgment. These are beautiful human beings, brave human beings, worthy of love and belonging human beings. And as much as some of us don’t want to accept that they’re just like the rest of us, they are. Because the fact is that we’re all human beings, too.

I, among many others, thank Caitlyn Jenner for bravely choosing the life she always wanted. My hope is that others like her will choose life.