This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Recently meeting with two members of the transgender community here in Longmont really was an eye opener. Identifying as transgender means that a person's sense of gender or personality does not correspond with their birth sex. Penellope and Ollyver volunteered their time and unique perspectives on the topic. Ollyver is a teen who identifies as a male using he/him pronouns and Penellope identifies as a female using she/her pronouns. Ollyver represents the youth LGBTQ community, he spoke about Open and Affirming Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Support (OASOS), which is a youth program through Out Boulder for kids (13-18) who are out. Penellope also does a lot of work with Out Boulder, especially working with groups who are ex-military trans, like her.
Out Boulder is a famous program for gender support here in Boulder County. Out Boulder has been around since 1994 and they provide services and programs for the LGBTQ community. They have options to support, volunteer, or donate on their website. Through their support, they help over 7,000 people a year. There are two offices one in Longmont, and one in Boulder.
Penellope mentioned some things about particularly living in Longmont as a trans person that relatively touched a sensitive subject. She was explaining that "Longmont can be bigoted towards LGBTQ." She personally thought that, "Longmont isn't a squeaky clean town that has no discrimination towards people and things that are different". Penellope said, "Colorado is a lot better than other places but not the best," but despite that Longmont Pride, which is a festival usually held by cities that celebrates the LGBTQ community, was big and that she loved to see the happiness and the joy that came along with it. Her comment on the support that we have available here in Longmont was, "We definitely have a good movement, better than the past."
Ollyver had an interesting point of view on the St. Vrain Valley School District. As a member of the district, he was very passionate about change in schools. He thought that being an out trans teen can sometimes feel very scary as he never knows who might not agree with him within the school. When federal guidelines changed towards trans people using bathrooms they identify with, the SVVSD was caught off guard and there was a lot of controversy over it, Ollyver said, "Improvements need to be made!" he was very passionate about how he wanted to feel in his own school and how other trans kids need to feel in their schools. On the other hand, he said, "Boulder County is a safe place to be," this was in relation to the other places trans people live that just aren't safe.
A couple of points that both agreed on were, destroying the prejudice towards the non-binary and getting rid of stereotyping sexual attraction. People who identify as nonbinary don't identify with either gender and tend to be androgynous, inter-gender, bigender, or gender fluid. These people often aren't accepted into the trans society because they don't identify as trans. Ollyver and Penellope both felt that this was something that really needed improvement as there should be no prejudice in a community already fighting the prejudice of the public.
There is also the issue of stereotyping trans people attracted to the opposite gender no matter which gender they identify with. For example, a trans man does not have to be just attracted to girls because he identifies as a man and vice versa for women. Even though some may be accepted as trans, they may not be accepted completely for who they are.
These two wonderful people are making a considerably effective change in society by working with Out Boulder and OASOS, making sure that everyone who has ever felt unsafe or afraid has options to become who they really are. It's a tough world we live in and these two individuals tell me that all they can do is keep living each day and hope for a change to come soon.
