'I never thought I would see the day that the majority of states were considering this kind of anti-trans bullying legislation'
, the first transgender legislator in the Minnesota legislature and the sponsor of the law. And out in Montana, Zooey Zephyr isn’t even allowed into the chamber.We’ve had almost 50 years of transgender people coming out in the state of Minnesota. People get used to us. The city council president in Minneapolis,she’s transgender. There are transgender people in positions of responsibility all over the community. And so we’re not some commodity that is threatening to people.
I had been elected as a man to the St. Paul City Council in 1974. So I was a well-known political figure in the Twin Cities when I came out and I think that was the first situation of that kind. One of the first in the country. And I had this terrifying experience where the press corps from St. Paul and Minneapolis knew who I was, and wanted me to tell the story. And I concluded that the only way I was going to survive this was to tell the truth in depth.
A lot of transgender people feel that way. When I was confronted with the choice of ducking the story or not, I decided the only way to will to win the day was to just tell the story. And at that time, I had not had gender-affirming surgery. Because at that time I was in my year of transition. But I said so. And now it’s sort of like you’re not supposed to ask and I think those kinds of values may get in the way of understanding.
Susan Kimberly speaks as a group of Minnesota Republicans hold a press conference at the State Office building in St. Paul to announce their intentions of defeating a proposed constitutional amendment changing the definition of marriage in 2011.What accounted for your move from the Democrats in the first place? Just to stay with Norm Coleman, the Republican mayor?
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