This commentary is by Christine Hallquist, a resident of Burlington. She was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2018, is former CEO of the Vermont Electric Cooperative, and is executive director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board. Her opinions are her own.
These are the words that I delivered to the wonderful students and supporters of the transgender community who showed up for the Pride event to counter the anti-transgender event that was held at Vergennes Union High School on June 20.
It was such a beautiful response to a person who, for some reason, is being used as a tool for the four major conservative groups that have organized using hatred and bigotry directed towards the transgender community. That person was someone who reversed their process of transition and is using their personal negative experience to restrict transgender care.
According to the National Institutes of Health, only 13% de-transition. Only 5% of those de-transitioned because they felt that was not right for them. That means only 0.4% of transgender people regret their decision. Clearly something else is going on to give this person who spoke a bully pulpit.
Here are my comments.
I am a proud and out transgender woman. I am also the first major-party transgender gubernatorial candidate in America. When I was a child, they put people in mental institutions for being gender nonconforming.
When I was in 11th grade, my best friend committed suicide because he was gay. He tried so hard to fit in. That same year, my older brother’s friend committed suicide because they were gender nonconforming.
I knew that I had to keep my secret from everyone. It worked for a long time. However, as my children moved into adulthood, I began to have suicidal thoughts. We raised our family around truth, and I was keeping the biggest lie. I did not want to go to my grave with this lie.
I was sure that I was going to lose my job, lose my family, and ultimately be homeless; however, the truth was more important. After I transitioned, something amazing happened: Vermont welcomed me with open arms. Today I am responsible for one of Vermont’s largest and most important infrastructure projects since the construction of the interstate.
Those people, such as those over in the high school tonight, don’t want you to know the truth. The same people who attack transgender rights also are banning books. They don’t want you to know that it was Thomas Aquinas who, 800 years ago, made the arbitrary statement that homosexuality is unnatural. Today we know that homosexuality is prevalent in every animal species. Being gay is completely natural.
They don’t want you to know that at one time women were the property of their husbands and people of color were the property of their slave owners.
When it comes to religion, I am not sure what I believe. I taught Bible studies for many years. I will tell you that, while many of those haters call themselves Christians, I will tell you they are fake Christians. My Bible studies show that a true Christian understands unconditional love.
I tell those fake Christians that transgender people are angels from God. We are here to show the world the beauty and diversity of God’s children. You are angels. Stand tall and stand proud and do not let anyone take that away from you.
I love you and I love Vermont. We are a beacon of light to the rest of America. We are a loving and welcoming state. I will fight till my last dying breath to make sure we continue to move forward. We will not allow bigotry, hatred and fear to move us backward.
