A short history of trans people's long fight for equality | Samy Nour Younes

翻译人员: Carol Wang 校对人员: Yuelong Dai

Why are transgender people suddenly everywhere?

为何一夜之间到处都是跨性别人？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

As a trans activist, I get this question a lot.

作为一位跨性别者活动家， 我经常被问到这个问题。

Keep in mind, less than one percent of American adults

请记住，美国成人中有不足1%

openly identify as trans.

公开承认自己是跨性别人。

According to a recent GLAAD survey, about 16 percent of non-trans Americans

据最近的GLAAD调查， 约16%的非跨性别者

claim to know a trans person in real life.

声称在现实里认识跨性别人。

So for the other 84 percent, this may seem like a new topic.

因此，对另外84%的人来说， 这是个新话题。

But trans people are not new.

但是，跨性别人并非今天才有，

Gender variance is older than you think,

性别多元化的历史 比你想的要久远，

and trans people are part of that legacy.

而跨性别人是 该历史遗产的一部分。

From central Africa to South America to the Pacific Islands and beyond,

从中非到南美，再一直到 太平洋群岛和更远的地方，

there have been populations who recognize multiple genders,

一直有群体承认多性别，

and they go way back.

而且，这可以追溯到很久以前。

The hijra of India and Pakistan, for example,

例如，早在2000年前， 海吉拉（“第三性别”）一词

have been cited as far back as 2,000 years ago in the Kama Sutra.

就出现在印度和 巴基斯坦的《欲经》中。

Indigenous American nations each have their own terms,

美国土著群体 对此也有各自的称呼，

but most share the umbrella term "two-spirit."

但多数都有“双灵” 这个伞形术语的意思。

They saw gender-variant people

他们把多性别人看做

as shamans and healers in their communities,

群体里的巫师和治疗师，

and it wasn't until the spread of colonialism

直到殖民主义的传播，

that they were taught to think otherwise.

他们才被教导改变了想法 （开始排斥跨性别人）。

Now, in researching trans history,

在研究跨性别历史时，

we look for both trans people and trans practices.

我们既寻找跨性别人， 也寻找跨性别的相关案例。

Take, for example, the women who presented as men

例如美国内战时，

那些以男性身份出现的 女性可以参军打仗。

so they could fight in the US Civil War.

After the war, most resumed their lives as women,

战后，大部分人重新回到 女性身份的生活，

but some, like Albert Cashier, continued to live as men.

但有些人，像Albert Cashier， 继续过着男人的生活。

Albert was eventually confined to an asylum

但最终，Albert被关进精神病院，

and forced to wear a dress for the rest of his life.

被迫穿着长裙过完余生。

(Sighs)

（叹息声）

Around 1895, a group of self-described androgynes

1895年前后，一个 自称双性人的群体

formed the Cercle Hermaphroditos.

成立了专门的组织 Cercle Hermaphroditos，

Their mission was to unite for defense against the world's bitter persecution.

其使命就是，联合起来 抵御对跨性别人的痛苦迫害。

And in doing that, they became one of the earliest trans support groups.

这使他们成为最早的 跨性别支持团体之一。

By the '40s and '50s, medical researchers were starting to study trans medicine,

到了40年代和50年代，医学 研究人员开始研究跨性医学，

but they were aided by their trans patients,

由其跨性别患者提供研究资助，

如跨性别女士Louise Lawrence，

like Louise Lawrence, a trans woman who had corresponded extensively

她曾与那些因在公共场合 穿异性服装被捕的人交往频繁。

with people who had been arrested for public cross-dressing.

She introduced sexual researchers like Alfred Kinsey

她把Alfred Kinsey 这样的性别研究人员

to a massive trans network.

介绍给一个庞大的跨性别群体。

Other early figures would follow,

like Virginia Prince, Reed Erickson and the famous Christine Jorgensen,

如Virginia Prince, Reed Erickson， 还有著名的Christine Jorgensen，

who made headlines with her very public transition in 1952.

她因1952年的公开变性 而上了头条新闻。

But while white trans suburbanites were forming their own support networks,

当跨性别白人这个边缘群体 正形成自己的支持网络时，

many trans people of color had to carve their own path.

许多非白人的跨性别群体 则必须自己开辟道路。

Some, like Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, walked in drag balls.

有人一直参加异装走秀， 像Miss Major Griffin-Gracy；

Others were the so-called "street queens,"

其他还有像被称为"街头异装皇后" 的街头表演艺人，

who were often targeted by police for their gender expression

这些艺人经常 因性取向被警察盯上，

and found themselves on the forefront of seminal events

他们发现自己往往处于

LGBT权利运动开创性事件的最前沿。

in the LGBT rights movement.

This brings us to the riots at Cooper Do-nuts in 1959,

像1959年库珀咖啡骚乱、

Compton's Cafeteria in 1966

1966年康普顿餐厅骚乱、

and the famous Stonewall Inn in 1969.

以及著名的1969年石墙事件。

In 1970, Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson,

1970年，参加过Stonewall维权运动的

Sylvia Pivera和Marsha P. Johnson 成立了STAR组织：

two veterans of Stonewall,

established STAR: Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.

跨性者行动革命街头组织。

Trans people continued to fight for equal treatment under the law,

跨性别者继续争取法律平等待遇，

even as they faced higher rates of discrimination,

即使他们面临更多歧视、失业、 被捕，

unemployment, arrests, and the looming AIDS epidemic.

还有艾滋病流行的阴影。

For as long as we've been around,

只要我们一直存在，

those in power have sought to disenfranchise trans people

那些当权者就想方设法 剥夺跨性别者的生活权利，

for daring to live lives that are ours.

不让我们过上我们想要的生活。

This motion picture still, taken in Berlin in 1933,

这部电影1933年拍摄于柏林，

is sometimes used in history textbooks

有时还出现在历史教科书中，

to illustrate how the Nazis burned works they considered un-German.

告诉人们纳粹是如何烧毁 他们认为没有“德国品质”的作品。

But what's rarely mentioned is that included in this massive pile

却鲜有提及的是， 这一大堆作品中

are works from the Institute for Sexual Research.

还包含性别研究机构的成果。

See, I just recapped the trans movement in America,

我剛才回顾的是 美国的跨性别者运动，

but Magnus Hirschfeld and his peers in Germany

而Magnus Hirschfeld 和他的德国同行

had us beat by a few decades.

则领先我们几十年。

Magnus Hirschfeld was an early advocate for LGBT people.

Magnus Hirschfeld是为LGBT 人群争取权益的早期倡导者。

He wrote the first book-length account of trans individuals.

他第一个用笔对跨性别者个体 进行描述，像写书篇幅一样，

He helped them obtain medical services and IDs.

并帮他们获得医疗服务和身份证。

He worked with the Berlin Police Department

他与柏林警察局合作

结束了人们对LGBT人群的歧视，

to end discrimination of LGBT people,

and he hired them at the Institute.

而且聘请他们 在他的研究所工作。

So when the Nazi Party burned his library,

因此，当纳粹烧毁他的图书馆时，

it had devastating implications for trans research around the world.

它对全世界的跨性别研究 产生了毁灭性的影响。

This was a deliberate attempt to erase trans people,

这是蓄意抹杀跨性别者存在，

and it was neither the first nor the last.

不是第一个，也不是最后一个。

So whenever people ask me why trans people are suddenly everywhere,

因此，每当人们问我，为何 突然间到处都是跨性别者时，

I just want to tell them that we've been here.

我只想告诉他们， 其实我们一直都在。

These stories have to be told,

必须有人来讲述这些史话，

along with the countless others that have been buried by time.

还有被时间埋葬的 无数其他的史话。

Not only were our lives not celebrated, but our struggles have been forgotten

不光我们的生命不被赞美， 我们的斗争也已被遗忘，

and, yeah, to some people, that makes trans issues seem new.

是的，对某些人来说，跨性别 话题看起来像新生事物一样。

Today, I meet a lot of people who think that our movement

今天，我遇到的许多人以为 我们的运动只是阶段性的，

is just a phase that will pass,

很快就会过去，

but I also hear well-intentioned allies telling us all to be patient,

但也有善意的支持者 告诉我们要耐心些，

because our movement is "still new."

因为我们的运动“仍然是新生事物”。

Imagine how the conversation would shift

试想一下，如果我们承认 跨性别者要求平等的久远历史，

if we acknowledge just how long trans people have been demanding equality.

人们的话风会如何转变。

Are we still overreacting?

还认为是我们反应过度吗？

Should we continue to wait?

还觉得我们应该继续等待吗？

Or should we, for example,

或者，比方说，我们是否应该

do something about the trans women of color who are murdered

为那些被杀害、但正义未得伸张的

and whose killers never see justice?

有色跨性别女士做些什么？

Do our circumstances seem dire to you yet?

在你看来，我们的处境是否很悲惨？

(Sighs)

（叹息）

Finally, I want other trans people to realize they're not alone.

最后，我想让其他跨性别者 意识到，他们并不孤单。

I grew up thinking my identity was an anomaly that would die with me.

长大后，我曾以为自己的异常 性别身份秘密会伴我进入坟墓。

People drilled this idea of otherness into my mind,

人们强行灌输给我 这种‘’异常‘’的观念，

and I bought it because I didn't know anyone else like me.

而我一直认为自己是怪胎， 因为我不知道有人和我一样。

Maybe if I had known my ancestors sooner,

要是能早点知道 我的先辈们的话，

it wouldn't have taken me so long to find a source of pride

或许，我就不会那么久

in my identity and in my community.

才找到为自己的性别身份 和跨性别群体而自豪的源泉。

Because I belong to an amazing, vibrant community of people

因为，我所属的跨性别群体 积极向上并充满活力，

that uplift each other even when others won't,

当其他人贬低我们时， 我们彼此互相鼓励；

that take care of each other even when we are struggling,

即使在我们挣扎的时候， 我们也彼此相互照顾；

that somehow, despite it all,

不管有多难，

still find cause to celebrate each other,

我们依然找到赞美彼此的理由，

to love each other,

找到彼此相爱的理由，

to look one another in the eyes and say,

会看着彼此的眼睛，真诚地说：

"You are not alone.

“你并不孤单，

You have us.

你还有我们呢。

And we're not going anywhere."

我们会一直在这里。”

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）