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F*CK THE VIOLENCE!” It is a project conceived by the Culture Group of Arcigay Catania on the occasion of the International Day Against Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (or IDAHOBIT, acronym for International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia).
The aim of the day is to promote and coordinate the awareness and prevention on the issue, so as to
to combat homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia.
The project consists of collecting, publishing, and circulating a series of stories, quotes, and real-life testimonies, creating a safe space to give voice to those who have experienced violence, overcome it, and fight against it, telling you about it; for a better world for all and a better time of life; so that you may always take care to shine.
Things are changing, and getting better: we want to show you.
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“YOU CANNOT ENTER”.
This is the answer I was given by the staff at the entrance of a straight nightclub.
“Why shouldn't I be able to come in? Is there a problem?”
“No, no problem, but you can’t come in.”.
Dismayed, I always heard the same answer.
For a good half hour, I couldn't believe that it was me, as a transgender person, who wasn't accepted, and I searched for any other reasonable explanation why I was being prevented from having fun in that nightclub with my girlfriend.
“Am I perhaps wearing the wrong clothes for the occasion?”
I insisted, over and over again, to ask the real reason for that decision, but nothing, always the same answer, but with something more.
Yes, something more could be read in the staff's gaze and in the way they repeated that phrase "“you can't come in” which left no room for interpretation even for those around me who were listening to what was happening: the rejection and contempt for my transgender identity, which, although not medicalized, could make one think of a girl who dresses as a man, masculinized in her manner, holding hands with her girlfriend.
Unpleasant and serious in any case. I couldn't attend a nightclub party because I might look like a man or a lesbian, and in their eyes, I deserved to be left out of their nightclub and their consideration as a social outcast.
Hatred and marginalization, elements of a phobia of diversity.
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