We'll still have work to do!

By Ann Thompson Cook

I had an opportunity to attend a recent gathering to celebrate the fifth anniversary of one of my favorite organizations, the National Center for Transgender Equality.

From the beginning, NCTE’s brilliant and visionary founder, Mara Keisling, created a strategy of collaboration.  She was clear that the success of the movement for transgender equality would depend on creating a vibrant coalition of people who were unwilling to bargain away the rights of some in the interest of progress for others.

People told many of the kinds of stories that go with building a movement, such as the time that representatives from several national organizations sat in Senator Kennedy’s office and explained to him why they weren’t willing to walk away from transgender rights to attain lesbian and gay rights. And Mara sat in the back of the room in amazement, seeing that her voice wasn’t really needed.

Many stories from many different movement leaders. All inspiring. But for me, the most inspiring came from Mara. At the end of the evening, she wrapped up her remarks by saying something like this: 

We’re going to win this, our rights will come, but we must not stop there. 

We’ll still have work to do, because we’re not in this just to get our own rights. 

We’re in this to create a better world for everyone!