This can’t be happening; I can’t be stuck in such a small space with someone like him. I barely knew him, but I could just tell that he was someone that couldn’t be trusted. How long had it been already, I tried the phones, both my cell and the one located in the elevator itself, and neither were working. Stupid connection. Stupid electricity I didn’t notice that the man took out his phone and began to talk to someone.
“Hey. Let me use your phone” I demanded.
“Excuse me?” He responded in a high-pitched fake voice. It made me cringe; how could someone walk out into public dressed like he was? It was disgusting, he was wearing a colorful dress in the order of that stupid flag; blue, pink, white, pink, blue.
“I said to let me use your phone. It’s bad enough I have to be stuck in here with you, so the least you could do is let me use your phone.”
“Stuck in here with me? Sir, do you have a problem you would like to share?” He asked like he didn’t already know.
“I know a man when I see one. It’s disgusting that you decided to walk out of your house dressed like that. There are children in this community, and they shouldn’t be seeing someone like you. Wearing a dress, having long hair, and makeup doesn’t change what you are. A man.”
He smiled at me before answering, “Sir, I have just as much a right to be in this community as you. I have fought for my right to walk down the street wearing whatever I like. I am a woman, and I have fought for the title as well, if you have a problem with me then it is just that. Your problem. I’m not going to change who I am to help make others comfortable. You can say all the mean and rude words in the world to me but that will never change the fact that I love myself and I am a woman. If you have a true problem with it then maybe you should look inside yourself for the answer and not curse others.”
His words made me think, and look inside myself for a problem I have with another. “How? How do I look inside myself when the problem I have is with another person? That doesn’t make any sense”
“Maybe it’s something that your subconscious is telling you to do, or you could just be an asshole that doesn’t care about others having the same rights as you.” He said looking at the ceiling of the elevator.
“You have the same rights as me. There’s no more fighting for you to do.”
“Sir, I can still be fired for being born a man, yes I can marry whomever I wish, and I can walk down the street dressed how I like. But at any waking moment, I could be beaten just for being me, I could still be jumped while innocently using the restroom, I could still be killed because someone thinks that I don’t have the right to live because I am a woman that was born a man.”
There’s no way what this person was telling me was true. I mean, for someone to kill another human over something so stupid, “That’s true? But how? I thought you were protected by laws for stuff like that. All this time I thought you just had the parades and protests to show off your… gayness”
That made her laugh, “I wish it was just for the purpose. But sir, me and my people may have won a battle or two. But the war is far from over.” Just then the elevator began to move again. We both let out exclamations of joy.
The doors opened on floor four and the woman next to me said: “Well this is my stop, please do enjoy your day.”
Before the doors could shut, I moved my hand to stop them “Ma’am wait! May I please know your name?”
The woman gave me a shocked look before smiling, “My name is Natalie.”
“John.” I smiled back.
That day I made a promise to Natalie to never judge someone without knowing them and their story first.
Phoenix Jones // BluePhoenixBirb 