Why are transgender people suddenly everywhere?
为何一夜之间到处都是跨性别人？
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 openly identify as trans.
请记住，美国成人中有不足1%公开承认自己是跨性别人。
According to a recent GLAAD survey, about 16 percent of non-trans Americans claim to know a trans person in real life.
据最近的GLAAD调查，约16%的非跨性别者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. But trans people are not new.
因此，对另外84%的人来说，这是个新话题。但是，跨性别人并非今天才有。
Gender variance is older than you think, and trans people are part of that legacy.
性别多元化的历史比你想的要久远，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, and they go way back.
一直有群体承认多性别，而且，这可以追溯到很久以前。
The hijra of India and Pakistan, for example, have been cited as far back as 2,000 years ago in the Kama Sutra.
例如，早在2000年前，海吉拉一词就出现在印度和巴基斯坦的《欲经》中。
Indigenous American nations each have their own terms, but most share the umbrella term "two-spirit."
美国土著群体对此也有各自的称呼，但多数都有“双灵”这个伞形术语的意思。
They saw gender-variant people as shamans and healers in their communities,
他们把多性别人看做群体里的巫师和治疗师，
and it wasn't until the spread of colonialism that they were taught to think otherwise.
直到殖民主义的传播，他们才被教导改变了想法（开始排斥跨性别人）。
Now, in researching trans history, we look for both trans people and trans practices.
在研究跨性别历史时，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 so they could fight in the US Civil War.
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。
After the war, most resumed their lives as women, but some, like Albert Cashier, continued to live as men.
战后，大部分人重新回到女性身份的生活，但有些人，像Albert Cashier，继续过着男人的生活。
Albert was eventually confined to an asylum and forced to wear a dress for the rest of his life.
但最终，Albert被关进精神病院，被迫穿着长裙过完余生。
Around 1895, a group of self-described androgynes formed the Cercle Hermaphroditos.
1895年前后，一个自称双性人的群体成立了专门的组织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, like Louise Lawrence,
由其跨性别患者提供研究资助，如跨性别女士Louise Lawrence，
a trans woman who had corresponded extensively with people who had been arrested for public cross-dressing.
她曾与那些因在公共场合穿异性服装被捕的人交往频繁。
She introduced sexual researchers like Alfred Kinsey to a massive trans network.
她把Alfred Kinsey这样的性别研究人员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,
还有其他的早期人物，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," who were often targeted by police for their gender expression
其他还有像被称为“街头异装皇后”的街头表演艺人，这些艺人经常因性取向被警察盯上，
and found themselves on the forefront of seminal events in the LGBT rights movement.
他们发现自己往往处于LGBT权利运动开创性事件的最前沿。
This brings us to the riots at Cooper Do-nuts in 1959, Compton's Cafeteria in 1966 and the famous Stonewall Inn in 1969.
像1959年库珀咖啡骚乱、1966年康普顿餐厅骚乱、以及著名的1969年石墙事件。
In 1970, Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, two veterans of Stonewall,
1970年，参加过Stonewall维权运动的Sylvia Pivera和Marsha P.Johnson
established STAR: Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.
成立了STAR组织：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, unemployment, arrests, and the looming AIDS epidemic.
即使他们面临更多歧视、失业、被捕，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 for daring to live lives that are ours.
那些当权者就想方设法剥夺跨性别者的生活权利，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 to illustrate how the Nazis burned works they considered un-German.
有时还出现在历史教科书中，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 are works from the Institute for Sexual Research.
却鲜有提及的是，这一大堆作品中还包含性别研究机构的成果。
See, I just recapped the trans movement in America,
我刚才回顾的是美国的跨性别者运动，
but Magnus Hirschfeld and his peers in Germany had us beat by a few decades.
而Magnus Hirschfeld和他的德国同行则领先我们几十年。
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。
He helped them obtain medical services and IDs.
他帮助他们获得医疗服务和身份证。
He worked with the Berlin Police Department to end discrimination of LGBT people, and he hired them at the Institute.
他与柏林警察局合作结束了人们对LGBT人群的歧视，而且聘请他们在他的研究所工作。
So when the Nazi Party burned his library, it had devastating implications for trans research around the world.
因此，当纳粹烧毁他的图书馆时，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, and it was neither the first nor the last.
这是蓄意抹杀跨性别者存在，不是第一个，也不是最后一个。
So whenever people ask me why trans people are suddenly everywhere, I just want to tell them that we've been here.
因此，每当人们问我，为何突然间到处都是跨性别者时，我只想告诉他们，其实我们一直都在。
These stories have to be told, along with the countless others that have been buried by time.
必须有人来讲述这些史话，还有被时间埋葬的无数其他的史话。
Not only were our lives not celebrated,
不光我们的生命不被赞美，
but our struggles have been forgotten and, yeah, to some people, that makes trans issues seem new.
我们的斗争也已被遗忘，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 is just a phase that will pass,
今天，我遇到的许多人以为我们的运动只是阶段性的，很快就会过去，
but I also hear well-intentioned allies telling us all to be patient, because our movement is "still new."
但也有善意的支持者告诉我们要耐心些，因为我们的运动“仍然是新生事物”。
Imagine how the conversation would shift if we acknowledge just how long trans people have been demanding equality.
试想一下，如果我们承认跨性别者要求平等的久远历史，人们的话风会如何转变。
Are we still overreacting? Should we continue to wait?
还认为是我们反应过度吗？还觉得我们应该继续等待吗？
Or should we, for example, do something about the trans women of color who are murdered and whose killers never see justice?
或者，比方说，我们是否应该为那些被杀害、但正义未得伸张的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？
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, and I bought it because I didn't know anyone else like me.
人们强行灌输给我这种“异常”的观念，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 in my identity and in my community.
或许，我就不会那么久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 that uplift each other even when others won't,
因为，我所属的跨性别群体积极向上并充满活力，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, that somehow,
即使在我们挣扎的时候，我们也彼此相互照顾；
despite it all, still find cause to celebrate each other, to love each other, to look one another in the eyes and say,
不管有多难，我们依然找到赞美彼此的理由，找到彼此相爱的理由，会看着彼此的眼睛，真诚地说：
"You are not alone. You have us. And we're not going anywhere." Thank you.
“你并不孤单，你还有我们呢。我们会一直在这里。”谢谢。