To the editor:
This is in response to the comments on ThePerryNews.com article regarding a non-binary person from Perry.
I’m appalled that the “Iowa Nice” rhetoric was absent from community members’ language when addressing a non-binary person from Perry.
As someone who is a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, I’ve always lived in fear of backlash and harm from Perry community members because of my identity, and this incident reaffirms my fears.
Homophobia and transphobia run rampant in our town, and I’m calling it out.
Living in small-town Iowa, I’ve seen obvious displays of racism, homophobia, xenophobia and disrespect to poor/low-income communities. This didn’t happen just in any small town but in our small town, in our community.
In Perry, people who aren’t white, straight or middle class are deemed failures or are targeted by residents of Perry, and I blame that on a bigoted community. Just because some community members don’t believe a certain way or hold certain political beliefs doesn’t give them the right to disregard basic human decency.
I don’t care if you don’t “believe in pronouns,” and I don’t care if how someone exists “goes against your beliefs,” because people deserve common decency and respect.
Respecting someone’s pronouns is the same as respecting someone’s name. I would never purposely call someone the wrong name, and neither would you, and pronouns are the same way.
LGBTQIA+ people exist. People of color exist. Immigrants exist. Poor people exist. And we aren’t going anywhere.
For those interested in unlearning their bigoted mindset, here are some resources I’ve found for you:
- Ways to be Anti-Racist
- Ways to Unlearn Homophobia
- Ways to fight Xenophobia and Racism
- Ways to fight Poverty in your community
I called out the community members in Perry on their bigotry. Now it’s time to do better.
Treat people with kindness and respect.
Madison Mason
Perry
FYI, some of us older generations of people currently living in Perry for 50 + years don’t get a lot of opportunities to be able to know or interact with them.
Sam’s “non-binary” persona has nothing to do with his actions, and it is getting tiring to listen to his defenders use that to defend him. Perhaps if his job announcement in local and national press had focused on his personal achievements that have nothing to do with how he looks (or his personal activities) instead of focusing on his activities outside of nuclear waste management, no one would care about his issues in regards to luggage stealing?
None of us really have much to say about the allegations one way or the other. The person may or may not be guilty of the crime. That’s an issue for the courts. I don’t see anyone online defending Sam for what he has been charged with. That’s not our point. The point is this person is being judged for what he is and not what he might have done. Forgive me if I use the incorrect pronouns here. My sin is due to a bad memory and not a bad attitude. Anyway, it’s like I stated online a couple of days ago: I find the bad attitudes that many folks here have about LGBQs to be much more unspeakably evil and harmful than luggage theft. Kudos to Madison for making a stand.