One of the fastest routes for widespread LGBT acceptance: The media

Imagine your life without a cell phone or PDA. Ask anyone who’s lost theirs and they’ll tell you that they felt out of touch while they were without their mobile device. Now imagine your life without the Internet, toothpaste, or transportation. Literally everything we have today, as a species, we were once without. All of these things that are now considered necessities are only that because they’ve become mainstream, a part of everyday life.

While the acceptance of the LGBT community has grown considerably in just the last decade, we still have a ways to go. Rose Venkatesan, India's first transgender TV anchor and celebrity, realized that the quickest way to reach widespread acceptance was through the media. 

Her show, “Yours, Rose,” reaches an audience of 64 million people in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and covered topics ranging from divorce to sexuality, but in a family-friendly manner. Often called India’s Oprah, Rose, a poised, 30-year-old, American-educated former Web site designer with a master’s degree in biomedical engineering, has been garnering more and more acceptance for transgendered people in India.

Proof that her show might be turning the tides? Well, she’s just now getting set to produce and direct her own show, “This is Rose Hour.” But even more so, the Delhi High Court recently made a historic judgment on Section 377, decriminalizing homosexuality. "I think now the Delhi High Court has clearly made it a point and stated that these people are also humans and they also deserve the same kinds of rights as other people," she said.

A big step for a country that banned television channels that showed “too much skin,” and has fringe political groups that like nothing better than to stir up raucous (and often fake) outbursts of moral outrage.

Josie Romero, a young child, teaches us to never give up

The story of Josie Romero, who was featured on “Sex, Lies, and Gender,” on Nat Geo TV last week, teaches us the power of acceptance and perseverance against all odds. You see, Josie hadn’t been known as such for her whole life. Prior to a few years ago, this adorable little girl went by the name of Joey. Josie is an 8-year-old transgender.

Her parents, both in a military and traditional family, did struggle with accepting their son’s desire to wear dresses, be referred to as a female and play with dolls. However, after a couple years of only allowing Josie to act out on her desires at home, they realized that they were impeding on her happiness.  Her father, an Air Force Lieutenant, had the hardest time accepting the changes, but as he states, only because he felt like he had lost a son. Both parents did an incredible thing by allowing Josie to be who she truly is; allowing her to go to school on base as herself, despite the turmoil it caused with parents and students, and even having her birth certificate changed to acknowledge that her name is Josie and she is female.

While the story of her family’s acceptance is extremely powerful, Josie’s own story is something that we can really learn from. Her mother states that she was constantly harassed and verbally and physically abused by her classmates only for being who she was. Josie was deeply hurt by the way she was treated, but refused to change the way she lived her life. At 8-years-old, Josie recognized the importance of persevering and trying again and again.

When working in coalitions, it’s easy to get downtrodden due to the bullies' comments. They’re saying mean things about you and what you feel passionate about. They don’t have much respect for you. They might even try to push you down. But, Josie serves as a precedent for how we too should act. Despite the naysayers, we need to keep moving forward, being who we are, spreading our message and being happy. And if we keep doing that, we really will be able to unite and conquer.