Canadian transsexual women Audrey Gauthier as President of the Union

November 2013 is another year to celebrate for the LGBT members. Every November we celebrate the annual Transgender day of Remembrance all around the world to honor those who we have lost to anti-transgender violence and to remind us of the struggles and achievements we all had to go through all these years.

What makes it more special this year is the election of 44-year old transgender woman Audrey Gauthier as president of CUPE 4041, representing Air Transat flight attendants centered in Montreal. She is the first ever elected transgender president of a local in Canada. In the words of Gauthier “I’m proud to be the first transsexual member elected president of a local, and for LGBTTI rights it’s something that’s important, but our members don’t really see me as different. They just see me as a woman, period,” This is something for us to be proud about because we are now being treated as equals. We are starting to open people’s mind on accepting our capability and skills as a person and are no longer being judged as a transsexual.

Gauthier well represented the transgenders by showing everybody that like any other, we have a good heart; we all have our own dreams and ambitions and we deserve to be treated just like any other. She was elected to “bring people together” a much known personality of a transgender.

We love to befriend many and we hold no qualifications or limitations when it comes to accepting people in our circle of friends. And when we do have our circle, we remain close and true to them no matter what. A very good example was again demonstrated by our pride, Audrey when she remained true friends with Veronique Bond who was also a candidate for the position. They proved to everyone else that the a little competition will do no harm to their friendship.

The fight for equality is not over for transgenders. There will always be people who will judge us for who we are and the choices we make. But, the fight is slowly starting to pay off. People can now see that we are as capable, skillful and deserving of a position as any other man would. Let Audrey Gauthier be a shining beacon for us all.