Living Transgender In American Society Today: 1st Annual Bobbie Watts Memorial Award

Monday, April 12, 2010

1st Annual Bobbie Watts Memorial Award

Greetings everyone,

I received Saturday night at Club Shine (Oxwood Inn - North Hollywood). The award is the first annual Bobbie Watts Memorial award and was presented to be by Laura Gonzales, the founder of TGCD.net and Club Shine. Bobbie was an awesome lady in the TG/CD community (as you can read below) who passed away very suddenly last year. I generally feel like I'm not doing enough - certainly nothing worthy of being awarded anyway - and said so prior to getting the award and here is the reply that set me back on my heels from one of the co-organizers of the LA CD/TG "Meetup" group (AKA Bobbie's Dreamers). Here is what was said about Bobbie and myself...

"Eva:
Nothing in this world gives me more honor and pleasure than to present to you the First Bobbie Watts Memorial Award to you for your commitment to the comunity, in uniting, encouraging, advocating and bringing new, young and older ppl to the community that is growing each day.Your heart is just as big as the person with who we honor in this award. As she opened not only her heart, her house, her space and at times her money to all those who needed something to drink , or food, a place to sleep, or a safe haven, and or just someone to feel accepted with, perhaps a place to be able to change and hang out with so they may/could feel comfortable in doing so. Someone who even tho at times felt she tried and many did not reach out to her and to the rest; she still insisted in trying to unite what perhaps could be imposible but she managed to do it to the few or many people she managed to unite throughout her last years of life!I present this award to you Eva-Genevieve as our first recipient because you are a corageous woman with a big heart that tries to unite all of our hearts, with you words of wisdom and encouraging each of us to come out and show the world who we are; that we should not be afraid of coming out and letting the world see... that we are humans after all! And that gender is not a thing between one's legs but between our ears! Eva it gives me so much joy & pleasure to present to you the 2010 first ever Bobbie Watts Memorial Award to you for your continuing Community outreach and in hopes that you continue to reach out to all of our community and unite us with other communities as well. Please accept this award on behalf of Bobbie, Laura and all of Bobbie's Dreamers for your hard work!"

(That's me in the zig-zaggy blue dress)

I am blown away that people feel this way about me and I had tears in my eye as as I read the note. I am pleased and very humbled that I was chosen to receive the award given in her honor. What this shows is that being open about who one is - boldly at times - does make a difference in other people's lives. It is a behavior I encourage for everyone who has truly discovered their true self. If one lives openly as the person God created them to be, good will flow from that, so live your life to the full before God and the people around you!

Hugs and Blessings,
Eva-Genevieve!

2 comments:

AnonymousApril 14, 2010 at 7:36 PM
You absolutely deserve the award. You are an inspiration to so many,
congratulations! TG
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genevieveApril 16, 2010 at 8:59 PM
Congratulations, Eva. Your life has and will touch many others.
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Any Body, Everybody, Christ’s Body…

…was the theme at this years National Gathering of the UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns this year in San Diego (July 14 –17). There were about 125 attendees from all across the US and we even had folks from other countries. Several topics were discussed including ways to make Church accessible to all – many physical and mental challenges were included in this discussion as well as LGBT concerns, Mentoring Queer youth – the emphasis being the need for all of us to be mentors as we are able and that we all have something to teach others, Advocacy & Empowerment, OnA Next Steps: Telling Our Stories, and also a panel discussion on including “transgender” and gender expression more specifically in OnA statements, and immigration issues too – far more issues and information than one person could take in or even list here.

Starting Wednesday afternoon we jumped right in with a very lively worship service with wonderful music and through the course of the gathering we heard many inspiring speakers and participated in several “breakout” workshop sessions. We broke into small discussion groups daily, heard many points of view on important topics, and made many friends in the process. On our last evening the General Minister and President of the UCC, the Revered Geoffrey Black was the keynote speaker at the banquet. My favorite speaker at the conference was Felix Carrion who often contributes to the UCC’s “Stillspeaking” on-line daily Devotional. We ended the conference Saturday morning with another lively worship service and dismissed just in time for several of us to rush over and march in San Diego’s Pride parade with the Mission Hills UCC Church and Bloom in the Desert Ministries (also UCC affiliated). I brought back lots of things to discuss in upcoming Mission Board meetings, but more than anything else it is the personal connections that made the conference very worthwhile. I feel a part of something much larger now – there was so much positive, hopeful energy shared there. I felt so very warmly welcomed by everyone and I believe that my input there was greatly valued as well. And, of course, I made an impression with my array of colorful dresses and hats too! (Would you expect anything less)? I was so blessed for being allowed to represent First Congregational Church in Riverside at this Gathering.

Follow this link to pictures from the event -the photos are in no particular order and a few shots of the fire that broke out behind the motel where I was staying.

Hugs and Blessings,

Eva-Genevieve!