I am a 43 year old transgender living with HIV, child of Mexican immigrants. I have been in a relationship for the past nine years. I always here about same sex marriage and i don't feel it applies to me. I am a woman who has had to go through many excruciating circumstances just in order to live my life.I could be married legally now if I had the resources to go through the re-assignment surgery. Unfortunately society to this day does not take us seriously as human beings. i feel sometimes they see us as freaks or lost souls. Insurance for an example , there is no insurance which will cover re-assignment surgey, they call it cosmetic surgery and fail to accept that it is vital to the individual in order to live a good  healthy life. This Country also does not provide the resources necessary for a transgender to have a good quality of life. I can't even find employment for the same reason, I sometimes feel that we have no rights and are also ignored. The stories in the media are always about gay men or lesbians there is never any mention of transgenders and their rights. The only thing people know about us has come through shows like Jerry Springer who just humiliates us and tag us as performers. Where does it stop. When will we be treated like people! It is time for stories like this one to come out in the  media and help us become part of society. At the moment we are disenfranchised from being part of any community but our own. many of us are forced to live in shame due to the mistreatment of others. It is time that society realizes that there are many more populations than they are aware of and also be exposed. This is why I decided to write my story. If people have more exposure to others who are different than them, maybe we would be embraced and accepted  or at least tolerated with respect applied.

Raquel Sapien