I'm tired of being a transgendered activist. No… that's not quite it. I'm not any less motivated to work for equal rights for gender variant people, or for sexual minorities for that matter. I guess I'm just tired of being always identified as a transgendered activist.

I was speaking at the anti-violence march last month in Lakeview. Sure, I spoke about hate crimes against transgendered people. How could I not when a rash of hate related violence continues to claim the life of one gender variant person each and every month?

But I spoke about all hate crimes. I implored the crowd to stand together with all who have been victimized for who they are. I talked about violence against women, the most prevalent of all hate crimes. All these crimes have common roots, which unite us all regardless of identity.

But it seems whenever I am quoted in the papers, it is always as Miranda Miller, the transgendered activist. By putting me in a transgender box, the reporters can then ignore anything that doesn't deal with transgendered people. The points about common roots of all hate crimes get lost. My words become less impactful. Readers don't read the rest because it doesn't pertain to them.

That was when I started thinking about identity politics, and how it has been used over the years to divide rather than unify. Identity politics provides license for exclusion, or for feeling excluded. For example, there was public criticism of the group that organized the anti-violence march for not being inclusive, for not inviting lesbian speakers, or people of color for that matter.

Well, gosh, I guess that I don't count as a lesbian. Let's see here, I personally identify as a woman, I'm in a long-term relationship with a woman, and I'm attracted toward women. Hmmm. I thought that I was a lesbian, but I guess not. After all, the media said that there were no lesbian speakers, and they identified me as a transgendered activist. Maybe I'd better turn in my toaster oven.

There were two transgender women who spoke that night. Lorraine Sade Baskerville spoke eloquently about violence against transgender women of color. Lorraine, an African-American woman herself, is founder of TransGenesis whose membership is primarily black transgender women. She works with one of the most marginalized segments of our community, and she does so with genuine caring and a style and grace all her own. Lorraine too is a transgendered activist. So I guess the black community also was not represented.

Now I am not saying that the march was perfect. It wasn't. Could the organizers have done it differently? Of course. But we've got to stop quibbling about identity politics if we ever want to see an end to discrimination and hate crimes.

I heard the same kind of complaint about Equality Begins at Home last Spring. Some people felt excluded. But invitations went out to all the local LGBT advocacy groups, and it public meetings were announced in all the papers. After that we just ran with it. It was open and all were invited, but those who did not come felt that they were deliberately excluded. They weren't.

Despite all this, Chicago remains one of the best cities anywhere in this country when it comes to community coalition building and cooperation. A friend from out of state once asked how we had achieved such unity in Chicago, and I answered, "You just have to show up!"

That's what I would like to say to those who cry exclusion. When it comes to fighting for human rights, forget about identity politics. Forget about waiting for that special invitation. We're all in this together… just show up!

Miranda Stevens-Miller, Chair of It's Time Illinois welcomes your comments at MirandaSt1@aol.com