“Fight for the things you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]
This is one of my favorite quotes. And I guess I’ll get to practice it this weekend, for the first time in a long while, at least at such a (potentially) large scale.
I will be attempting to run a half-marathon race organized by UTMB which has not included a “non-binary” category for athletes. So people like me are effectively excluded from the race. The webpage for the race has a whole section on “Diversion, Inclusion & Equity”, full of pretty words, but nothing at all mentioning non-binary and/or trans athletes or ways to practically include them. And when I wrote to the race organizers they refused to accommodate me in any way, saying that the only way I could participate was registering as “Male” or “Female”.
Hence my decision to try and run this race as a rebel, without registering, as a form of activism, of social protest.
I’m full of energizing anger to do this, but I’m also scared.
Fortunately, I have a couple of friends going with me — otherwise, I don’t think I could do it. One of my two cis-male running buddies will be running the race with me, also without registering in protest, and running alongside me, like a pacer or shadow, to support me literally at every step. His wife & daughter will be coming along for the weekend and waiting for us at the start/finish line. And one of my closest non-binary friends will also be coming with me for moral/emotional support, waiting for me at the start/finish line. My running buddy got apparel (socks, T-shirts and tank-tops) with the colors of the non-binary flag for all of us to wear on the day of the race. And I/we will be preparing signs for us to hold up with slogans in support of non-binary/trans athletes, to make it clear that we’re doing this as a social protest (& not “banditing” the race). And I even have a big trans flag to wear as a cape, if/when I can, that was given to me by some other close friends in the queer community to support me.
So I’m getting a lot of wonderful support from my friends — they are “joining me” in this battle, whether at my side physically or from afar emotionally.
But still I am a little scared. I might be kicked off the race course. I might be dragged off the trail if I oppose resistance. I probably won’t be given any water or assistance at the aid stations, IF I get to run, so I ned to make sure I’m self-sufficient with hydration&food for the whole race, just in case (it’s a desert race).
I’m scared because to a great extent I don’t really know what to expect. And hopefully, if the race organizers do kick me out or insult me, I will have at least some of the other (“binary”) runners on my side, somehow “joining me”…
The Little Prince and the Fox 