The Swing Thing
I’ve been perusing the news like a junkie lately, inspired by the Michigan election results, which have garnered national attention. It’s been a long time since a candidate I supported won an election. Prior to my leaving Arkansas, Ozark friends asked, “Why Michigan?” I said, “Because in a swing state, my vote counts!
But not all the news is about the election. I read about a trans woman in Laramie, Wyoming, who “pulled a gun and started a ‘stand your ground’ debate.” She’s facing a possible 15-year prison sentence.
The New York Times article explains, “Wyoming does not require gun owners to register their weapons and allows people to carry firearms concealed or in the open without a permit. The state’s Firearms Freedom Act declares that guns made and kept within state lines are exempt from federal regulations, and its ‘stand your ground’ law allows people to use force to defend themselves if they reasonably believe their safety is threatened. The law says they do not have a duty to retreat if they are not the initial aggressor.”
Yet when Rihanna Kelver was pushed to the ground after a confrontation with three men, and she pulled out a pistol to defend herself, “…she was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent…” She hadn’t fired a shot.
Mind-boggled and awash in memories, I prepared to forward the article to my older daughter—who I knew would remember the grisly 1998 murder of a gay man in Laramie:
Perhaps you’ve already read this, if your NYT subscription is current. But it made me ponder our family history—and how easily our lives might have been different.
Do you remember when I applied for a teaching job at the University of Wyoming? (You were supposed to fly with me to the interview but, at the last minute, couldn’t go for some reason—so I took your little brother.) I was offered the job—and really wanted it— but turned it down on three counts: 1. The pay was lower than my Louisiana salary. 2. There were no job openings for my other half because schoolteachers in Laramie never quit. 3. At the interview I learned (because I asked) there were only a handful of non-white people in Laramie. Not the best setting for raising white children. So we went to New Mexico–where whites were in the minority, Kirk was offered work, and our pay was substantial.
Shortly afterward came the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie. I was sickened. And then felt a perverse sense of relief that we hadn’t moved there, a sensation rekindled when I watched you perform in The Laramie Project in Las Cruces…
Wait. Maybe I should email all three offspring. Or make it public.
The Times reports that Kelver’s case “…has touched off an impassioned debate… about whether the Second Amendment applies when the person holding the gun is transgender.”
Excuse me?
Shouldn’t those Wyoming folks be debating hate crimes—including physical assault of a trans woman?
Once again, I’m consciously glad I turned down the job. I never hear any of my children diss another human being on the basis of skin color, sexual orientation, culture of origin, or even their apparent IQ (with the possible exception of public figures who are presumed to have a certain degree of intelligence but act otherwise). I think it’s distinctly possible our geographical location played a part.
According to the Times, “Ms. Kelver says she would not have been charged if she had been a biological female shoved to the ground by a group of men.” I agree.
Alas, Wyoming is not a swing state.