It has been a long time since the turbulent days of Stonewall and since then the GLBT community has made tremendous advances in equality. We all should be quite proud of that.

Unfortunately, the scorecard is mixed and we haven't yet achieved full equality. This is especially true with the "T" part of the GLBT community. Too many of our transgendered brothers and sisters suffer the loss of their job, their family, their friends, their civil rights and, in some cases, their lives.

This suffering may take many forms, from the relatively slight to the severe, but they all are a result of intolerance. One can point to many examples in recent days, such as the lesbian woman who was thrown out of a restaurant on LGBT Pride Day in New York because she was mistaken for a cross dressing male when she used the woman's restroom. You can also point to Sarasota, Florida where the city manager, Susan Stanton, who was fired after revealing plans to begin sex reassignment. If you visit the Remembering Our Dead webpage, you can point to too many examples of intolerance…

Intolerance can come from many sources and for many reasons, but intolerance is usually a result of ignorance and feeling some sort of vulnerability. This vulnerability may be some fear that if I am transgendered that might cause you to be too. Worse, is that I may make your children or spouse a transsexual. This vulnerability may be a fear that if I am transgendered then I will somehow corrupt your sense of morality or religious beliefs. In my opinion, these fears are real only because of ignorance.

No one who believes in democratic pluralism should accept any infringement on freedom of expression - and that should include gender expression. Democracy is based upon the idea that we can have differences in opinion and still get along. These democratic principles are threatened whenever anyone suffers from intolerance.

Tolerance, loosely defined, is not prohibiting that which you disapprove of. Must we tolerate anything and everything? Of course not and few people, if any, claim that we must. To embrace tolerance does not mean one must allow and accept obvious injustices.

If we are all tolerant, does that mean that just because I do something then you have to as well? Again, of course not. Although I have a very close friend who is Hindi and I respect his religious beliefs, that does not mean I must become a Hindi as well because I am tolerant of his religious beliefs. If someone is tolerant of me being transgendered, that does not mean that they must become transgendered themselves or even approve of my transgender status.

Most western countries are multi-cultural and we expect religious tolerance from them. So why can't we expect gender tolerance? We, as a community, would not and should not tolerate someone from being thrown out of a restaurant just because they look "too Asian." So why do we tolerate this intolerance if the victim looks to be a part of the GLBT community? If the funeral of a fallen soldier who happened to be jewish was disrupted by protesters holding signs that said "God Hates Jews", the average American would be outraged. Yet, it is seemingly acceptable to protest at the funeral of a gay soldier where the protesters hold up signs saying "God Hates Fags." To me, this appears to be an inconsistent double standard.

What are some good ways to combat intolerance? First of all, when you see intolerance, let it be known immediately that you disapprove of the action. That could be when you hear someone make a disparaging comment or it could be when you hear of some unfair labor practice or governmental regulation. Similarly, if you see an example of tolerance and respect, let it be known that you approve. As the old saying goes, "you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." Positive reinforcement can be very effective.

When you hear about legislation being considered, make the effort to learn about what is proposed, and support that legislation if it is worthwhile. You don't have to be a political activist to make an impact. All you have to do is speak up for what you think is right. Do not underestimate the impact your telephone call has on your local and state legislators, not to mention the folks in Washington, DC.

Recently, there has been some very important legislation debated that most people in the transgender community should be made aware of. Nadine Smith from Equality Florida, summed things up very well when she said "This is our moment of truth and we cannot blink... This is not the time to do the bigots' work for them, to make excuses, or to call fear 'pragmatism.'" Regardless of where you stand with this legislation, your voice should be heard.

You can fight intolerance through your support of well-known organizations such as Gender Education & Advocacy (GEA), Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC), International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE), Press For Change, the Mathew Shepard Foundation, and the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) - just to name a few.

You can fight intolerance by learning as much as you can about transgender issues so that, when the opportunity arises in your everyday life, you can let others know just how important those issues are and help clear up any misconceptions that people may have about the transgender community. There are many workshops offered at conferences such as Fantasia Fair, First Event, IFGE or Southern Comfort that can help prepare you to discuss such issues. Also, you should consider attending meetings at local transgender support groups. Of course, there are many informative resources on the Internet that you can read.

There is an old expression that goes "If you really want to learn a topic, try teaching it." Consider giving a short presentation at your local t-support group about an issue concerning the community. You can even try your hand at submitting an article to a website, starting a blog, or writing a "letter to the editor" of a newspaper. By letting other know what you have learned you can help fight the ignorance that leads to intolerance.

Intolerance will not just disappear if we ignore it. Intolerance is the one thing that we can't tolerate. Be intolerant - about intolerance.