A transgender force (& A Great Leader) – The Washington Post on Ruby Corado

Ruby Corado has become one of the country’s most important advocates for gay and transgender youth.

Source: A transgender force: ‘The only thing that kept me alive was doing this work’ – The Washington Post

This is a beautiful story put together by Theresa Vargas (@TheresaVargas1) at the Washington Post.

I met Ruby when Casa Ruby (@CasaRubyDC) was just starting, and I remember that day in 2013 very well. Of course there’s a blog post of it: Washington, DC 2013 Sheroes of the Movement, Leadership.

I had no idea what a delicate situation Ruby was in when during this time. She presented a compelling vision for the future even then, which is what a leader does.

The opposite of Not My Problem

There’s more posts about Ruby and her work on this blog which you can find here. I think the reason for that is that I’m drawn to transformational leadership. It’s really the opposite of “not my problem” and so with those examples it’s important to show these examples, too.

A leader also doesn’t normally say things like this, which I remember to this day.

I hope every doctor and nurse gets to meet someone like Ruby in their lifetime. They’ll learn a lot about what it means to be there for people. These examples are everywhere, you just have to look for them. They are guiding in the times when you don’t know what to do because the bias is towards “doing what needs to be done.”

Another positive note, Washington Post’s comment policy

The beauty of the story was initially offset by the allowance of degrading comments by readers on the story, which are against the Post’s own commenting policy.

Initially there were about 12 of these, which have since been removed (thank you). An additional one was also removed on request..

I wrote about this yesterday: You can look at the comments. My experiment in ending transphobia. What you don’t permit, you don’t promote. I think it’s the responsibility of publishers to keep spaces like this safe and supportive.

I appreciate the work done to remove the transphobic comments quickly when brought to their attention. It helps the world learn to love better 🙂 .

Washington, DC 2013 Sheroes of the Movement, Leadership

Ted Eytan, MD