Unless you disagree with me completely.
(First, please take the poll. An explanation of my questionnaire is in Wednesday's post.)
I exchanged a couple of letters with Zack Ford, who works at ThinkProgress, one of the few websites I try to follow for political points of view. I've been pretty disgusted with politics at all levels for the past year or so, so I'm not as involved as I might have been. In the past nine months, I've told off my congressman, my state senator, and my state representative. They all know me by name and sight, so I'm not a voice yelling at a town hall. (My state senator has met Meg, although he assumed it was just a costume).
Anyway.... I was steered toward an LGBT article by Mr Ford, and was although the title was promising, I was dismayed to see Yet Another Article about LGB, with hardly a T in sight.
Here's the note I wrote:
I was excited when I saw today's Tipping Point on LGBT Equality post. I was less so after I read it.
Every point (save one) was T-free. I'm still not sure why T was added to LGB. Gender identity has little to do with sexual orientation, as you know. Tacking on the T just helps increase the numbers of this minority. It always reminds me of the way republicans court social conservatives so they can increase their numbers without inconveniencing themselves.
You know that T-rights are way behing gay rights. Tacking on a letter does nothing to help us in our fight to be accepted.
I also looked at your first page of posts. Two out of twenty have t-content. It doesn't help. It really doesn't.
Either drop the T or mean it.
I was concerned my demeanour was a bit harsh, but I didn't know how to make it more pleading than insisting. Nonetheless, he wrote back and said he agreed that there was not a lot of T content, but he reports on other happenings and if there's no T news, there's nothing for him to write about. He asked if I had any ideas. I paraphrase his note; it's not mine to post.
Well, I'm at a loss. I don't think my goal is to get more T news out there, although I think the more people read, the better we'll be understood and accepted. I'd like to get the T off of the LGB articles that have no gender content. I haven't convinced myself that's the best solution.
I'm looking for ideas. The e-mail ball is in my court. Although there are other LGBT authors on the site, you can find Zack's posts here.
Meantime, check out Jillian Page. She writes a column called Reflections of a Transitional Journey. Her description:
I have been sharing my personal experiences during my transition from male gender status to female gender status for almost three years here. I am now legally a female after having sexual reassignment surgery in October 2009. I also talk a little about trans issues, though am no expert.
I think every newspaper needs one of these and I salute the Montreal Gazette!
Friday, August 5, 2011
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My first reaction to your comments was that I totally agree, but then I started thinking, there are valid reasons for both positions here. On the one hand, yes, transfolk need a separate voice that focuses purely on trans issues; on the other hand fragmentation leads to cliquishness leads to hostility between groups that should be supporting one another's efforts.
ReplyDeleteHeck, I'd love to see more prominent focus on non-trans crossdressing, but it ain't gonna happen in my lifetime no matter how many Eddie Izzards we see in the news. Maybe I could convince the world media to start reporting not just on GLBT issues but GLBTC? We have plenty of letters left in the alphabet that we can add as each subgroup joins in :-)
But yeah, it's discouraging to hunt around the web for articles and blogs about crossdressing only to see it turn up as a tag for search engines that leads you to sites with nothing but GLB content. That's why I started my own blog, as a place surfers could find that's all T and no GLB.
--Dangerously political territory, Meg. Sure, I'll bite.
ReplyDeleteNo. The T has absolutely nothing to do with the LGB, and there is no logical reason why it should included. In other words, LGB does not equal T. But ya know is? The discrimination. The victims of both types of hate crimes end up just as dead.
Still, I'm not going to be checking any LGBT sites for news and information that applies to me.
Meg:
ReplyDeleteZack either is lazy or uncaring. He could go to TCentral, www.t-central.blogspot.com or Helen's en|Gender (www.myhusbandbetty.com) for just about any gender related news. And there are bunches more which is why I said he was lazy.
I generally agree with your feeling that the T doesn't belong in the LGB but if we weren't we would not be getting any rights at all. I hate to generalize, however the LGBs don't "get it" any more than the straight cis- folks do. I do like them as they tend to be more open minded, but they still don't get it.
I agree that the "T" seems to be an add on to the larger more politically active and organized LGB agenda. For that matter I am not sure that the "B" is at the proper home port either.
ReplyDeleteI have steered conversations that I have had with gay acquaintances towards the "T" issue and they just do not seem to get it. As a rule being "T" is hard to explain to any and then there is the entire issue of the so-called "T Spectrum".
I follow as much of the "T" blog world and information tree as possible and things remain confusing in many regards.
Pat