From gudbuy t'jane, a trans blogger:
Controversy erupted in Toronto’s queer community recently as Danny Glenwright, a cissexual editor at Xtra, Canada’s largest gay and lesbian newspaper, publicly posted a trans woman‘s birth name on his personal Facebook. After at first agreeing to remove her information, he instead posted a non-apology to Xtra‘s website, sparking further outrage by trans people and their allies. In response, Xtra has promised to engage in efforts to increase trans awareness and inclusivity at the paper, though details of the plan are unclear.This post is illustrative of a growing problem. It's increasingly difficult to engage in any discussion of trans issues without being accused of being hateful. (And I'm not talking about the Canadian editor who mentioned the trans woman's birth name on Facebook, I'm talking about the danger in even commenting on the issue. Though a reader pointed out the rest of the story that the writer above failed to mention. It's far less cut and dry than presented - the trans woman in question bullied the gay editor as a young boy. There's even more to the story, but the results are the same - the editor has now been demonized and marked as hater, bullied twice in essence. Different country, same story.)
The tragedy here for me isn’t just the incredible disrespect shown to the trans woman by a member of the LGBT media, but that it seems part of a larger pattern of backlash to trans women by cissexual gay men. Whether it is in response to the transphobic actions or words of a Ronald Gold, or Dan Savage, or exploiting our deaths for camp, or even arguing against use of the word ‘cis’, there is a significant minority of cis gay men who make no effort to restrain their vitriol for trans women who demand equality.
This is by no means to suggest all cis gay men are transphobic. Far from it, I myself have many cis gay men who are incredible friends, allies, and community, and many prominent gay men are vocal supporters of trans rights. Still, whenever conflict arises between cis gay men and trans people (trans women specifically), there is inevitably a core of gay voices who respond with anger and hatred. The tactics of belittling, derailing, and dehumanizing occur again and again.
To wit: If you have concerns about trans people making up a word for people who aren't trans (calling us "cis-gender," "cis-sexual" or just "cis"), and often using the words in a context that is critical of gay men (thus intimating that perhaps the word is not truly intended to be a neutral descriptor), then you are the hater. I would argue that both gay and trans people should be permitted to object to appellations that they find offensive. Is that really such a controversial notion?
Another example of how difficult it is to discuss anything "trans" is the hateful way Dan Savage is treated by many trans people and their allies. The Dan-haters point to a litany of things Dan has written or said over the past two decades, and claim that they're proof of his "transphobia." In fact, if you actually click through to the original source and read what Dan actually wrote or said, you'll see that there was nothing anti-trans at all in what he did or said in most of the examples. (And in one example, Dan was actually publicly defending the trans community when a trans activist threw a glass jar at Dan's head for simply mentioning "trans.") Dan is now "the enemy," and must be destroyed. Regardless of the fact that he's one of the most effective gay rights activists and advocates, and public spokesmen, we have today (I challenge you to name anyone in our community who is better at advocating for us on TV - and with his new MTV show, Dan's reach, influence and impact will only grow). Dan must be destroyed, no matter how false the attacks, no matter how much it would hurt the gay community (and the trans community, since he's actually been advocating for them too) and our civil rights to lose him. Why is that okay? Now imagine a group of gay men systematically trying to destroy one of the trans community's most effective spokespeople. Imagine the reaction to that.
I almost didn't even write this post out of concern that if I write anything, ask anything, about trans issues that isn't 100% "correct" I'll be excoriated and deemed a hater (I couldn't even come up with a title that I thought was safe). I've talked to other gay leaders who are now equally reticent about commenting on trans issues - even asking questions to learn more on trans issues - for the same reason. I'm having a difficult time believing that this is a good thing for anyone.
