An argument against trans-inclusion in the GLBT movement
When gay people think they can write trans humor. I wish I had a racist, misogynist, transphobic combination bingo card for that video. I’d get a blackout, I swear to god. Since we’re on the topic of racism and misogyny, I’d also like to point out Shirley Q. Liquor, who really is a drag queen and minstrel show.
I’m looking for something good to fisk to get back into the swing of things. Something by Julie Bindel, perhaps? I also want a more serious post about the GLBT movement and why we should be seeking out more allies. Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore has a great article I need to dig back up that discusses how the GLBT movement focuses on the needs of white, middle-class, able to pass for straight gay and lesbian people at the expense of the rest of us.
Do I think that trans people don’t belong in the GLBT movement? No, I think we do. But we could use some basic human respect from our so-called allies.
December 7, 2007 at 9:38 pm
That’s just so bad that it makes clear one thing - LGB people don’t feel they have to have any consideration for actual trans people (especially transwomen, and especially transwomen of color), and only use them as the butt of jokes. And I had had high hopes for The Big Gay Sketch Show, because it actually had a variety that reflected to some extent the LGB community.
It’s like they’re trying to offend, or trying to fool themselves that there are never issues of transphobia, racism, or misogyny in the queer community - and that transwomen are fully accepted (when the exact opposite is true). Because in no way is it any sort of an “in joke” - it’s just a plain mean, vicious attack where transwomen of color are stereotyped in nasty ways for the entertainment of a primarily cisgendered, white audience.
December 7, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Yeah, I had to force myself to watch that all the way through, and it was just not funny. I’m still angry about it. :(
I did have to stop for a couple of minutes after one of them squatted down - that was just so obnoxious and done so deliberately. I mean, if they want to have trans-related humor, fine - but bring actual trans people into the show to write and perform that humor, don’t pull minstrelesque bullshit like this, with cis men in trannyface.
December 7, 2007 at 10:14 pm
cis white men in woc trannyface, even.
I’d ask Ma to smite them but She’s probably a step ahead of me…
December 7, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Right, I totally should have said that, too. I mean, holy fuck, it’s just Shirley Q. Liquor all over again, which is why I linked stuff about him in the first place.
Have I said this pisses me off?
December 8, 2007 at 5:03 pm
o_______________O
uh.
what.
December 8, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Oh, how many different layers of wrong is this? Though I don’t think this is exactly a consequence of trans inclusion … unless minstrel shows are the argument against the inclusion of African-Americans in Reconstruction-era America, and the Hasty Pudding Theatricals are an example of what happens when you include women in the Ivy old boys’ network.
(Which is to say, if trans people were included on an equal footing in the queer movement-slash-Big Gay Sketch Show, someone would probably have stopped this before it happened.)
December 8, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Not really a consequence of trans inclusion, more a sense of that it’s okay to appropriate trans people like this because we’re part of the acronym. Like, “Hey, since it’s GLBT, if we can make faggot jokes, we can make tranny jokes too!” and then wheel out the most offensive stereotypes possible.
My post title was sarcasm, as I do think trans people need to be fully included in GLBT everything. I felt like that what little inclusion we have is used to attack us, like in this sketch. I do think equal inclusion would mean that this stuff (or Gendercator, or whatever) just doesn’t happen.
Your point about the title is well taken.
December 8, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Oh, I figured you were probably being sarcastic (at least partly).
But I’ve definitely had fantasies of seceding from The Movement, along the lines of, “Well, if G/L folks don’t want to include us [trans folk and allies], we’ll pack up our toys and go home.” And those fantasies are only strengthened when, as you put it, “I felt like that what little inclusion we have is used to attack us, like in this sketch.”
My rebuke, such as it was, was directed at BGSS, not at you. Sorry if I wasn’t clear on that. But yeah, it’s days like this I just want to hibernate until The Stupid goes away. :c/
December 10, 2007 at 7:51 am
I seem to recall that RuPaul made a fairly strong defense of the Shirley Q Liquor character, and have a somewhat vaguer recollection that at least one (white) trans writer took the position of “well, RuPaul is a transperson of color, so hir position overrules our sense of offense.”
I did not find it convincing.
December 10, 2007 at 1:24 pm
OH MY GOD. Yeah, I heard about RuPaul defending Shirley Q. Liquor. And the white person: “This person of color agrees with me, so his opinion overrides all other people of color!” I hate that. Nezua calls it the appeal to melanin.
December 12, 2007 at 5:23 am
What did they even think was funny in that steaming pile? Is the word “tranny” intrinsically good for a laugh or something?
As far as trans inclusion in general goes, I’ve seen LGB”T” websites where, without exaggeration, the only T about them was in the title. The worst one was divided into one section for gay and bi men and one for lesbians and bi women - I guess at least it told me upfront there wouldn’t be anything aimed at trans people.
December 19, 2007 at 2:34 pm
shame on big gay sketch show for that mess. i too had to force myself to watch it all the way through. how was that in ANY way humorous? and the fact that the editors/censors let this through as a viable and acceptable piece of comedy says a novel.
Not really a consequence of trans inclusion, more a sense of that it’s okay to appropriate trans people like this because we’re part of the acronym. Like, “Hey, since it’s GLBT, if we can make faggot jokes, we can make tranny jokes too!” and then wheel out the most offensive stereotypes possible.
exactly. i mean, at this point, i don’t even understand why they bother to add the ‘t’ into the acronym… it’s insulting.