Trannygate!

[Borstalboy]

Thank God we have GLAAD to explain it all to us.

[Jordan Catalano]

If I can't call a tranny a he-she anymore, what am I supposed to call shim????

[Borstalboy]

Don't fret, Jordan. I'm sure GLAAD came to these conclusions after much research and many polls among the LGBT community. GLAAD-splaining rarely lets ya down!

[Kad]

I'm a bit confused as to how "tranvestite" is the derogatory term and "cross-dressing" is the appropriate one.

[Jordan Catalano]

Don't question them, Kad. Nothing good can come of it.

[strummergirl]

Not shocked they did not mention the TERFs (edited to expound on acronym: trans exclusionary radical feminists) and pretended all opposition to transgender/transsexual people are right wing extremist. Laura Jane Grace recently on Twitter got an online onslaught of **** from TERFs.

[Kad]

I've never seen that acronym before (somehow). But totally not shocked it's avoided.

[Borstalboy]

I wonder what the offices of GLAAD look like. I'm picturing a group of jumpy, anxious nerds whose hands are calloused from all that wringing.

[strummergirl]

It is certainly easier than fighting for expanding equality laws, I am sure.

[SNAFU]

There is an extreme risk of falling in the offices of GLAAD from all the loose pearls from necklaces broken during clutching!

[FindingNamo]

How many more backlashes will this odious organization survive?? Nobody ever asked them to be spokespeople. They're the nominally queer equivalent of Bill Donahue, the unappointed Catholic spokesdork with the hair-trigger Offense-o-Meter.

[PalJoey]

If I am "cis," can I call myself a cissy?

[FindingNamo]

That's triggering for Johnny Whitaker.

[PalJoey]

Johnny Whitaker, the little boy in the Family Affair sitcom?

Is he now differently gendered?

[FindingNamo]

No, but he is Quietly Gay which is what the G and the Q stand for in today's alphabet soup, I think. Plus, the young woman who played his twin sister died of an overdose when she was 18 and Cathy Garver played their older sister, Cissy, ergo triggering.

[Kad]

I'm a sissy but I refuse to use "cis."

I don't understand why we need so many goddamn labels. LGBT is less a community and more a curated exhibit with every new label that emerges.

Let people identify however they want.

[FindingNamo]

I generally agree with that too, but things move so fast now. This morning's identity is this afternoon's insult, "as bad as the n-word!".

[strummergirl]

It is very much as if you miss one meaning you miss about a dozen different terminologies. I took my share of WGS classes in college and I only first discovered the term 'cis-gender' from the internet.

It does feel like an internet thing because there is definite disconnect from the real life interactions of members of the community and within the web space where many people cling to because for them it seems like the other place they can express it.

[Kad]

I mean, due to the distancing nature of the internet, I can see why labels are useful- you don't know who you're talking to.

But these seem unwieldy and unnecessary in real world, face-to-face interaction.

And for some reason asking someone what their preferred pronouns are always struck me as more insulting than using something erroneously and then being corrected.

[GlindatheGood22]

Tumblr has gotten really out of hand when it comes to this stuff. For example, from "yourfaveisproblematic."


I just wanted to let you guys know that adding an asterisk to “trans” and also to things like “trans woman” or “transphobia” is transphobic in that it’s used to exclude people who arent “trans enough” (so they cant be trans, but they’re allowed in if there’s an asterisk), and also from what i understand it is commonly used against trans women as a form of transmisogyny. thanks!

What. What. What.

[haterobics]

GLAAD just called every porn title I own dehumanizing... ;-(

[FindingNamo]

I recently asked a construction foreperson what pronoun he preferred. He wasn't sure what a pronoun was.

[strummergirl]

Here's the thing about Tumblr social justice warriors. At the oldest, they're college-age but not in any affiliated academically with their pet subjects, regardless of their pseudo-nomenclature. Many of them are not tied to the LGBTQ community at all and at the most are so-called allies (I say so-called because I remember you actually had to take a training course in this to be considered an 'ally' on my college campus and most of these crazy kids would fail spectacularly). Most of their interactions with these sub-culture they have flung to the defense to are not actually people they have come across face-to-face. That can be understandable if they live in the middle of nowhere but these online interactions, pseudo-research, pseudo-academic, and online pulpits they stand on to finger wag at various people just feel at such a distance and do not feel helpful. They just feel like empty gestures that feels like some contest of how chivalrous they are to oppressed sub-cultures and minority groups. Not sure what I dislike more about them, the fact they deface a lot of academia and psychology or that they never come across as altruistic as they intend- and that goes to show an online presence can only go so far.

I know trans people online (almost nothing to do with LGBTQ issues- I just oddly know a bunch of them who are into films and music) and also in real life. I cannot say they share unanimous views on RuPaul's Drag Race or the current hot-button issues that caused controversy recently, and I am fine with that. I want them to get treated fairly is all, and by that I mean by actual people in their everyday life and by the government.

"And for some reason asking someone what their preferred pronouns are always struck me as more insulting than using something erroneously and then being corrected."

And I can somewhat understand this. That said, I have witnessed when people get it wrong the sudden change in their face when they realize the person they are talking to and deny that person asserting their identity, continuing to misgender them and refusing to be corrected. It can just be a stranger and not a big deal, trans people are used to that BS everyday, but that can escalate into denying that person the use of the restroom at a restaurant, for example.

[FindingNamo]

I used to like when a certain RuCelebrity who shall remain nameless due to recent wounding behaviors would be asked if he preferred to be called "he or she" would reply, "You can call me 'he', 'she' or 'Regis & Kathie Lee', just as long as you call me!"

[strummergirl]

Can't we all just get along and have a good laugh and cry watching Paris is Burning?

[Kad]

Except Paris is Burning is probably transphobic now.