Anti-Trans Policies at Gay/Lesbian Newspaper 'Xtra'
Filed By Tobi Hill-Meyer | January 12, 2012 5:00 PM
http://www.bilerico.com/2012/01/anti-trans_policies_at_gaylesbian_paper.phpXtra, Canada's gay and lesbian newspaper, has been creating a stir with ethical concerns over the treatment of trans people interviewed for their paper. Two policies seem to be at the center of the concerns. First is the assertion by editor Danny Glenwright that it can be journalistically relevant to reveal a trans person's birth name without their consent. Glenwright said this after using the birth name of a trans sex worker interviewed in the paper on his personal Facebook account. Secondly, the paper refuses to print the preferred pronouns of those who use "they" as their pronoun. The paper claims it is grammatically incorrect, even though their critics have pointed out that Merriam Webster has released a video saying that 'they' used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun is grammatically correct.
The controversy is becoming increasingly burdensome for the paper. A petition was circulated last spring, and calls for a boycott have been growing since Danny Glenwright's statements in December. Queer musician Rae Spoon was set to be on the cover of Xtra in January, yet they refused permission to be included in the paper when they learned about the boycott and discovered that their pronoun preference would not be respected. Rae wrote a compelling account of the experience on their personal tumblr. This week Ivan Coyote, a columnist for Xtra, wrote a column for the paper pleading with them to change their policy.
