Op-ed: Adopting the T in LGBT

[Maya Zimmerman]

The Advocate recently ran the following editorial:

Op-ed: Adopting the T in LGBT

It's supposedly a piece about someone relating with trans* people, but it seems perhaps a little misguided.

Trigger Warning:

Article highlights include:

"I've been screaming about equal rights for LGBT people since I was a tweenage ->-bleeped-<- hag"
"I'm a grown San Fransexual woman"
"my common cause is with the T in LGBT, even though I readily "pass" as a "normal" RG (real girl)"
"As a person who presents utterly female yet identifies completely as a gay male, I fight on the front lines of trans"

I'm not going to say a straight, white cisgender woman can't write about trans* issues, but maybe this one wasn't the best choice on the part of The Advocate...

[suzifrommd]

I don't have any problem with the article. Seems like she's calling out the community for unnecessarily separating males and females. She makes a good point.

My reading of her gender (not that it matters. Her points are no more or less valid if she's cis or trans) is that there's some non-binary there. In some ways she identifies with the males she travels with while in other ways she sees herself as female. If that were true, it would place her squarely underneath our trans umbrella.

I don't read anywhere in there where she's trying to represent us. She speaks of her "common cause is with the T in LGBT" implying she doesn't consider herself one of us, just interested in seeing some of the same changes.

On a side note, I think the blog entry Monica Roberts wrote skewering her was far more narrow-minded and inflammatory.

See https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,141443.msg1146744.html#msg1146744.

[vegie271]

Sort of difficult to understand  Suzan both calls herself a woman and a Gay male, it took me the entire article to actually sort that out.

I cannot imagine what outside society would be thinking looking at this and the confusion they would have.

While I could probably pick apart how Suzan represents the community she did have a very good point about the unfairness of trans access to health care

[Renee]

What do you expect, the Advocate is gay-centric, same as Queerty and a few other online zines and "news" sites. They don't get trans and when they try to put something up from their perspective of trans, it shows quite vividly that they don't get it.


It was disappointing that the author of the op-ed only responded to the supportive comments though. Seems that she isn't all that willing to actually discuss the problems in her article with trans people. So its kind of doubtful that she is all that willing to be educated.

[Sammy]

Another piece of writing where gender identity issues are heavily intermixed with sexual orientation ones for the reason of fanciness... Trans rights as a part of gay civil rights... OMG.

[StellaB]

I don't have an issue with the op-ed.

Suzan is representing nobody other than herself. What's more she's making a perfectly valid point that generally the LGBT community is more concerned with the labels and categories than they are with integrating and respecting the differences.

It's also quite clearly implied that this isn't helping the trans community as is the suggestion that the trans issue is a new frontier in equal rights that the LGBT community as a whole seem unable or unwilling to address.

This is something I've personally suspected for a number of years. Not only is the LGB unwilling to help or support the T in many cases, but also in others the T doesn't really need the LGB.

[vegie271]

I don't have an issue with the op-ed.

Suzan is representing nobody other than herself. What's more she's making a perfectly valid point that generally the LGBT community is more concerned with the labels and categories than they are with integrating and respecting the differences.

It's also quite clearly implied that this isn't helping the trans community as is the suggestion that the trans issue is a new frontier in equal rights that the LGBT community as a whole seem unable or unwilling to address.

This is something I've personally suspected for a number of years. Not only is the LGB unwilling to help or support the T in many cases, but also in others the T doesn't really need the LGB.

1) T not needing LGB, this might be fine for all of you who just happen to be straight, but some of us T happen to BE LGB 

2) A whole lot of people on Both sides LGB AND T seem to forget that back in the day at Stonewall the Drag Queens and T were right there with everyone in the protests, why to we have to be fighting now?   

[StellaB]

1) T not needing LGB, this might be fine for all of you who just happen to be straight, but some of us T happen to BE LGB 

2) A whole lot of people on Both sides LGB AND T seem to forget that back in the day at Stonewall the Drag Queens and T were right there with everyone in the protests, why to we have to be fighting now?   

1. I'm not straight either, but fail to see why my gender and sexual orientation must always be seen as the same issue just because I'm trans. They're not the same issue.

2. Some people are insecure in their identity, so they need labels and categories and differences.

[peky]

Lesbian, Gay and transsexual...all about sexual orientation..to that add transsexual which is all about gender identity.....


No, I am the opinion that we ought to stand in our own feet separately from the LGB

Perhaps we can come up with an acronym for all of us

T transgender
A androgynous
N neutrois
B bigender
A agender
F gender fluid

[vegie271]

Lesbian, Gay and transsexual...all about sexual orientation..to that add transsexual which is all about gender identity.....


No, I am the opinion that we ought to stand in our own feet separately from the LGB

Perhaps we can come up with an acronym for all of us

T transgender
A androgynous
N neutrois
B bigender
A agender
F gender fluid

  It makes me sad, I need this community, I get hate in "normal" "straight" society, so I need to be here I need the support

I also need LGB, I am a lesbian. but I keep hearing separatist talk from everyone  I have to live my life at two separate people 

[Ltl89]

I couldn't figure out if she saw herself as a female or a gay transman.  The article was a bit unclear on this point because she refers to herself as both.    I'm very confused.  Well, at least we know that she can pass as a normal RG (real girl) 

Lesbian, Gay and transsexual...all about sexual orientation..to that add transsexual which is all about gender identity.....


No, I am the opinion that we ought to stand in our own feet separately from the LGB

Perhaps we can come up with an acronym for all of us

T transgender
A androgynous
N neutrois
B bigender
A agender
F gender fluid

I get where you are coming from, but I believe there is strength in numbers.  So, I like the concept of the LGBT community.  Besides that, this acronym would only confuse the hell out of everyone outside our community.  While those terms do exist, for activist and political purposes it makes much more sense to simplify it as much as possible.  Using transgender as an umbrella term serves us better in the long run.  Think of it in political marketing terms.

[Keira]

After going over the article a second time and reading a few articles from Suzan Revah's blog...she is an awesome ally to LGBT people.

It's just that her article needs a lot of TLC before it can really show what her intent is. Suzan Revah is basically a ->-bleeped-<-hag and a gay ally who has come to understand and empathize with how we as trans* people are treated by society. And she seems to be willing to learn more about trans people and our struggles to fit in as normal people.

Give the article a second read, and really stop every few lines to think about what she is saying. When you're reading, give her the benefit of the doubt and know that she intends what she is saying in the most positive way possible.

I wish there were more allies like her.

-Skye

[Jamie D]

  It makes me sad, I need this community, I get hate in "normal" "straight" society, so I need to be here I need the support

I also need LGB, I am a lesbian. but I keep hearing separatist talk from everyone  I have to live my life as two separate people 

No, you don't have to live your life that way.  You just need to be you and be strong.

And you know what?  We need you too.