Why Black Transgender Issues Are Black Community Issues

[Natasha]

Why Black Transgender Issues Are Black Community Issues

Transgriot
Monica Roberts
7/25/2008

As a proud African-American that also happens to be a transwoman, there is no doubt and I make it quite clear on many TransGriot posts that I love my people.

But some of them don't love me.

African-Americans have a duality when it comes to African-American transpeople. On one hand some of my peeps can be the most accepting, compassionate, articulate and passionately motivated advocates for us.

On the other hand, some of them can also be our cruelest tormentors. Some of our unfortunate sisters who are memorialized on the Remembering Our Dead list (and sadly, this year we are adding three more names so far to that list) were killed by other African-Americans.

[Mark]

I think this applies to all races and nationality. Not everyone will accept you no matter what they are..

[Jillary Woolen Xσx]

I think this applies to all races and nationality. Not everyone will accept you no matter what they are..

I Agreed Completely
I'm So Sick of Everything Being Divided.
Who's to say that someone of another race, age, culture or gender has or will have a more difficult transition than me or the person after me?

We who are Transgender need to stop creating these walls of division.
We are in this fight together

[kyril]

Why is it that all anyone has to do is mention the word "black" to get a chorus of white people jumping in crying "we're all the same, I'm so sick of these artificial divisions!"

The article isn't even about dividing black trans people from other trans people. The article is about addressing transphobia within the black community - which is a difficult topic, just like transphobia within the gay and lesbian communities, because marginalized groups often have a hard time accepting that they're marginalizing their own subgroups. There are many important conversations to be had about black transphobia and homophobia. It's deeply insulting to black trans people to try to appropriate their concerns and their dialogues into a bigger narrative - a narrative which, by the way, coincidentally always seems to end up being driven by wealthy white trans women.

[Jillary Woolen Xσx]

Hah.
Thanks I Read The The Article
and You Don't Have to tell Me. My Father Is Black.

and I for one am sick of being told that I have to choose between the communities.
Regardless Black Trans Issues are Issues that EVERYONE needs to be addressed.
White people don't know the issues black people are going through because
Black Transgender Issues is being translated to the white man as "Black's Only."

I will fight until the end for all My Black and White Brothers and Sisters and EVERYONE in between

[howaboutana]

Wow. That is seriously messed up...

[girlcoder]

This is cool. I can say that as a black transgender woman, that it can be very hard to find resources and information online that provide a black trans perspective. It certainly feels that the black transgender experience is different from most (not all) of my white trans sisters' experiences. I notice little things, like I've bumped into around 10 times more white transgender people in the workforce than I have of black transgender people. I guess I should have prefaced this by saying that while I'm aware of "white privilege" I'm not one that sings "woah is me, the world is against me" types. But I can see how if it would difficult to get some jobs if you're black, then being trans and black is like two strikes against you. This may be why the proportion of trans sex workers that I've run into is tilted towards black trans girls.

It also feels like families in the black trans community are more likely to shun trans members than white families. Many of those black trans sex workers would tell their story of how their family turned their back on them and they couldn't get a job, so they felt like it was their last hope to turn to that lifestyle to survive.

Now I feel like I'm rambling but just wanted to throw my two cents in :-)

[sosad]

There are many important conversations to be had about black transphobia and homophobia. It's deeply insulting to black trans people to try to appropriate their concerns and their dialogues into a bigger narrative - a narrative which, by the way, coincidentally always seems to end up being driven by wealthy white trans women.

[iKate]

I hate replying to an old thread but the article was talking about how people are legally using transphobia as a means to discriminate against black people.

That's all it is, and I think it is true.

It does underscore the need to pass laws that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.

It does mean that we need to press for ENDA, even among some politicans who are supposed to be our allies but who will gladly sacrifice us to get half a bill passed so they can say they did something to help LGBT.