Rebecca Juro
Freelance journalist, blogger and Internet radio talk show host
Why Transgender Identity Matters
Posted: 11/1/11 03:11 PM ET
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-juro/why-transgender-identity-_b_1069475.htmlA few weeks ago, MSNBC host Ed Schultz did a segment on his show about Chaz Bono appearing on Dancing with the Stars. His guest to discuss the topic was Raw Story blogger and Managing Editor Mike Rogers, a gay man. During the interview, Schultz asked Rogers if the kind of negativity directed toward Bono by Dr. Keith Ablow and others on the political right leads to hate speech and gay bashing. A viewer relatively unfamiliar with transgender people and the issues that impact our lives probably wouldn't have noticed anything amiss in this interview, but for transgender people and those who know and understand us, the problems were all too clear and familiar.
The first concern is also the most obvious. Given that Chaz Bono is a female-to-male transsexual man, one has to wonder why Ed Schultz invited a gay man and not an actual transgender person to appear on his show to speak on the topic. It's kind of like hosting a discussion on issues faced by African Americans with a white person presented as an expert, and makes just about as much sense.