Time for Transgender Advocates to Fight for Transgender Marylanders Instead of Fighting Themselves

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will be as one
—John Lennon

It's no secret that I am critical of the transgender advocacy groups in Maryland. They are divided between two factions. One, the Maryland Coalition for Trans Equality, consists of Equality Maryland and more than 50 national, state-wide, and local transgender and allied organizations. The other is an alliance consisting of Gender Rights Maryland and the Howard and Baltimore County chapters of PFLAG. The conflict and competition between these two factions is one of the biggest obstacles that the transgender community faces in its quest to pass statewide legislation protecting transgender people's basic civil rights.

The complete article is here:

http://www.baltimoreoutloud.com/thinking-outloud/lgbt-viewpoints/item/2375-time-for-transgender-advocates-to-fight-for-transgender-marylanders-instead-of-fighting-themselves

The "House of Cards" series referred to by the author is here:

Part I:  http://www.baltimoreoutloud.com/lgbtq-news/maryland/item/2290-a-house-of-cards-part-1
Part II:  http://www.baltimoreoutloud.com/lgbtq-news/maryland/item/2321-a-house-of-cards-part-2
Part III:  http://www.baltimoreoutloud.com/lgbtq-news/maryland/item/2324-a-house-of-cards-part-3

Part III indicates that a part IV was coming.  But Part IV did not appear in today's issue.

Im going to put my thoughts in a separate post to make clear that they are indeed separate:

It really frustrates me to see how the trans* community spends so much time fighting amongst itself and shooting itself in the foot.  When you ask people in Maryland who follow the trans* news about why we can't get basic civil rights protections passed, a very common reaction is for them to roll their eyes and comment on the giant egos involved in Maryland. 

Although the Maryland egos are indeed unusually huge (and I say this as someone who personally knows most of the people involved quite well) the quarreling is not unique to Maryland.  As a community, trans* people across all parts of the spectrum sometimes seem more concerned with fighting among themselves than with finding ways to cooperate and get things done.  Why can't we get along, cooperate, and make progress for all of us???

One reason many social actions were successful is that the groups involved put their egos in check and worked on the things that they all agreed on. This is what needs to be done in Maryland and with transgender people in particular. When those against us see all the bickering it's no wonder that they don't take our issues seriously.

Quote from: gennee on February 24, 2014, 05:47:02 PM
One reason many social actions were successful is that the groups involved put their egos in check and worked on the things that they all agreed on. This is what needs to be done in Maryland and with transgender people in particular. When those against us see all the bickering it's no wonder that they don't take our issues seriously.

Exactly.