Ask Matt: Allies Stepping Up and Stepping In

November 10, 2011 by Matt Kailey

http://tranifesto.com/2011/11/10/ask-matt-allies-stepping-up-and-stepping-in/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

A reader writes: "As a cis-gendered man who tries to be an ally, I wonder what your take on the situation is and if there is something more I can follow up with or if there are suggestions for how to handle this in a better way in the future.

"I am a graduate student and I regularly spend time before class in a coffee shop across the street from where my classes meet. One day, I overheard the worker behind the counter and a customer talking in some derogatory and insensitive ways about trans women.

"As I was trying to decide how exactly to 'turn this into a teaching moment,' they started laughing over the customer's suggestion that the solution to their problem would be to 'examine them from a distance with a stick.' At this point I decided to screw teaching and just end this nightmare.