A message for Bo & Jim: Bullying and beating up trans children is no joking matt

[Shana A]

A message for Bo & Jim: Bullying and beating up trans children is no joking matter
Posted on 27 Oct 2011 at 11:52am

http://www.dallasvoice.com/message-bo-jim-bullying-joking-matter-1092983.html

But this morning was a different thing altogether.

This morning, Bo and Jim started talking about a 7-year-old girl, Bobby Montoya of Colorado, who was born biologically male but who identifies and, with the support of her mother, lives as a female. Bobby wanted to join Girl Scouts but was rejected because, as the Girl Scouts worker said, "he has boy parts." Girl Scout officials higher up in the hierarchy quickly stepped in, said the first person misunderstood the policies, and that Bobby is more than welcome to join Girl Scouts. You can read the story here on Huffington Post.

Bo and Jim, in talking about the story, chose to refer to Bobby throughout as a boy and with male pronouns, which was bad enough. But what really set me off was when they said, basically, "You know this kid is going to get beat up all the time. Even the girls are going to beat him up." They said it as a joke, an attempt to get laughs. And that is unacceptable.

[Shana A]

Did you hear Bo and Jim joking about the trans child? If so, Autumn wants to know
Posted on 28 Oct 2011 at 3:24pm

http://www.dallasvoice.com/hear-bo-jim-joking-trans-child-so-autumn-1093244.html

On Thursday, I posted this blog about a bit on the Bo & Jim morning show on Lone Star 92.5 FM, in which the morning show hosts "discussed" this recent news story about a transgender 7-year-old in Colorado, born biologically male, who was rejected when she tried to join the Girl Scouts. (The Girl Scouts later reversed that decision, saying the worker who rejected the child did not understand the organization's policies.)

Bo and Jim decided to make a joke out of this child's situation, actually laughing as they joked about the child getting beaten up.

After I posted the blog, I got an email from trans activist Autumn Sandeen of San Diego, who had worked with Kim Pearson, executive director of TransYouth Family Allies, to address a similar situation that occurred with radio DJs in Sacramento. Autumn is looking for other people who may have heard the comments by Bo and Jim (they don't post audio of their show online), and for a list of advertisers on the Bo and Jim show. That's information, she said, that's necessary to respond effectively.

[Sailor_Saturn]

Sounds to me like they made a knuckleheaded joke without a lot of forethought, and caught some flak for it (as they should have). Still, since Jim acknowledged the mistake and said that he and Bo would watch it in the future, I think the message has been sent to the studio. From there it's a matter of what the show does next time, isn't it?

On a more positive note, it's heartening to know that the Girls' Scouts let transgirls into their ranks. That's fantastic!