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November 03, 2006
Ma'am, your Freudian slip is showing
Posted by: Chris
Judging from the initial reaction to my post criticizing the "trans-jacking" of a bill to protect gay workers, transgender activists are as reasoned and impersonal as ever. At issue is the decision by gay Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to saddle our hapless Employment Non-Discrimination Act with protections based on "gender identity and expression."
From "Donna" in New Jersey at MyHusbandBetty.com:
Chris Crain strikes again: He must be absolutely insane to think that excluding trans people would get the legislation passed; it doesn't have a snowball's chance of succeeding anyway, even with just gay and lesbian people in it. "Immoral" to make it trans-inclusive? What a dick.
I didn't say it was immoral to make ENDA trans-inclusive; I said it was immoral to hold gay rights hostage until trans rights are also accepted. Despite Donna's dismissal, ENDA came with a single vote of passing 10 years ago, so it's not unreasonable to think it might pass the Senate in the next Congress, and with Democrats likely taking over the House, that would put it on President Bush's desk. I can't help but wonder whether adding trans protections isn't something of a "poison pill" intended to dissuade a Republican president from signing gay rights legislation backed by an overwhelming majority of the U.S. public.
Then, this gem from "Michelle" in Phoenix, also on MyHusbandBetty, who agrees I'm "a dickhead" (so much penis obsession from those who've had theirs clipped!), a "Brooks Bros type" and "buckwheat":
Look, it's not you button downed, straight acting gay guys who are getting the crap kicked outta them (and worse). We're on the sharp end precisely because we transgress gender in a very public way. Much of America has progressed to the point (thank goodness) where they couldn’t give a shit what you do with your significant other behind closed doors. Hell even PDA's are getting to be no big deal. But step out into the sunlight as a leather dyke on the way to transguy or a fem tranny in a sundress. Do I gotta fuckin spell it out for you Crain?
Actually, Michelle, no you don't. A gang of seven men spelled it out for me and my boyfriend in Amsterdam, a place that is supposedly much more gay-friendly than the U.S. This "Brooks Bros type" was merely walking down the sidewalk (in his Hugo Boss leather jacket), engaging in "PDA" that consisted of holding hands, and I got two black eyes and a broken nose to show for it.
So rather than play the "I'm-more-oppressed" game, I'd prefer we try to get passed whatever protections we can in an incremental way. As I pointed out in my original post, and at least one trans activist has agreed, existing federal civil rights laws have already been interpreted by some judges to protect trans workers. The protection isn't universal, but it's certainly more than gay workers have.
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Comments
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I agree wholly with anyone who contends that the transsexual issue was added to ENDA to prevent its passage. ENDA has always been more valuable as a fundraising tool in the gay community to the Democratic Party as a bill than as enacted legislation. The Dems have no real interest in seeing ENDA pass - as long as ENDA exists as something for Dems to use against their social conservative enemies, they'are happy. I'm sure they nearly panicked when it came close to passage.
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The problem with guys like Chris Crain is that they're very good at throwing bombs out there, but not so good when they're called out on them and asked to back them up.
What he neglects to tell you is that the rest of the GLBT community, even the imperceptably slow-moving Human Rights Campaign, are long past his neanderthalic (not sure that's an actual word, but it works) politics of bigotry.
He also fails to mention that a transgender-inclusive hate crimes bill did pass the House last year. It makes sense for him to hope you'll overlook that, I suppose...hard to argue with a straight face (so to speak) that a non-inclusive ENDA which came close to passing ten years ago, should stay incomplete, when everyone knows that it certainly wasn't trans-inclusion that doomed the hate crimes bill last year...it died because our current government doesn't want to protect ANY of us, G, L, B, or T!!
Chris Crain hopes you won't look too closely at these realities because then you too will understand what politically-conscious GLBT people all over the US already know:
We're over you, Chris...you and people like you. It's no longer PC in our community to treat transpeople like shit. It's no longer ok to exclude us. It's no longer considered right or worthy of support to advocate for civil rights laws which would leave transgender people unprotected.
The simple truth is that we're living in a new century. Hopefully someday, Chris Crain and others who hold political views as antiquated and out-of-step with modern reality for our country and our community as his are will find it within themselves to join us here. Clearly, for all its problems, it's a much nicer place than where he's been living.
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You Can Still Fire Me from The Bilerico Project on Aug 3, 2007 10:57:14 PM
Chris Crain has repeatedly suggested 1, 2, 3, 4 that transgender people don't need to be included in the Employee Non-Discrimination Act because "existing federal civil rights laws have already been interpreted by some judges to protect trans workers."... [Read More]