Out, Open, Closed, and In

On August 27, 2010, In Empowerment, Language, Politics, By Antonia D'orsay

Sorry for the absence, folks — work is a bear, ya know?

Ok, so it’s actually fairly easy work, right now, and we just finished two very successful efforts, but there’s a huge pile of paperwork I need to gothrough, not to mention the effort involved in setting up my office and getting the meeting room set up and fixed up and all that assorted stuff.

In any case, it’s keeping me fingers to the keyboard more for “important stuff” than for me to express the thoughts I have.

I guess that means I’ll have to make sure they are good one, huh?

Well, let’s start off with one.  One that’s been bugging me for a while: the complex intricacies of trans exposure and the risks (or lack thereof) of each of them.

And, in my general way, it’s come down to six groupings.  Out, Open, Blended, Closed, In, and Stealth.

And the best part is that none of it has a damn thing to do with closets…

(more…)

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Crosspost: Interview with Monica Roberts from TransGriot!

On August 5, 2010, In Diversity, Politics, By Lincoln Rose

This post is originally part of my blog Talk about Gay Racism, which you can find here.

Talk About Gay Racism

Monica’s blog, TransGriot, can be found here:

http://transgriot.blogspot.com

Monica Roberts is an amazing activist. One of the founders of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC), she’s been involved in making the world a better place for trans folks since 1998. An accomplished fiction and nonfiction writer, she focuses her writing and activism on increasing the visibility of trans people of color. She is one of four African American trans women to win the International Foundation for Gender Education’s Trinity Award, the highest honor that international organization bestows. Her blog, TransGriot, has been going strong since 2006, and is one of the main places I get my news about what’s going on in the world. I caught up with her on Facebook, and she was gracious enough to grant me a quick interview for TAGR.

Monica, thanks again for doing this. I read your blog regularly. What made you decide to start TransGriot?

I got fed up with the lack of diversity in the trans blogs at the time, the whitewashing of trans POC’s out of trans history and the ignoring of our accomplishments. That led to the January 1, 2006 birth of TransGriot.

Outside of your blog, are you writing anything else?

I have four novel manuscripts in various stages of development. All except one have African American trans characters, and I’m thinking about doing a nonfiction book as well.

How did it feel to win the IFGE Trinity Award in 2006?

I was actually shocked I won it. I have been one of the trans community’s harshest critics when it comes to diversity,race and race relations issues in addition to being one of its leading Human Rights Campaign skeptics, so I thought I’d never receive it. Happy to say I was wrong on that one.

Were you involved with IFGE prior to that?

I attended the 2000 IFGE convention to help present Dawn Wilson with her IFGE award. I also had a several year subscription in the late 90′s-early 2k’s to Tapestry (IFGE’s magazine) and contribute articles to it. From time to time I help with a double secret yearly project.

As a trans woman of African descent, who are your role models?

I have too many to list. I have different people I look to for different things and qualities. But the main characteristics of the people that I consider my personal role models are being strong, spiritual people who have social justice chops, unshakable ethics, intelligence, and leaders who aren’t afraid to piss people off..

It’s a well documented fact that trans people of color are nearly invisible in media representation of trans lives. What do you think is the most harmful aspect of that?

That transpeople of color have very few historical role models, and too many falsehoods, misconceptions, and faith based lies that we have to overcome as we do trans advocacy work in our communities.

What was the first activism project you ever worked on?

I took a trip to DC for the 1998 GenderPac Lobby Day.

You’re one of the founding members of NTAC. Are you still active with them?

I take part in their lobby days when I’m needed as Lobby Director Vice Chair emeritus.

When you were younger, what did you think you would be doing by this point in life?

I’m a political junkie, and when I wasn’t wrestling with the gender issues, dreamed about one day sitting on either the Houston City Council, in the Texas legislature or in Congress. It never occurred to me that I’d be considered a historical figure as a African descended trans activist and writer.

Who are some of the up and coming trans leaders you’ve got your eye on?

There are probably more than a few that haven’t popped up on my radar screen because they’re toiling locally or doing great work on college campuses. Peeps who I do have my eye are Cydne Kimbrough, who has been doing great work in Baltimore for decades. Brittany Novotny who is currently running for the Oklahoma legislature, Maria Roman in LA stepping up for trans Latinas, and Amanda Morgan in New York.

Internationally I like Naomi Fontanos, the current chair of STRAP (Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines), Sass Rogando Sasot, Victor Mukasa in Uganda, Leona Lo in Singapore, and Audrey Mbugua in Kenya.

One who may be a surprise to you is Isis King. She has that potential if she wants it. She has the intelligence, the public speaking skills, the name recognition and the model quality looks to go with it.

This is great, Monica. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to give me and my readers a chance to get to know you and find out more about your activism and your blog.

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Your experience isn’t mine, and that’s beautiful

On July 24, 2010, In Diversity, Empowerment, Erasure, By nome

Reposted from my personal blog, That’s What Ze Said.

There are so many things destructive to the trans community, but the one getting to me worst lately is the idea of the ideal or singular trans experience. By this, I mean the idea that there is one way to be trans and if you do not fit this model, you are an imposter/going through a phase/just plain not trans. I’ve seen this idea ranging from “you have to know you are trans as a child” to “you must want medical transition.” to whatever else this certain person believes is the litmus test for trans identity. And what really gets me is how much I have seen this internalized within the trans community itself. Sure, lots of cisfolk believe you must have some certain trait to really be trans, but a lot of transfolk believe this too. (more…)

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My Dissonance Doesn’t Need to Make Sense to You

On July 12, 2010, In Diversity, Erasure, Transsexual, By genderbitch

This post was originally posted at my own blog and deals with an issue that most of us face, people disbelieving our feelings of dissonance, dysphoria and/or identity because “it doesn’t make sense to them”

~RP

I get a lot of feminists, or really, a lot of cis people in general, who seem miffed about my dissonance as a trans woman. Or, in many other cases, confused. Apparently, a deep psychological or instinctual pain has to… make rational sense. Apparently.

This is illustrated best by a statement made by a cis woman I knew who I was speaking to about why I sought out hormone replacement therapy. Specifically, when I pointed out that I had dissonance regarding my facial hair’s volume (back before I got laser and estrogen, now my shaving is more of a safety concern and a lot less dissonance) she said, “but I have facial hair too! I don’t get how you can feel dysphoria over something regular girls have!”

Moving on from how she didn’t use cis and othered me, let’s take a look at this idea of “cis people have it too!” (more…)

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Conclave and Council and Union, oh my!

On June 26, 2010, In Diversity, Erasure, Politics, Sexism, By Antonia D'orsay

So you said you want a revolution?

Well, ya know, we all want to change the world…

But more important than wanting to do it is how you are going to do it.

And the best efforts — the ones that have had the most lasting change, have always been about people from multiple walks of life getting together and arguing about it.

Yeah, seriously.

It might be a creature with a thousand stomachs and no brain, but it’s the still the best way we have right now.

And let’s face it — the way we are going about it right now just isn’t working.

So here’s part of a suggestion in simple terms, and we’ll see what ya’ll think of it…

(more…)

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How can we develop Transgender Economic Power?

On June 26, 2010, In Empowerment, By Battybattybats

One of the ways that oppressed groups appear to gain wider acceptance in society seems to me to be through economic power. Something that also oppression substantially prevents.

The unemployment rates for out Trans people are horrific. Gaining basic employment protections is a current battle in many places.  Homelessness and being bullied out of or prevented from openly attending education institutions are also substantial problems.

In such a situation what avenues and strategies for developing trans economic power may exist?

(more…)

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You say you want a revolution…

On June 25, 2010, In Politics, By Antonia D'orsay

There is a history here.

It is a history of a groups of people who have been marginalized — treated poorly by those in power, ignored and economically deprived, looked down on and treated with contempt, exploited and used when convenient, promised change that never comes — or comes in minor trickles and compromised compromises.

I spend a lot of time writing and speaking about things like dominant privilege, class oppression, rights, stigma, and so forth.  I have read on more than one occasion the works of people who like to say things like gender doesn’t exist, that privilege is illusory, that they feel no stigma. It bothers me that people do things like that, because the people that do it have one of two problems, inevitably: they are either fleeing from the stigma heaped on them, or they are fighting to retain their privilege.

So let me be perfectly clear here: anyone who says that Gender doesn’t exist, that privilege isn’t a problem they have, or that they are afraid that highlighting the stigma against trans people will result in a backlash against them is seriously talking out their hind end and literally — literally — does not know what they are talking about.

And yet, they are fulfilling a critical role.  There needs to be people who say those things, who do those things, who believe those things. They are, in the end, as important to the efforts to overcome that marginalization — which is often called victimization by these people — as any activist is.

Because there is a history here, and a pattern, and a cycle, and it is true that history repeats.

What people forget is that history repeats cycles, not events.

History…

(more…)

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Attraction, Objectification and Sexual Culture

On June 19, 2010, In Transsexual, By genderbitch

This post was also originally guest posted at Harlot’s Parlour as well as on my own blog. This post does not purely deal with the concept of attraction to mid physical transition bodies and purist attraction to trans folk in general. It also addresses those who are attracted to people with disabilities, who are commonly referred to as devotees. It is still very relevant despite the split focus, as the chaser culture is a major stumbling block that the trans community deals with every single day. This post deals very heavily with trans women and very lightly with trans men (and their issues with fetishization from the lesbian community) and doesn’t really deal at all with nonbinary/genderqueer folk and what objectification they might face. This is because the majority of my experiences are as a trans woman and I simply do not have enough experience with the kind of chaser cultures nonbinary/GQ people and trans guys face to write about them accurately and capably. ~RP

Chasers. Admirers. Fetishists.

Words that often create a very emotional response from trans folk and many other groups for whom such things apply to. If you’re not in the know there’s a bit of explaining to do here. Let’s start with attraction. (more…)

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If I’m not sick then why does it hurt so much?

On May 31, 2010, In Transsexual, Uncategorized, pathologization, By Emelye Waldherr

When I examine the rhetoric that surrounds the Trans community and how it’s used to identify and justify people’s existence I see a lot of work being done to remove the stigma of being trans. One of the ways that we do this is by denying the stigma, denying that we are sick, perverted, deviant and disordered but I really think we aren’t pushing back against those concepts so much as pushing back at the negative cultural connotations that they carry.

I read people who say that since being trans is not a disease, they aren’t really seeking a cure when they transition. That the medical model of transsexualism is off the mark, if not downright oppressive. My reaction to that is, OK, but then why does being trans hurt so much? (more…)

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Stand for Justice: Call them out.

On May 30, 2010, In Diversity, Erasure, By Antonia D'orsay

So yesterday, those who follow my occasional tweets will have noticed that I spent a large portion of energy correcting other tweets.

This is because there were a lot of people retweeting various headlines put out by various groups.

One that caught my attention was the NoH8 campaign, which, unwittingly, allowed hundreds of it’s supporters to engage in, well, H8, by erasing the womanhood of Tiwonge.

WHich they did by tweeting the headline of “gay couple” over and over again.

And so, to each one of those that I saw, I sent a note to the person who tweeted it and told them to correct their headline.

Because it is that important.MY core tweet was this:

YO, #LGBT ppl: Correct your headlines: not #gay couple, it is hetero couple. Tiwonge is woman, not man. #Trans #NOH8

(which, in all fairness, was not the original way I wrote it, but a much shorter version that’s better becaue I suck at tweetspeak shortening, lol) (more…)

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