[Description: a video link, in the video a number of LGB (and maybe one trans guy, it's not made at all clear) young people are sitting talking together in what appears to be some kind of youth centre. Apologies now to those people using screen readers as this description is not very good. I promise to get better at writing descriptions]

So. Stonewall, we don’t expect you to be awesome about trans issues, in fact we expect you to damn well leave them alone, but if you’re going to address trans issues in a anti-bullying video it’s really pretty obvious that the video shouldn’t contain the word “tranny”. Especially not if you’re then going to allow the word to pass unchallenged.

I know that you wanted to have the characters in your video talk like normal youth but that really really doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have called that boy out on his inadvertant (scripted!) transphobia. “Tranny” is NOT “short for transgender” if anything it was originally short for “transsexual” and it is an INSULT. It’s a derogatory term used by cis people to put trans people down, degender us and make us feel ashamed of who and what we are. It’s NOT a good word to use in an anti-bullying video. Stonewall, if the word “tranny” will now be used unchallenged in our classrooms to belittle and degender trans girls, trans boys and the gender-nonconforming butch lesbian girls and femme gay boys you love so much – it’ll be your fault.

Whilst we’re on the topic of degendering: here’s a news flash for you Stonewall. “Transsexual” is an adjective, not a noun. I’m a transsexual man, not “a transsexual”. While some trans people identify as not having a gender, I do have a gender, it’s male and I want that to be respected. I’m a MAN, not a transsexual. Did you get that? I’m also NOT “a girl who feels more like a boy” because I am not now nor have I ever been “a girl” (again, caveats here about trans people who do feel that they were girls who became boys or vice versa, I personally feel more like a boy who used to wear drag all the time). I am not personally acquainted with any trans woman who thinks of herself as a boy/man who feels more like a girl/woman, I’m sure some exist but Stonewall, you who do not speak for trans people, don’t try to tell me that the way I feel about myself and the way others feel about themselves excludes us from own self-definition. We are transsexual people and we decide what that means. Get over it.

Dear Lee, I know you’re only fictional and possibly not even played by a lesbian but I’ll address this section to you. The answer to “Am I a transvestite?” isn’t “No”, it’s “If you want to be”. If you, my fictional friend wish to identify as a transvestite, you can. You can identify as a butch lesbian girl or as a straight trans boy or as a drag king who doesn’t believe in sexuality labels or as queer or as just Lee. Be cis or trans, the only rule is “Be you”. You can identify as whatever you like, whether you feel like a girl or not and no matter how you want to dress. Just be Lee, because Lee is beautiful.

Stonewall, by being so quick to tell Lee that they aren’t a transvestite and basically telling Lee that their gender expression is just a phase by suggesting that they’ll “grow out it” you’re privileging cis identities above trans identities by suggesting that all nonstandard gender expressions are temporary and that grown up people have standard cisgender identities and expressions – except for butch lesbians of course. Lee might grow out of wanting to dress the way Lee does or Lee might grow into a butch woman or Lee might grow into a man if that’s what Lee wants to do or Lee might not be a man or a woman at all. If this situation were real, I can imagine being Lee and needing support and guidance as I realised that I was trans and needing to be told not just that it was okay to be gay but that it’s okay to be trans.

Your video Stonewall tells thousands of British children that it’s okay to be gay and it’s okay to dress however you like – just so long as you aren’t trans. This video others trans people and makes them something strange and mysterious whilst spreading inaccurate transphobic assumptions as fact.

Stonewall:

• Trans people should never be called “tranny” without permission, most of us find it incredibly insulting
• Trans identity is not “the wrong sort of gay” because being trans isn’t a sexuality
• Trans people are not their “birth gender” they are the gender they identify as. I am a man, my girlfriend is a woman, my boyfriend Kit has no gender and identifies as a thing. We are who and what we say we are.
• Gender is not the same thing as sex, stop conflating them
• Not all transsexual people get or want gender reassignment surgery  and the words “sex change” are pretty insulting too.
• Transsexual is an adjective
• It’s okay to be trans and Lee doesn’t have to be a girl if Lee doesn’t want to, no matter what the person who appears to be Lee’s girlfriend thinks
• If the person with the really short hair and the peircings is meant to be a trans guy, it’s worth noting that not all or even necessarily most trans guys were “tomboys” as kids.
• GET THE TRANSPHOBIA OUT OF THE ANTI-BULLYING VIDEO!

Stonewall, you clearly have a lot to learn about trans people. Hopefully by actually talking to some of us you can learn.

By the way, I’m not the only person who thinks this, transactivist has written about it here and includes a transcript which people might find useful, I was planning on writing a transcript myself but it seems transactivist beat me to it.

I always thought that Canada had the upper hand when it came to the promotion of equality between members of society. But two recent British events have changed my mind. First is this “Back to School” campaign from Stonewall which is, as they say in Britain, rather “brilliant.” Simple, bold, direct, and to the point.

The other is the National Portrait Gallery’s “Gay Icons” exhibition (see Being Gay in Britain, Part II).

The “Get Over It!” campaign was developed in collaboration with 150 secondary school students and teachers in conjunction with Stonewall. This pupil-devised slogan will probably teach a few advertising executives how to do things right.

FROM STONEWALL:

The slogan, devised by 150 school pupils, originally featured on posters, stickers and postcards distributed to 5,000 secondary schools. It has been so well-received by pupils and teachers that the message has gone well beyond the school gates.

BEING GAY IN BRITAIN, PART II

This has been a public service announcement (and not an advert)

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Nostalgia Corner: Back in the summer I tried to follow my niece’s graduation webcast from Manchester Uni.

The quality was rubbish.

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Previous, related posts on this blog:

• Stonewall and PFC “not a cabal” – Official! (November 26, 2008)
• Bread and circuses, tea and cake… (November 13, 2008)
• o hai (November 12, 2008)
• Tonight we’re going to party like it’s 1985 (November 9, 2008)
• Stonewall was a riot (November 6, 2008)
• Stonewall awards protest (November 5, 2008)
• Julie Bindel’s statement (November 1, 2008)
• Stonewall UK, celebrity journalists and GLB transphobia (October 19, 2008)
• Transphobe Bindel Nominated as Stonewall’s Journalist of the Year (October 14, 2008)

I cannot answer any more for what happened in PFC about the Bindel protest; I have tried to explain the position as best I can. We did not all agree with each other, as one might expect, but we are democratic within our workings. I would hope everyone would wish us to be so. I think we were all very pleased to see the success of the protest, and if work commitments and other issues had not prevented me from attending, I would have been there, as all PFC VP’s were free to do so. Unfortunately only one of us lives in London, and 3 of us are disabled, so such events are very hard for us to attend, with health often being the final factor.

My reading of this is that there are some people within PFC (“campaigning for respect and equality for ALL trans people”) who agree with Stonewall’s nomination of a transphobe for an award. Which is cause for concern in itself, but to then apparently suggest that it’s okay because PFC is “democratic within our workings” is, in my opinion, no different from liberal feminists saying that transphobic attitudes within certain feminist groups are equally okay, because they illustrate the diversity of feminism.

Well, no, I’m sorry, but it isn’t okay; it’s not okay at all. Because it suggests that there are some people at PFC who apparently think it’s okay to give someone an award for holding transphobic views, and that there are other people at PFC – who should know better, and are in a position to tackle the transphobe supporters in their midst – who don’t seem to be doing anything about it.

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ETA, 1 December 2008: Tracy Dean, a VP of PFC, has announced that she’s leaving PFC “to concentrate on my own campaigning work“.

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Previous, related posts on this blog:

• Bread and circuses, tea and cake… (November 13, 2008)
• o hai (November 12, 2008)
• Tonight we’re going to party like it’s 1985 (November 9, 2008)
• Stonewall was a riot (November 6, 2008)
• Stonewall awards protest (November 5, 2008)
• Julie Bindel’s statement (November 1, 2008)
• Stonewall UK, celebrity journalists and GLB transphobia (October 19, 2008)
• Transphobe Bindel Nominated as Stonewall’s Journalist of the Year (October 14, 2008)

A Labour MP has said a new special parliamentary committee that will examine ways of making the House of Commons more diverse should include gay, lesbian and bisexual people as an under-represented group.

The House agreed yesterday to establish a Speaker’s Conference.

A Speaker’s Conference is convened by the Speaker of the House of Commons following an invitation from the Prime Minister.

Under the impartial leadership of the Speaker, MPs from both the major and minority parties are brought together to consider issues within the electoral system. It must report before the end of this Parliament.

Speaker’s Conferences are rare. The last one took place in 1977-78 and there were only five conferences in the 20th century.

Commons leader Harriet Harman told MPs it would “make recommendations for rectifying the disparity between the representation of women, ethnic minorities and disabled people in the House of Commons and their representation in the UK population at large.

“As Members of this House, we represent 646 different constituencies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, it is not enough to have a geographical representation.

“For people in this country, their identity comes not just from where they live, but from whether they are men or women, whether they are disabled, whether they are black or white and whether they are gay or lesbian.

“Society has changed and we must recognise that the House of Commons needs to change, too.

“As women in this country, we now regard ourselves as equal citizens, yet we are not equal in numbers in this House. We are out-numbered by men by five to one.

“This country is ethnically diverse now—indeed, it has been for many decades—but of 646 Members, only 15 are black or Asian. To be representative of our population, we should have more than four times that number.”

Ms Harman said that she hopes at least one gay MP is appointed to the committee and expressed a hope that gay equality organisation Stonewall would “make an important contribution” to its work.

17 MPs and the Speaker will consider how to achieve greater diversity in Parliament and then make recommendations.

Backbench Labour MP Emily Thornberry at least mentions bi people – but still excludes the T-word:

“The proposed Speaker’s Conference should expand its remit to consider the increased representation of lesbians, gay people and bisexuals, because to have only one out lesbian in this place of 1,300 politicians is not sufficient to be able to speak about the lived experience of Britain’s 1.8million lesbians.”

But note that Harriet Harman – the MP calling for this – excludes mention of either bi or trans people:

“For people in this country, their identity comes not just from where they live, but from whether they are men or women, whether they are disabled, whether they are black or white and whether they are gay or lesbian.”

Note also that the LGBT Labour Co-chair, Katie Hanson, is the only person quoted in this report to use the acronym LGBT:

“Labour has lead the way in making the Commons more diverse and more representative – but there is still a long way to go. LGBT Labour welcomes the Speaker’s Conference as a way of moving this forward, and we support the call from Labour backbencher Emily Thornberry for the conference to include LGBT representation as part of its remit.

Also from the report itself:

Ms Harman said that she hopes at least one gay MP is appointed to the committee and expressed a hope that gay equality organisation Stonewall would “make an important contribution” to its work.

The involvement of Stonewall means that there is unlikely to be any inclusion of trans people because, as we know, they only look out for GL…[b] people.

And also, as we know, PFC – the group ‘traditionally’ charged with looking out for trans people – appear to dismiss out of hand anyone who doesn’t toe the conformist party line (“those kind of people”?) – so even if PFC *was* involved, it is unlikely anybody from the grass roots trans community would even be consulted anyway.

I’ll stop now before I really get into rant mode.

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ETA, Monday 17 November: See also:

• About Parliament – Speaker’s Conference
• House of Commons debates – Wednesday, 12 November 2008
• Cabinet Office – News Distribution Service

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ETA #2, Monday 17 November: So I concocted a letter and emailed Harriet Harman (Leader of the House of Commons), copied to Michael Martin (Speaker).

I can’t help but feel it won’t make the slightest difference, but I guess I should be used to that by now. But you have to try.

“Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will”, as somebody said a long time ago.

Dear Ms Harman,

Proposal to hold a Speaker’s Conference

I refer to the recent proposal to hold a Speaker’s Conference to address the under-representation of minority groups in Parliament.

As you observed in your announcement of 12 November, “For people in this country, their identity comes not just from where they live, but from whether they are men or women, whether they are disabled, whether they are black or white and whether they are gay or lesbian. Society has changed and we must recognise that the House of Commons needs to change, too.”

Whilst I welcome the broadly inclusive nature of the comment, I am concerned that there seems to be no specific reference to gender nonconforming people. I am a trans (transsexual) woman and believe that people like me are not only chronically under-represented but also institutionally marginalised and routinely subject to the effects of prejudice and bigotry from other members of wider society. Therefore I believe it is vital that we are properly represented by those for whom we have voted.

I should be grateful if you would confirm that people like me will be included in this process, and that we will be permitted to make individual representations to the Conference.

I look forward to receiving your reply in the near future.

The Manchester Metropolitan University School of law
The Manchester Institute for Social and Spatial Transformations

A Feminist Perspective on the Transsexual Debate

Friday 5th December 2pm-5pm, The School of Law, Manchester Metropolitan University, M16 6HB – just off Oxford Rd.

Julie Bindel, Guardian Journalist, nominee for the Stonewall Journalist of the Year 2008, author of “Women Overcoming Violence and Abuse”, and “The Map of My Life: The Story of Emma Humphreys”

Dr. Susan Stryker, Women’s Studies, the University of Illinois, Visiting Professor, Harvard University, Author of “The Trans Studies Reader”, and “Transgender History”

Chair: Prof. Stephen Whittle, MMU School of Law, author of “Respect and Equality: Transsexual and Transgender Rights” and “The Trans Studies Reader”.

Public Attendance Cost: £12 or £5 on benefits (evidence of benefits must be produce at door).

Free for MMU Staff and Students, ticketless entrance: your staff or student card must be shown at the door.

People who are not MMU staff or students must apply for tickets. Without a ticket you will be refused entrance to this event.

To apply for tickets:

Email: send Full details , indicating the number of tickets, to David Hulme, d.hulme@mmu.ac.uk. Please send a separate cheque for the correct amount by postal mail to Dave at the address below. Admittance will not be allowed without payment.

Postal Mail: send Full details , indicating the number & type of tickets, with a cheque for payment to: David Hulme, The School of Law Office
Sandra Burslem Building, Manchester Metropolitan University
Lower Ormond St, Manchester M15 6HB.

For details of the venue look for Building no.19 on the map at: http://www.mmu.ac.uk/travel/maps/mmu_maps_allsaints_aytoun.pdf

Pink Floyd – Us And Them

Us and Them
And after all we’re only ordinary men
Me, and you
God only knows it’s not what we would choose to do
“Forward!”, he cried from the rear
And the front rank died
The General sat and the lines on the map
Moved from side to side

Black and Blue
And who knows which is which and who is who
Up and Down
And in the end it’s only round and round and round
Haven’t you heard? It’s a battle of words
The poster bearer cried
“Listen, son”, said the man with the gun
“There’s room for you inside”

Down and Out
It can’t be helped but there’s a lot of it about
With, without
And who’ll deny it’s what the fighting’s all about?
Out of the way, it’s a busy day
I’ve got things on my mind
For want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died…

(YouTube link)

At the same time, on the other side of the entrance, a counter-protest was held by a dozen supporters of one of the nominees – a lifestyle columnist whose recent claim to fame has been the volume and intensity of the transphobic hate speech encapsulated in her published articles.

The self-styled fan club, and the celebrity journalist herself, had at least two things in common: they’re cis (non-trans) women, and they’re feminists. And therein lies the rub. Because I’m a trans woman – and I also believe in the basic principles of feminism. So how come that small group of cis women feminists ended up standing opposite our rainbow alliance of people from across the gender spectrum, resolute and implacable in their hostility towards us?

Surely we all want the same thing, don’t we – equality for all?

How did we end up at this impasse? Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought that feminism was about ending the oppression of women – all women – not perpetuating it. And that simple phrase offers a clue to one of the causes (if not the central cause) of the problem: “all women”. Because, according to the journalist, trans women aren’t real women. We’re just men in dresses.

Except we’re not. I identify as a woman, and I live as a woman. And although I was assigned male at birth – I have never denied or made a secret of that – I have transitioned legally, socially and medically. To all intents and purposes, and in every practical way that society can think of, I am a woman. And I don’t need the approval of thirteen cis feminists for that. Sadly, those cis feminists – and there are others – believe in an essentialism best summed up as “biology is destiny” (whatever happened to “our bodies, our choice”?). “Once a man, always a man”, or so they would have us believe. That they cannot prove that I’m not a woman is clearly a source of vexation for them. Yet they persist with the propagation of an intense hatred of trans women which, if it was instead the manifestation of, let’s say, racism, would not be tolerated by any right-thinking human. Indeed, it would be illegal. (For clarity: I’m not saying that transphobia is worse than racism, or vice versa). But their cissexual supremacist attitudes raise questions which are routinely ignored by many, perhaps most, other cis feminists.

I now think that the silent majority of cis feminists should no longer continue looking the other way and excusing hate speech as an acceptable part of the ‘diversity of feminism’. To do so positions the feminist in the same place as Stonewall, with its self-promotion as a ‘diversity champion’ professing to work against transphobia at the same time as it condones one of the UK’s most prolific writers of transphobic tracts.

Important decisions need to be made: if a cis feminist is truly an ally to trans people, then she needs to decide what she’s going to do about the transphobia which informs the writings of the journalist in question, and others like her. But to do that, the cis feminist first needs to examine her own attitudes to trans people. She needs to recognise, and come to terms with, her own cis privilege(s) and potentially cissexist and trans-misogynist attitudes.

What I’m interested in at the moment, what’s been preoccupying my thoughts since the protest, is why the many other cis feminists who profess not to hold the same transphobic views of that minority in their midst, and who say that they are our friends, allies and supporters continue to tolerate the oppression of trans women by a minority of their sisters in feminism.

Some cis feminists will argue that the journalist has, in her time, said and done good things for feminism, but as far as I’m concerned, any good work she may have once done is far outweighed by the oppression of trans people that she has meted out so relentlessly for so many years. We cannot, must not, overlook the fact that she continues to argue against civil rights for trans people; she continues to argue against our rights to change our bodies – actions which keep many of us alive. This is hate speech, pure and simple, and should not be condoned in the name of any creed – and particularly not in the name of feminism.

The message of her most recent post seems to be, to quote Greta Garbo, “I want to be alone”. I suspect that she has, once again, misinterpreted the situation and is now confusing solitude with self-imposed isolation. And the irony of a woman who appears to court publicity at any cost, using the platform of a national newspaper to voice a request to be left alone is not lost. But, it must be said that, given the hurt and distress she has caused many trans people with her ignorant and spiteful words, it is tempting simply to wave her off as she packs her spotted hanky on a stick and walks into the sunset.

However, I am not convinced that such a dramatic exit is an acceptable end to the matter. The subject is far from closed and there are too many loose ends left untied. So I propose an alternative course of action: I suggest that she stays and – finally – enters fully into the debate, as she has so often indicated she wants to do. And it seems to me that this would be the ideal opportunity for our cis feminist friends and allies to meet the challenge and join with us to ask her, once more, the hard questions to which she has singularly failed to respond in the past.

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Photos are taken from onequeerone’s Stonewall Protest photo set and used in compliance with the Creative Commons License for non-commercial use.

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Previous, related posts on this blog:

• Stonewall was a riot
• Stonewall awards protest
• Julie Bindel’s statement
• Stonewall UK, celebrity journalists and GLB transphobia
• Transphobe Bindel Nominated as Stonewall’s Journalist of the Year

So Sarah was there, obviously, also the_local_echo, Zoe Imogen, Natacha, Roz Kaveney, Michael Tgo, Col Cruise (the Trans Film Fest organizer) and loads of folks I recognized but couldn’t name – think I saw Denise A… Some Trans Youth Network people from London and a couple from Manchester… oh, a few faces from the FAF workshop… and I can’t leave out my friend Youngsook, postgrad student extraordinaire…

Zoe early on reckoned we were at least 90 in number so there’s an excellent chance we hit the 100 mark at least – think I heard someone say we were probably the largest protest by trans people in Britain ever, yay history in the making…

JB Fan Club (according to Zoe) numbered 12. Yes, twelve. And they left as soon as JB had gone inside. She was there early and walked straight past, whoosh gone – so I’m told, I didn’t see her.

And as far as I know, no sign of the rumoured third protest (anti-gay religious right)

But a good natured crowd, it was interesting to see our diversity… Saw loads of anti-Stonewall posters and no JB posters… Much noisy chanting but no violence (well duh) so the maybe 15 or so police officers were quite underemployed.

A few independent photographers but none from any recognized press or radio/television… The woman from AbsolutQueer says her photos will be up on her site later for use by the trans community – she said she wanted to record it separately in case any other less representative images turn up… I hope there are better pics than my blurry dark cellphone ones… Think Zoe took millions so watch out for those too.

L8rz

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Previous, related posts on this blog:

• Stonewall awards protest
• Julie Bindel’s statement
• Stonewall UK, celebrity journalists and GLB transphobia
• Transphobe Bindel Nominated as Stonewall’s Journalist of the Year

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ETA, Friday morning 7 November: I’m hurriedly trying to catch up on stuff from last night, so this is a bit of a stream-of-consciousness interim post (another one!) between First Coffee and work… I’ll try and update later on…

There’s no mention of the protest that I could see in this morning’s Metro (free paper), and Google has only turned up this Pink News piece… Seems like Ms Bindel didn’t even win, after all that. (Miriam Stoppard, for the record).

So where does that leave the trans community? Ms Pessimistic here, I know, but as far as I can see, we’re in much the same place we were before, really. I’m not saying the protest was worthless, far from it – we needed the Stonewall people to see a lively, protesting trans presence to drive home the point, and we did that, no question – but otherwise?…

Can I start thinking in terms of First and Second Wave trans women? Not sure where trans men are in this for all the usual historical reasons, but it seems that trans women are split into two factions one of which is, effectively, the trans establishment – or would like to see themselves as such – eg daft quotes from people along the lines of “I thought I spoke for all trans people” – well duh! actually, no, you don’t – we speak for ourselves and join together for the big stuff. It’s called diversity, I think you’ll find. And equality. It includes, like, acceptance of each other for who we are, not who an unrepresentative minority would like us to be.

The other strand is, I think – well, at least, for me – very well outlined in the essay Where did we go wrong? Feminism and trans theory – two teams on the same side (written by a younger and, arguably, less complacent Stephen Whittle, several years ago). It’s primarily about how trans people and feminists can find areas to agree on and it’s become really important to me. He says some really good things, principles that could be easily applied in the Stonewall context, particularly when you remember that Ms Bindel identifies as a feminist. (Also Julia Serano’s Rethinking Sexism: How Trans Women Challenge Feminism is well worth re-reading. As is Cedar’s excellent essay, Beyond Inclusion: Trans Women as Equal Partners in Feminism)

The difference in attitudes between what Stephen Whittle, Julia Serano and Cedar say, and the Christine Burns incident really sums up these two very different viewpoints within the trans community.

Are we (trans people) having this discussion online anywhere? If so, please can somebody link me? (Later edit: see this post by Sophia Siedlberg on the OII website). And if not – is it because I’m miles off course and just talking rubbish? Likewise – if so, please can somebody tell me? ;)

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Anyway, I’m heartened by Zoe’s comment below – she reckons over 150 of us were there last night, which is really great to know, in ways that go far beyond the protest itself – I’m thinking of the networking that went on, the friends that were made – this is community building as it should be, and it can only benefit us all by helping to bring us together.

I forget who said (online somewhere) that one of the defining characteristics of the trans community is that it’s very decentralized – we don’t really hang out together in clubs and bars, etc, like, for example, the sterotype of the gay community… Now I’m going to go one further and say that another defining feature is the way we use electronic comms like the internet/blogs/email, etc, to organize, if that’s not too pretentious.

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Egomaniac’s corner – I was also amazed how many people knew this blog. Not especially me particularly (which is fine) but I got a number of supportive remarks on the lines of “Oh! You’re Bird Of Paradox? Oh wow!” – I genuinely had no idea; I figured that it was pretty much just a few random people stopped by. Nice to be remembered for something I enjoy doing!

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Oh and sorry for my ignorance but I’ve only just found out that the JB Fan Club = London Feminist Network. I also know that LFN are closely linked to the Reclaim The Night march; and any organization’s proclamations of being women only brings out my cautious side these days, especially when they’re silent on the subject of whether of not they include trans women in their definition.

So-o-o-o… is it unreasonable, then, to assume that, an organization like LFN – which advertises on its website a protest to support a writer of many transphobic pieces – is also likely to be in agreement with the substance of Ms Bindel’s views about trans people? And if LFN does agree with Ms Bindel’s remarks, then how is LFN any different from Stonewall, apart from in the degree of support offered? Stonewall wanted to honour Ms Bindel with an award for her hate speech, LFN asked its members to show support for Ms Bindel. But if LFN disagrees with Ms Bindel’s transphobic writings, then one can only wonder why they ran the advert. I’d love to know how that all works, but I’m not holding my breath for an answer.

I dunno, maybe I misunderstood, but I thought that feminism was about ending the oppression of women, all women, not perpetuating it. Oh wait! I forgot! Trans women aren’t real women, are we? Nope, we’re just men in dresses. How silly of me to forget that. I’m such an uppity tranny, aren’t I, not knowing my place an’ all.

…*le sigh*…

Second ETA, Friday morning 7 November: Roz has posted some photos here

Third ETA, Friday evening 7 November: Additional report at Pink News. Seems like we had quite a bit of support from some of the attendees.

onequeerone’s Stonewall protest photos

YouTube vid – footage by Zoe, edited by the_local_echo (and also at her LJ).

Trans community to protest at high profile London awards ceremony against Stonewall “Bigotry”

Outraged at the nomination of the notoriously transphobic Guardian writer Julie Bindel for “Journalist of the Year” award by Stonewall and the silence from established trans campaigning groups, the transsexual and queer communities have come together to stage an unprecedented protest outside the £125-a-head “champagne and canape reception” for the Stonewall awards at the V&A Museum in London on Thursday, 6th November 2008. In what will be a major embarrassment for Stonewall over its controversial nomination, over a hundred people are expected to be attending the protest and will be waiting outside the V&A for the arrival of the guests, including celebrities such as actor Richard Wilson, who is hosting the event and award nominee and Daily Mirror agony aunt Miriam Stoppard.

Under pressure from the community to retract the nomination, Ben Summerskill, Chief Executive of Stonewall labelled any retraction of the nomination an “empty gesture” and nothing more than a “publicity stunt” when speaking to some of the many people who complained to Stonewall. However, beyond vague reassurances added quietly to their web site that the nomination does not endorse all the views of the nominees, Stonewall itself has failed to comment publicly on the issue, further calling into doubt their already shaky credentials as so-called “champions of diversity”.

Speaking out against the nomination, veteran campaigner and journalist Roz Kaveney said “[Bindel] is advocating talking therapies for trans people in a way that almost entirely parallels the advocacy of talking therapies by the Christian right as a way of extirpating all LGBT people. If she does not understand that, as a lesbian, she is a turkey advocating Christmas for turkeys in an adjacent bit of the farmyard, then she is being obtuse; what she is doing is betraying not only the trans community but the entire LGBT community, and it is wrong to honour her for her other work when there is this colossal stain on her career.”

I still maintain that this whole debacle is first and foremost about Stonewall UK and not Ms Bindel, whose role in this is less central than she might like to think.

For me, the real issue remains Stonewall UK’s cynical support for a Z-list celebrity journalist’s ceaseless and violent oppression of an already oppressed minority.

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Previous, related posts on this blog:

• Julie Bindel’s statement
• Stonewall UK, celebrity journalists and GLB transphobia
• Transphobe Bindel Nominated as Stonewall’s Journalist of the Year

My £0.02 – I don’t believe her piece adds anything new or useful to the discussion which remains, in my opinion, primarily about Stonewall UK’s attitude to the trans community, and *not* about Ms Bindel herself, or her many, *many* words.

But given her apparent belief that it *is* about her, it almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Unfortunately.

Oh, and spot the dog whistles cunningly hidden in this short passage:

I believe that [the majority of the members of the transsexual community] are not interested in hearing what I have to say, but merely wish to use me as their ‘whipping girl‘, and to take all of their anger out on me. I refuse to be a scapegoat, or to be silenced by them.

Til Thursday, then, Ms B.

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Previous, related posts on this blog:

• Stonewall UK, celebrity journalists and GLB transphobia
• Transphobe Bindel Nominated as Stonewall’s Journalist of the Year

It’s clear I’m not the only person to feel incensed by this outrageous condoning by a GLB organisation of Ms Bindel’s transphobic hate speech; an action which has, in turn, generated a huge outpouring of protestation from many trans people and our allies and supporters.

I must confess to being both surprised and disappointed that there are also some trans people who appear to think we should approve the GLB movement’s tolerance of, and tacit support for, the transphobia within its ranks.

Kudos, then, to Lisa at Questioning Transphobia for collating and publishing such a comprehensive information resource as the whole sorry affair has unfolded (and continues to unfold) this week – here’s a link to the archive for the ‘Stonewall UK’ category on her site, which offers as complete a roundup as one might wish to find.

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ETA, Monday 20 October: The Stonewall Migraine by Sophia Siedlberg, writing at the OII site.

1. I think Bindel is possibly one of the most ignorant and hateful journalists ever to have been given a public platform (although it would be a close fight with Greer). Even on a good day this winds me up more than I can say and makes it hard for me to be objective.
2. For the past couple of days I’ve been struggling with the most intense bout of PMS I think I’ve ever had. Today I’m absolutely raging with it and at the moment I don’t know that I can write anything much more than gaaaahhhhhhhh! grrrrrrrrrrrrr! kill all humans! oww-ooooooooo! Which is maybe not terribly incisive or insightful but it sure as hell makes me feel better. You got a problem with that, pal? ;)
3. Other people have blogged about it far more eloquently than I can manage right now. So I think that, under the circumstances, it’s better if I just link and let people like my good friends Sarah and Lisa (also here and here) document it in a much more rational and lucid way. I know others have also written about this insulting and offensive farce – and I’ll link them too in due course…
   But right now I have to go and howl at the full moon which I know is out there somewhere, and snap at people, and kick computers because it’s about as much productivity as I can manage today. Oww-oooOOooo!

Oh okay, okay – three reasons!
Fuxake…
;)

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ETA: And if that fucking spambot John from Asshats On Line doesn’t leave me the fuck alone I swear I will hunt him down like the mechanical dog he is and rip out his silicon heart with my bare hands. And fuck the broken fingernails. Fucking fuck. What is wrong with these people?

grrrrrrrrrrrrrr….

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Second ETA: Okay, so now it’s later and here are a few other links as promised.

• Autumn Sandeen
• Pam’s House Blend
• Pink News
• Stonewall UK – original shortlist announcement page

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Third ETA (Thursday 16 October): Via Sarah:

This information has been passed on to me with instructions that I am allowed to disseminate it:

I have just been in contact with people at the Metropolitan Police(MPS). The MPS would normally support an event such as the Stonewall Awards they will not be doing so his year.

I am not going so far as to say there was a linkage. The reason I am told was along the lines of the awards no longer reflecting the MPS’s values of inclusiveness.

I should make it clear that they will still be policing the event and that any protest MUST be peaceful.

That’s all I know. Personal comment – it looks like the MPS have really upped their game after Toiletgate. This has made my day!

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Fourth ETA (Friday 17 October): Lisa has an update here about The Gender Trust’s engagement with the protest – and, within hours, a rapid U-turn.

These organisations need to understand, and a bit sharpish, that if they ain’t for us, then they’re agin us.

And really, as the song goes – what have you done for me lately? Not much, by the looks. At least, nothing useful.

Fuckwits.

Stonewall, the UK gay rights group , will post 600 billboards around the country over the next two weeks with their “Some people are gay, get over it!” message. The ad campaign was originally designed for and rolled out to secondary schools and was created with the help of students and teachers. After the posters were well-received in the schools, the national campaign was devised.

From the Sunday Herald (Scotland) on the topic:

Stonewall Scotland director Calum Irving said: “That it’s taken us so long to get hate crime legislation suggests Scotland needs to wake up to the fact that we still have homophobic elements.

“It’s time for a hard-hitting message that works in any environment. It will also appeal to those who don’t have a problem with gay people and want others to get over it’.”

A scheme based on the slogan will be launched in schools later this year.

…In case you didn’t know.