Barney Frank "Hates" Trans People?

Who Needs Enemies?

I'm going to keep hitting this subject until it sticks. The way to move forward on ENDA and the GLBT movement as a whole isn't with misdirected anger toward our very own allies, even if we don't always agree with them. I hate to single out the people at QueerToday, but they've done it yet again. According to QueerToday, not only is Frank wrong to split ENDA - something I agree with - but, in fact, he "hates" trans people. That's right, Barney Frank is a "fucking douche bag." No, wait, that wasn't enough, he's a "HUGE fucking douche bag."

But, folks, we can't stop there... QueerToday provided the masses with a nice portrait of Barney Frank on their site. Pay special attention to the burning red eyes; that's right, Barney Frank is evil to the core. He's the devil! The Horror of Horrors - he wanted to actually expand rights and was willing to compromise to do it.

Here I thought the Republicans and DINOs were our enemies. The sad fact is this is how we treat some of the people who have been working the hardest on our behalf. Surely, readers know the saying, "with friends like these..."



PS : we probably wouldn't be talking about ENDA right now if it weren't for Barney Frank.

Am I Watching the GLBT Community Implode Over ENDA?

As my co-host on LeftAhead, Mike, mentions, Barney Frank won't unite GENDA and ENDA. According to Frank, two bills offers glb people a real chance at legislative victory that would provide protections from discrimination at the work place. Bay Windows has more on the vote counts, but if Frank is to be believed, ENDA alone would pass by 15-20 votes, while an inclusive ENDA/GENDA wouldn't pass at all - in fact, it would be "vulnerable to anti-trans amendments from Republicans." Of course, this was the major topic on our most recent LeftAhead internet radio show. Mike, Lynne and Laurel thought Frank was making a mistake, as do most glbt organizations and usually even myself. Sometimes, though, I think Frank truly understands how politics - especially civil rights - works: incrementally. ENDA is obviously a very complicated and touchy issue. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think everyone's right and everyone's wrong. As I've said over and over again, Blogger.com just doesn't come with a crystal ball button to predict the future (maybe in the next beta?).

However, here's what I do know: it's wrong to belittle or attack people in the community for speaking out as John Avarosis has done. The fact that Avarosis is saying what he's saying - and that his points are reverberating throughout the glbt community - is telling. There's a divide among the glb population: some people are completely behind the trans community, willing to forsake their own chance to pass ENDA, while others think more pragmatically. They sympathize with transgendered and transsexual people, but think any progress, even incremental progress, is important. Obviously, people who identify as the latter have questions about whether or not "glbt" is actually one community, or two, or something else.

On one point, Avarosis is as right as a 90 degree angle: if people speak against a completely inclusive ENDA or about how transgendered people fit in the glbt movement, they're immediately labeled by some as transphobic or George Bush Republicans. Heck, Mike's latest blog on the matter was primarily meant to point people out to this response to Avarosis, written by Susan Stryker, an academic on glbt and trans issues. Mike loved the essay, I think it's exactly what's wrong with the GLBT community. For someone who purports to be an academic, I've never seen such a hit piece on someone who would otherwise be an ally (after all, Avarosis says he's for trans rights, he just supports a different way of getting there). Instead of sticking to why Avarosis is wrong, Stryker writes pages to cast Avarosis as either dumb or a charter member of Team 'Ophobia.

This coming from an ex-Republican, former congressional aide, Georgetown-educated, inside-the-Beltway lawyer who studied under Secretary of State Madeleine Albright...

See what I mean? We can't listen to Avaroris, because he used to be a Republican! Never mind the fact that he operates one of the largest progressive blogs on the internet and is in fact gay, there was a point in time where a R used to appear beside his name. Sacrilege! Apparently, being a life-long Democrat is a new litmus test for the greater progressive movement. Let's all go fire Kos from DailyKos, because he used to be a Republican too.

I keep saying this and I don't think people understand what I mean by it - we need to have some serious discussions inside the glbt movement. I should be able to create a post on this subject without having to worry about QueerToday frantically writing posts saying "how dare I" even talk about this sort of issue. How dare I? Well, it's important! If they wanted to be productive, instead of vindictive, they'd be the ones hosting these discussions to help inform and persuade the masses (which I attempted to do on my last LeftAhead podcast, to the praise of at least one person who identifies as transgender).

People need to be able to talk about these issues rationally, free from fear of being publicly tarred and feathered, if we want to count on them being there with us when it really matters (like when a Democrat is elected President). A sizable number of gays, lesbians and bisexual people don't understand what's going on or how we got to be here. We're supposed to tell them to shut up? Or, even worse, ridicule them when they speak their mind?

While I reject Trevor from QueerToday's description of me, even if he were right in saying I have a "chillingly unconcerned white gay male middle to upper class stance on this issue," would that make my view any less important? Do certain gay people in the glbt community not count? (By the way, Trevor, thanks for the lack of curiosity and rush to judgements, but I'm far from being upper class - I come from a single parent home, with a nurse for a mother.) For a movement that demands inclusiveness, we're certainly willing to write off a large number of people for being white, male or middle-to-upper class - millions upon millions, in fact.

Unless we have this dialogue now, the entire movement is screwed. These sorts of attacks, be they QueerToday or Susan Stryker, are the worst kind of obstruction. It's funny, but sometimes I think the glbt population is its own worst enemy: there are those who question why certain things are the way they are, while others scream and yell and attack any of them who raise their voices to ask. Which is worse? Maybe Frank should just totally shelve both ENDAs because, quite frankly, not only are they highly unlikely to pass, I don't know if we actually deserve it.

Must Read on ENDA and Trans Issue

John Avarosis at Americablog has a really interesting post on the dynamics of ENDA. There's a lot there, talking about myriad issues surrounding the bill and the entire lgbt movement. Given the importance of the piece, everyone should check it out. Seriously, I can't stress how important it is to read the whole damn thing - and then think about it. Here's a particularly good snippet:

But when I speak to friends and colleagues privately, senior members of the gay political/journalistic establishment, and just plain old gay friends around the country (and our own readers), the message I hear is far different from what I'm hearing from the groups. I'm clearly hearing three things. Well, four:

1. I feel empathy for transgendered people, and support their struggle for civil rights.

2. I want ENDA to pass this year even if we can't include transgendered people.

3. I don't understand when transgendered people became part of the gay community?

And then there's always #4: Please don't tell anyone I told you this.

What I'm hearing is a message far different from what you hear from NGLTF and some of the louder activist claiming to speak for the enlightened masses. I think that a lot of gay people never truly accepted the transgender revolution that was thrust upon them. They simply sat back and shut up about their questions and concerns and doubts out of a sense of shame that it was somehow impolite to even question what was happening, and fear that if they did ask questions they'd be marked as bigots. And now, that paper-thin transgender revolution is coming home to roost.

In many ways, he's right. Breaking up ENDA to make it easier to pass, which is the short-term pragmatic thing to do, would certainly be followed up on by the more hardcore people. However, many more glb people just aren't going to immerse themselves in a battle for GENDA, even if they sympathize with transgendered people.

We have to admit the facts: there are differences between "glb" and "t," and I'm not just talking about Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Certainly, those differences and misunderstandings prevent a lot of people who are glb from truly embracing the needs of transgendered and transsexual people. As I've stated a few times, the glbt movement has asked trans people to sacrifice before and didn't follow up on it. Part of that is because we haven't been as successful with glb rights as we'd like - and the movement's been busy. Yet, no one can really deny that trans rights have been slowed at times because of "glb" indifference, at least by some people and organizations.

Given all the transgendered people I've been close to in the past, I'd like to say I'm not 'some of those people,' but knowing everything I know I've still advocated for pragmatic solutions, at least during the Bush Administration. I may be willing to work hard for a GENDA too, but I know there's hundreds of thousands of gay and bisexual people that won't. I know that if ENDA would pass, it's very unlikely for GENDA to follow it for at least 2-3 years, if not a decade. So, given that, am I still urging for the pragmatic solution?

Maybe, maybe not. It's tough to say to millions of gay people that they should suffer too, all because the American people have an even more ignorant attitude toward transgendered people than they do gays and lesbians. Haven't gay people already suffered enough? Then again, if glb people don't embrace the transgendered community, who will?

I don't know what's the right solution in the long term battle. I don't know how successful current glbt advocates can be in the future on transgendered rights if we don't completely link our fates with the trans community now. It's just too damn hard to predict. Will continuous progress eventually mean continual transgendered progress, as I'd like to think? Unfortunately, blogger.com doesn't come equipped with a crystal ball. More importantly, the decision isn't up to me, bloggers, writers or even the major players at HRC and other organizations. As Avarosis illustrates, it'll come from whatever argument compels at least a majority of glb people.

However, I've been right all along in saying there's a schism in the glbt community; that people are looking out for their own interests - and, sadly, are quite willing to tear down our supposed allies in order to protect self interests. Should we expect anything more from human beings? Well, history says it's quite possible, but only under certain conditions. John Avarosis makes the great point that no revolution will be successful unless it's embraced by the people within it. Has the gay community - as a whole - truly accepted the transgendered community as a part of the same struggle? Not according to Avarosis.

If the GLBT movement is going to succeed as a wide-spread movement, instead of splintering apart, it's clear that GLB and T people need to have a meeting of the minds - before we can ever address the differences between when something's pragmatic and when it's downright selfish. Unfortunately, that's a very slow, grassroots process. In this current climate of tearing each other apart, do we have the patience to go through it?

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As an aside, this is one of the most important issue facing the GLBT movement today - at least on par with marriage equality, DADT, ENDA and hate crimes. As such, I plan on tackling it on a near-future LeftAhead! podcast. I'll be looking for knowledgeable guests for the show; send me an email if you're interested in that discussion.

Furthermore, I actually think it would make for a compelling Blog Left Massachusetts event. I'd be willing to help organize it if I could get a few others involved too.

Send me emails. Let's do our part to have that "meeting of the minds" right where it matters most, the grassroots.