Christopher R. Barron is a self-proclaimed "Gay Conservative", for any among you who've never heard f his organization, GOProud.
While anyone living in the real world with a firm grip on reality knows that "Gay Conservative" is pretty much an oxymoron considering that anti-gay activism is carved in stone in Conservative Dogma, Chris continues to insist he is such a person, and that liberal gay activists are just a bunch of mean self-serving bullies unfairly picking on him.
Yes, a gay man using the NOM defense to accuse those he's screwing over of being the real aggressors.
Before we begin, a sample primer of the hypocritical Quisling douchebaggery that is Chris Barron.
Whitewashing anti-gay history of idiot he supports.
Defending a Republican bigot who says Gay is a sinful choice.
Downplaying the seriousness of the GOP's Anti-Gay animus.
Then doing an immediate 180 while condemning marriage equality.
Completely lying through his teeth to soothe his conscience.
Desperately clinging to his "Conservatives like me!" delusion despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary slapping him repeatedly in the face.
Jumping though ridiculously vontorted intellectual hoops to justify his cowardice.
That's just a small sample folks. The bottom line is that Chris Barron is a moral coward, a sellout, and a traitor to hist LGBT brothers and sisters.
Now when he made one of his usual lie-filled smug statements attacking the "Liberal Gay Left" as the villains while defending hateful policies and ideals, I tweeted at him that his actions were deplorable and his lies transparent. I was brutally honest. I chastised him for supporting people who are on record as wanting to have gays be anything from jailed to deported to outright executed. I called him, as so many do, a Quisling. (Look it up on Wikipedia and you'll see why).
Chris Barron is a collaborator. He's the worst kind of suck-up. He's the kid who sneaks into the locker room, steals other kids' lunch money, then gives it to the school bully at recess so HE won't get beat up, then goes home and brags to his mom how popular he is because he's the only kid in class who only got ONE black eye at recess when the other bullied kids all got two plus some broken ribs.
Barron, proving with only the slightest nudge that he is in fact everything I said he was, immediately resorted to the time-honored Rightwing Bully tactic of taking what I said to him, choosing only selected specific quotes, and retweeting them to his followers using said cherry-picked quotes to paint me in the worst light to his followers, knowing full well that the sort of folks who'd follow him on Twitter would be unlikely to go look at my timeline to get the full story. The kind of ignorant sheep who would follow any charismatic right-wing liar generally take those liars at face value and never try to educate themselves.
Following that, he resorted to a cheap sad fat joke at my expense rather than attempt to refute anything I said. Soon enough, to no intelligent person's surprise, his followers started in on me with the childish, juvenile insults. Some examples.
queengasoline
Your TL is a mess @ShamanOfHedon I suspect your whole life is too! GOProud is political group, they're NOT LGBT advocates, go bitch at them!
Maybe @ShamanOfHedon should spend her time bitching at people who really do hate her fat ass, like Dan Savage? Or is she a spineless drone?
mikeysaidwhat
Why do fat insecure girls like @shamanofhedon feel the need to attack people who hold different values?
Hey @shamanofhedon- @ChrisRBarron isn't out to shut down your top 5 favorite buffets- cut him some slack. Is it time for u 2b milked? #cow
@shamanofhedon... Another example of mad cow disease.
AndrewEyedea
@ShamanOfHedon You are delusional.
@ShamanOfHedon The only state sponsored murdering of gays comes from the left. It's called abortion.
JonInAtl
@ChrisRBarron @ShamanOfHedon Loosen the bone Wilma & lets see some of that "diversity" you claim to love so much
Now let's do a count.
Shallow juvenile weight jokes? Check.
Misogynist joke? Check.
Making baseless grandiose assumptions about how I can only be so mean to poor Chrissy-poo because my personal life must just suck ass? Check.
These fine upstanding folks, and every other one who tweeted at me, even the polite ones, have one undeniable thing in common with Chris; Not ONE of them, nor Chris himself, made a single attempt to refute my statements about Chris with any actual facts. Few tried refuting me at all, and the two, yes TWO, who did attempt to do so did so only with pathetic topic changing rhetoric about how it was the Democrats in 96 who signed DADT and DOMA into law. This is funny because I was never once discussing DOMA, DADT, or the Democrats, nor was I discussing anything that happened 15 bloody years ago. I was talking only about Chris Barron publicly supporting anti-gay Republicans TODAY.
A universal truth about any debate, one that always is guaranteed to let you know without any doubt that you are completely right and you've already won the debate. The unequivocal method of knowing your opponent has surrendered and conceded that you are 100% right without them having to actually say "Yes you're right".
When the only rebuttal your opponent can offer is to;
A) Make fun of your weight/Sex/Socioeconomic class and intone that by default because you are fat/female/poor your opinion is automatically worthless and should be ignored,
B) Bring up topics that at absolute best may have a slight tertiary connection to the actual topic being discussed as an attempt to sidetrack the discussion from the actual point they can't refute,
C) Selectively cherry-pick quotes from the bulk of what you said to make it seem as if you're saying one crude thing, completely stripping away all context surrounding it to make you appear to be a thug,
Then the debate is over. They've conceded, you've won. There is absolutely no doubt you're right and they're tacitly admitting to it in a way that lets them puff up their chest to look big and not gave to actually say it openly and honestly.
So the reactions of Mr. Barron and his twitter followers prove I'm very much correct in my assessment of him. He's conceded the debate. Of course he'll never openly admit that of course. Just like Anti-Gay hate groups like NOM, FRC and the AFA, he'll never OPENLY admit he knows he's wrong and is doing evil work in support of an oppressive ideology that hates gay people, even if his debate tactics prove he knows it's true.
But he knows it. And as an out gay man, if clearly not a proud one, he should be absolutely disgusted with himself.
6/14/2011
A Note On The Sidebar; The Sequel
I will no longer be cross-posting my blog entries as diaries on Pam's House Blend. Autumn Sandeen, whom I considered a friend and had frequently passionately defended online against shallow bigoted comments, decided to throw me to the wolves and scold me for a non-existant TOS violation in the comments on one of her PHB posts, for the SOLE purpose of showing a poster with a proven on-record history of baseless anti-trans trolling to whom Autumn needed to prove absolutely nothing that she does not "play favorites" with TOS violation warnings. I understand why Autumn did so. But I neither accept nor approve her decision to cower before a troll attacking her unfairly by sacrificing a friend who stands up for her just so she could "prove" how impartial she is.
Because of this sad act of cowardice by Autumn to appease a troll who will not actually care in the end and will still find excuses to attack Autumn and call her a man regardless if I get a token scolding or not, I have removed PHB from my sidebar and will never again comment on the site nor crosspost to it. I cannot in my personal good conscience support or contribute to a site where such an egregious act of personal cowardice and selling out a friend for meaningless brownie points takes place.
Apologies to Pam Spaulding for my decision. It hurts me deeply to be betrayed by a friend like this so publicly. It hurts worse to realize that at least one of the accusations I so frequently defended Autumn against turns out to be true; That she in fact IS a self-serving person who puts herself above others and will step on good people to elevate herself. I hope Autumn continues to do the good work she does do, but I DEARLY hope she stops to look at whom she hurts to do it sometimes.
Because of this sad act of cowardice by Autumn to appease a troll who will not actually care in the end and will still find excuses to attack Autumn and call her a man regardless if I get a token scolding or not, I have removed PHB from my sidebar and will never again comment on the site nor crosspost to it. I cannot in my personal good conscience support or contribute to a site where such an egregious act of personal cowardice and selling out a friend for meaningless brownie points takes place.
Apologies to Pam Spaulding for my decision. It hurts me deeply to be betrayed by a friend like this so publicly. It hurts worse to realize that at least one of the accusations I so frequently defended Autumn against turns out to be true; That she in fact IS a self-serving person who puts herself above others and will step on good people to elevate herself. I hope Autumn continues to do the good work she does do, but I DEARLY hope she stops to look at whom she hurts to do it sometimes.
4/08/2011
An Enemy Defects
Crossposted on Pam's House Blend
Those of you who regularly read this blog know of my run-ins with National Organization For Marriage spokesman Louis J. Marinelli. For a refresher course, go here, here, here, here, and here.
Well now I can finally happily say Louis has learned his lesson. I don't know what brought him around, but Louis no longer supports the anti-gay anti-marriage equality movement not NOM. He's come around and apologized for his anti-gay activism.
Out friend Jeremy Hooper of Good As You has an interview up with Louis. Just click the clicky to read the full chat they had. Of particular relevance to me was this statement.
"Whether it is an issue of disbelief, shame or embarrassment, the one thing that is for sure is that I have come to this point after several months of an internal conflict with myself. That conflict gradually tore away at me until recently when I was able to, for the first time simply admit to myself that I do in fact support civil marriage equality for all.
While I have come to terms with this reality internally, speaking about it, even with the closest members of my family, has proven to be something difficult for me to do.
In short, if there is an issue of disbelief surrounding my newfound support for civil marriage equality, it is disbelief from those who surround me. If there is an issue of shame, it is a result of acknowledging the number of people I have targeted, hurt and oppressed. And if there is an issue of embarrassment, its roots lie in the face-to-face encounters I have had and expect to have with those with whom I once toiled over this very contentious issue."
I applaud Louis for this. It's one thing to realize that you're on the wrong side of an issue. It's one thing to accept that you have contributed vociferously to real harm done to the lives of good people. But to find the courage, the strength of character, to stand up in public and say "I was wrong and I'm sorry", well, that takes courage. Courage I'll admit I never thought Louis could have. And I am ridiculously proud he proved me wrong. I have never been more happy in my life to be mistaken about something.
So thank you Louis, not only for realizing the truth, but for having the balls to admit it publicly. Words matter, and some as anti-gay as you once were standing up in public and saying you were wrong can effect others. You might actually reach more people than we can. Any hater can ignore us telling them they're wrong, but when one of their own says "We're on the wrong side of this fight", they might just stop for a moment and listen.
Thank you Louis. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for waking up.
Those of you who regularly read this blog know of my run-ins with National Organization For Marriage spokesman Louis J. Marinelli. For a refresher course, go here, here, here, here, and here.
Well now I can finally happily say Louis has learned his lesson. I don't know what brought him around, but Louis no longer supports the anti-gay anti-marriage equality movement not NOM. He's come around and apologized for his anti-gay activism.
Out friend Jeremy Hooper of Good As You has an interview up with Louis. Just click the clicky to read the full chat they had. Of particular relevance to me was this statement.
"Whether it is an issue of disbelief, shame or embarrassment, the one thing that is for sure is that I have come to this point after several months of an internal conflict with myself. That conflict gradually tore away at me until recently when I was able to, for the first time simply admit to myself that I do in fact support civil marriage equality for all.
While I have come to terms with this reality internally, speaking about it, even with the closest members of my family, has proven to be something difficult for me to do.
In short, if there is an issue of disbelief surrounding my newfound support for civil marriage equality, it is disbelief from those who surround me. If there is an issue of shame, it is a result of acknowledging the number of people I have targeted, hurt and oppressed. And if there is an issue of embarrassment, its roots lie in the face-to-face encounters I have had and expect to have with those with whom I once toiled over this very contentious issue."
I applaud Louis for this. It's one thing to realize that you're on the wrong side of an issue. It's one thing to accept that you have contributed vociferously to real harm done to the lives of good people. But to find the courage, the strength of character, to stand up in public and say "I was wrong and I'm sorry", well, that takes courage. Courage I'll admit I never thought Louis could have. And I am ridiculously proud he proved me wrong. I have never been more happy in my life to be mistaken about something.
So thank you Louis, not only for realizing the truth, but for having the balls to admit it publicly. Words matter, and some as anti-gay as you once were standing up in public and saying you were wrong can effect others. You might actually reach more people than we can. Any hater can ignore us telling them they're wrong, but when one of their own says "We're on the wrong side of this fight", they might just stop for a moment and listen.
Thank you Louis. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for waking up.
3/17/2011
Hello, ABC? Welcome to MY World!
And my lifetime of nasty painful dehumanizing complications that resulted from my being "corrected" at birth. In response to ABC News, let me tell you MY story about the results of "correcting" an intersexed child.
Crossposted on Pam's House Blend
Because my vagina was pinhole sized. They assumed I'd never get more than a pinky finger in it, much less a man's almighty penis, (which is sadly their main criteria when making these decisions; Will they be able to have "normal" hetero sex?), so they cauterized the mucous membranes with a heated metal rod and sewed up the tiny hole, leaving what visually appeared to be a normal if a wee bit below average penis and one testicle with a small scar.
Only my father was consulted. My mother was told they just needed to remove a growth. Except they failed to actually bother wasting any time doing silly things like a full internal examination. If they had they'd have found my uterus and maybe thought twice about the whole "She'll be happier as a boy" idea. (Helpful Hint; They were WRONG). Or they might have removed it and spared me a lot of grief.
I didn't actually know I was intersexed until 9 years ago while undergoing a full spate of physical tests at the gender clinic that used to be downtown in Vancouver before the BC Liberal stripped it of funding because it was "Frivolous spending". They discovered my true biology right at the same time they realized my blood disorder meant invasive surgeries would likely kill me.
See, until then, I had just thought I was a chronically ill MTF transsexual woman who had for some reason grown breasts. Sometimes I was actually stupid enough to believe I had breasts because I had somehow willed them to grow in my desire to be a girl. But around age 12 when they began growing, I started getting really sick every month. No doctor took me seriously because my parents told them I was probably faking to avoid school, (You can imagine how much I hated school, but still), and for years I never got thorough satisfactory answers or even seriously tested to see what was wrong with me. It's where I first learned to not trust doctors.
My problem? The uterus and my one ovary are functional. Imagine the joy of PMS when, thanks to sexist asshole binary enforcing doctors, the goddamn blood has NOWHERE to go. My body goes through painful PMS, then averages two weeks of chronic stomach pain and nausea as my body is forced to re-absorb blood it should be expelling, and because of my progressive blood disorder there's NO way this can be fixed now. So I'm doomed to a lifetime of needless suffering all because doctors thought they had a right to make that choice for me at birth.
If anyone has any questions about intersex from the horse's mouth, my e-mail is theaerie@shaw.ca
The worst part is that when I was FINALLY given access to my birth records, to learn exactly what was done, I learned I was years beyond any recourse to be compensated. The doctor who made the decision and lead the surgery had died 3 years before I found out, and every lawyer I consulted said no judge would hold the actual hospital accountable. My only comfort is knowing at least the bastard won't screw up anymore children ever again.
The choice should ALWAYS be the child's, when they're old enough to understand.
Crossposted on Pam's House Blend
Because my vagina was pinhole sized. They assumed I'd never get more than a pinky finger in it, much less a man's almighty penis, (which is sadly their main criteria when making these decisions; Will they be able to have "normal" hetero sex?), so they cauterized the mucous membranes with a heated metal rod and sewed up the tiny hole, leaving what visually appeared to be a normal if a wee bit below average penis and one testicle with a small scar.
Only my father was consulted. My mother was told they just needed to remove a growth. Except they failed to actually bother wasting any time doing silly things like a full internal examination. If they had they'd have found my uterus and maybe thought twice about the whole "She'll be happier as a boy" idea. (Helpful Hint; They were WRONG). Or they might have removed it and spared me a lot of grief.
I didn't actually know I was intersexed until 9 years ago while undergoing a full spate of physical tests at the gender clinic that used to be downtown in Vancouver before the BC Liberal stripped it of funding because it was "Frivolous spending". They discovered my true biology right at the same time they realized my blood disorder meant invasive surgeries would likely kill me.
See, until then, I had just thought I was a chronically ill MTF transsexual woman who had for some reason grown breasts. Sometimes I was actually stupid enough to believe I had breasts because I had somehow willed them to grow in my desire to be a girl. But around age 12 when they began growing, I started getting really sick every month. No doctor took me seriously because my parents told them I was probably faking to avoid school, (You can imagine how much I hated school, but still), and for years I never got thorough satisfactory answers or even seriously tested to see what was wrong with me. It's where I first learned to not trust doctors.
My problem? The uterus and my one ovary are functional. Imagine the joy of PMS when, thanks to sexist asshole binary enforcing doctors, the goddamn blood has NOWHERE to go. My body goes through painful PMS, then averages two weeks of chronic stomach pain and nausea as my body is forced to re-absorb blood it should be expelling, and because of my progressive blood disorder there's NO way this can be fixed now. So I'm doomed to a lifetime of needless suffering all because doctors thought they had a right to make that choice for me at birth.
If anyone has any questions about intersex from the horse's mouth, my e-mail is theaerie@shaw.ca
The worst part is that when I was FINALLY given access to my birth records, to learn exactly what was done, I learned I was years beyond any recourse to be compensated. The doctor who made the decision and lead the surgery had died 3 years before I found out, and every lawyer I consulted said no judge would hold the actual hospital accountable. My only comfort is knowing at least the bastard won't screw up anymore children ever again.
The choice should ALWAYS be the child's, when they're old enough to understand.
2/28/2011
This Is VERY Simple
UPDATE Justin no longer works at Change.org and Shelby Knox has personally apologised to me for the ridiculous way in which he treated me. I consider the issue resolved.
Change.org Community Manager "Justin" has TWICE deleted my account from Change.org and deleted comments I posted. Why? Because as a Rape Survivor I stood up to crude offensive rape apologist men in comments threads on Change.org. I double checked, every misogynist sexist "Oh rape isn't so bad you bitches probably liked it get over yourselves" type comment I responded to remains online, unedited, uncensored, and clearly not deleted. My justifiably angry "You are a hateful idiot and your disgusting neanderthal opinion of rape survivors is disgusting as are you" replies all are deleted.
Justin's explanation for censoring me amounted to a condescending "There there little lady, we can't have wimmins posting angry profane comments to our lil ole activism site, even if that big ole man is being a bit douchey."
So click that button, sign that petition while it still exists because I'm DAMN sure Justin will delete it. He's proven he's a selective activist, and a man who will happily punish the victim if she stands up for herself.
Sign it before it's gone.
Change.org Community Manager "Justin" has TWICE deleted my account from Change.org and deleted comments I posted. Why? Because as a Rape Survivor I stood up to crude offensive rape apologist men in comments threads on Change.org. I double checked, every misogynist sexist "Oh rape isn't so bad you bitches probably liked it get over yourselves" type comment I responded to remains online, unedited, uncensored, and clearly not deleted. My justifiably angry "You are a hateful idiot and your disgusting neanderthal opinion of rape survivors is disgusting as are you" replies all are deleted.
Justin's explanation for censoring me amounted to a condescending "There there little lady, we can't have wimmins posting angry profane comments to our lil ole activism site, even if that big ole man is being a bit douchey."
So click that button, sign that petition while it still exists because I'm DAMN sure Justin will delete it. He's proven he's a selective activist, and a man who will happily punish the victim if she stands up for herself.
Sign it before it's gone.
2/11/2011
Because Porno Pete Is All About Being Open and Honest
Crossposted on Pam's House Blend
Update; Hat-tipped on Truth Wins Out
I'm guessing poor Porno Petey, AKA Peter LaBarbera of Americans forlying through their teeth about gays Truth About Homosexualty, was getting tired of us nasty mean ole GLBT folks like Joe Sudbay, Jeremy Hooper and Wayne Besen & Evan Hurst using HIS OWN WORDS to show what a hypocritical, deceitful douchehat he really is.
You see, all the bloggers I listed above, plus several others including Pam and Alvin of the site I crosspost these on, have frequently screencapped little nuggets of batshittery and hateful glee from poor Petey's very own Twitter account. And there've been some real doozeys over the past couple years. But Petey seems to have grown JUST enough of a brain to finally realize his own words are shotting his hateful cause in the ass. Most likely after seeing how Maggie Gallager and Tony Perkins, both of whom use the same playbook, had THEIR hateful rhetoric backfire on them in Maryland when their lies and bile actually convinced one senator to change his mind about supporting equal marriage, for the better.
Why, you may ask, do I think this? Well, every few days I go and read Petey's Twitter Feed to see what asinine mindnumbingly delusional reality-deficient crap he's spouting that day. But when I went to do so just a mere 15 minutes ago, I saw this;
Seems Petey's "zeal for truth" doesn't include having enough faith in his own words to let just anyone see them anymore. Maybe he's finally realizing, thanks to the spectacular failure in Maryland of his hatemongering peers, that people CAN see through his lies, and that the more folks that get to read the vile bile he spews, the more people his cause will chase away. People can only be fooled by the same tired lies so many times before even the fearful naive sheep he preys on start to question why that one sheep who keeps telling them the dark spooky forest is safer for them than the wide open field where the farmer can see them has wolf paws.
Because Peter LaBarbera is ALL about honesty and transparency because of his zeal for truth. Right?
You may commence uncontrollable fits of derisive laughter now.
Update; Hat-tipped on Truth Wins Out
I'm guessing poor Porno Petey, AKA Peter LaBarbera of Americans for
You see, all the bloggers I listed above, plus several others including Pam and Alvin of the site I crosspost these on, have frequently screencapped little nuggets of batshittery and hateful glee from poor Petey's very own Twitter account. And there've been some real doozeys over the past couple years. But Petey seems to have grown JUST enough of a brain to finally realize his own words are shotting his hateful cause in the ass. Most likely after seeing how Maggie Gallager and Tony Perkins, both of whom use the same playbook, had THEIR hateful rhetoric backfire on them in Maryland when their lies and bile actually convinced one senator to change his mind about supporting equal marriage, for the better.
Why, you may ask, do I think this? Well, every few days I go and read Petey's Twitter Feed to see what asinine mindnumbingly delusional reality-deficient crap he's spouting that day. But when I went to do so just a mere 15 minutes ago, I saw this;
Seems Petey's "zeal for truth" doesn't include having enough faith in his own words to let just anyone see them anymore. Maybe he's finally realizing, thanks to the spectacular failure in Maryland of his hatemongering peers, that people CAN see through his lies, and that the more folks that get to read the vile bile he spews, the more people his cause will chase away. People can only be fooled by the same tired lies so many times before even the fearful naive sheep he preys on start to question why that one sheep who keeps telling them the dark spooky forest is safer for them than the wide open field where the farmer can see them has wolf paws.
Because Peter LaBarbera is ALL about honesty and transparency because of his zeal for truth. Right?
You may commence uncontrollable fits of derisive laughter now.
2/08/2011
Dealing With Classic Derailing When Teaching About Trans Lives
Crossposted on Pam's House Blend
For the past two weeks I've been all over the damned net trying to maintain my temper while dealing with a very depressingly high concentration of white middle to upper class gay men posting comments on various websites in reply to articles or blogs about the SNL Estro-Maxx sketch or the Craig Ferguson "My long lost half sister Peg" sketch. There are reasons so many trans folk are losing faith and trust in a large chunk of the gay community, feeling like we're conveniant tools to help fight their pet causes but to be discarded or thrown under a bus when WE need them. Honestly I actually have less issues with femisogynist lesbians bashing us the last two weeks than with smug dismissive gay men.
The general consencus among these white Gay en is that we in the trans community should just lighten the fuck up because these two skits were all in good fun, just harmless jokes doncha know? We're just too damn oversensitive, we need to lighten up and grow a funnybone.
Yadda yadda yadda.
I've cited Derailing for Dummies so many times the past two weeks I almost have the whole bloody thing memorized.
So I'm going to paste a couple things here. The comment of mine that got the most likes on Disqus and got the most people saying "Okay maybe you're right" of the hundreds I've posted the past two weeks, and the classic derail attempt it was in reply to.
The Derail attempt. (After I'd been pushed to start cussing in frustration at the bullshit lengths these guys were going to to avoid admitting the harm being done. 500 points if you can spot the classic derail attempt).
"It's really too bad that you can't keep a civil tone and refrain from the profanity (and that goes for everyone)--it would really give more credence to your arguments. That said...do you happen to notice that "Peg" seems pretty happy with herself? So, if you're taking the leap to casting her as transgender, she's out and proud. But I agree with the previous posters who equate this to Milton Berle, Flip Wilson and I'll add Jonathan Winters and all the Kids in the Hall and Catherine Tate (look them up). The comic conceit of "obvious bad drag" does not a transgendered character make. So before you cast stones at CBS and Craig Ferguson, consider what you're really criticizing. (In this case, it's simply a monotonous skit."
And my reply, the one which got the most Disqus likes and got through to people.
"Nope, sorry, but you're just classic derailing again to be able to dismiss me so you don't have to acknowledge you're completely wrong. Using a tone argument, "You're being too angry/hostile/profane therefore nothing you say is of any import" is classic derailing done by privileged idiots who don't want to have to expand their worldview to include the lives of marginalized people. This is how you convince yourself you'e better than me and therefore your inherant superiority automatically disempowers my justified rage in your mind, and you can dismiss me as overreacting.
So the only one losing ANY credibility here is YOU. Especially given the examples you cite, which back up NOT your arguments but mine. Earlier you argued that men wearing women's clothing didn't automaticaly equate to trans bashing. I agreed but argued that in the case of the SNL sketch and the Ferguson sketch it did because gender variance was the sole and only point of the "joke" in these cases. By citing comedians like Berle, Wilson, KITH and Winters, you're only strengthening MY argument, because NONE of those comedians were playing gender itself as the joke. They were all always portraying actual women when they crossdressed for comedy. Flip Wilson's Geraldine for example was NEVER played for "Man in a dress" laughs, she was played for "Angry black mother" laughs. The character was a straight-on woman, and the jokes were rooted on her attitude, NOT her bodyparts.
SNL and Ferguson cannot say the same. The entire point of both sketches was to mock gender variance, and you CANNOT argue it away or deny it in Craig's case just because the guy playing Peg has come out before as male characters and tried to disgust the audience.
Both sketches relied on negative demeaning stereotypes of trans women to get their laughs. Both mocked trans women as silly freakish people who are just weird and abnormal and there to be mocked or treated like sexual deviants. Both used facial hair to emphasize the whole "This is just a man in a dress" meme.
So sorry asshole, but your derailing attempts have failed and so has your lameass privilege based argument. And my very justified anger, amplified by your staggeringly self-absorbed ignorant arrogance, does not dilute the fact that I am RIGHT, you are WRONG, your privilege has made you ignorant of what trans people have to truly put up with, the damage shit like this does us, and the damage YOU do by perpetuating it rather than educating.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. YOU are not trans, so YOU do NOT get to tell US what is or is not offensive to us."
I wish it didn't take me being pushed to the limits of my already pain-reduced patience to drive me to a point where I can articulate myself enough to actually get the fuck THROUGH to people, but sometimes anger can be a good tool if you find the right lens through which to focus it.
I just wish I could've gotten through to more people. The bulk of those I've been dealing with still think we're all just uptight humorless trannies who need to take a joke.
But if SNL or Craig had done a sketch with a white guy in blackface singing Mammy, or a guy playing a hyper effeminate gay man looking for 10 year old boys to show his "lollypop" to, these assholes would be first in line out for blood demanding SNL/Ferguson apologize for the bigotry and that they remove the offending sketch.
But hey, we're just silly trannies, we just need to learn to take a joke. Right?
Wrong.
And I don't care who I piss off by having the nerve to stand up for myself and my sisters. Our lives are NOT material for bad comedy.
For the past two weeks I've been all over the damned net trying to maintain my temper while dealing with a very depressingly high concentration of white middle to upper class gay men posting comments on various websites in reply to articles or blogs about the SNL Estro-Maxx sketch or the Craig Ferguson "My long lost half sister Peg" sketch. There are reasons so many trans folk are losing faith and trust in a large chunk of the gay community, feeling like we're conveniant tools to help fight their pet causes but to be discarded or thrown under a bus when WE need them. Honestly I actually have less issues with femisogynist lesbians bashing us the last two weeks than with smug dismissive gay men.
The general consencus among these white Gay en is that we in the trans community should just lighten the fuck up because these two skits were all in good fun, just harmless jokes doncha know? We're just too damn oversensitive, we need to lighten up and grow a funnybone.
Yadda yadda yadda.
I've cited Derailing for Dummies so many times the past two weeks I almost have the whole bloody thing memorized.
So I'm going to paste a couple things here. The comment of mine that got the most likes on Disqus and got the most people saying "Okay maybe you're right" of the hundreds I've posted the past two weeks, and the classic derail attempt it was in reply to.
The Derail attempt. (After I'd been pushed to start cussing in frustration at the bullshit lengths these guys were going to to avoid admitting the harm being done. 500 points if you can spot the classic derail attempt).
"It's really too bad that you can't keep a civil tone and refrain from the profanity (and that goes for everyone)--it would really give more credence to your arguments. That said...do you happen to notice that "Peg" seems pretty happy with herself? So, if you're taking the leap to casting her as transgender, she's out and proud. But I agree with the previous posters who equate this to Milton Berle, Flip Wilson and I'll add Jonathan Winters and all the Kids in the Hall and Catherine Tate (look them up). The comic conceit of "obvious bad drag" does not a transgendered character make. So before you cast stones at CBS and Craig Ferguson, consider what you're really criticizing. (In this case, it's simply a monotonous skit."
And my reply, the one which got the most Disqus likes and got through to people.
"Nope, sorry, but you're just classic derailing again to be able to dismiss me so you don't have to acknowledge you're completely wrong. Using a tone argument, "You're being too angry/hostile/profane therefore nothing you say is of any import" is classic derailing done by privileged idiots who don't want to have to expand their worldview to include the lives of marginalized people. This is how you convince yourself you'e better than me and therefore your inherant superiority automatically disempowers my justified rage in your mind, and you can dismiss me as overreacting.
So the only one losing ANY credibility here is YOU. Especially given the examples you cite, which back up NOT your arguments but mine. Earlier you argued that men wearing women's clothing didn't automaticaly equate to trans bashing. I agreed but argued that in the case of the SNL sketch and the Ferguson sketch it did because gender variance was the sole and only point of the "joke" in these cases. By citing comedians like Berle, Wilson, KITH and Winters, you're only strengthening MY argument, because NONE of those comedians were playing gender itself as the joke. They were all always portraying actual women when they crossdressed for comedy. Flip Wilson's Geraldine for example was NEVER played for "Man in a dress" laughs, she was played for "Angry black mother" laughs. The character was a straight-on woman, and the jokes were rooted on her attitude, NOT her bodyparts.
SNL and Ferguson cannot say the same. The entire point of both sketches was to mock gender variance, and you CANNOT argue it away or deny it in Craig's case just because the guy playing Peg has come out before as male characters and tried to disgust the audience.
Both sketches relied on negative demeaning stereotypes of trans women to get their laughs. Both mocked trans women as silly freakish people who are just weird and abnormal and there to be mocked or treated like sexual deviants. Both used facial hair to emphasize the whole "This is just a man in a dress" meme.
So sorry asshole, but your derailing attempts have failed and so has your lameass privilege based argument. And my very justified anger, amplified by your staggeringly self-absorbed ignorant arrogance, does not dilute the fact that I am RIGHT, you are WRONG, your privilege has made you ignorant of what trans people have to truly put up with, the damage shit like this does us, and the damage YOU do by perpetuating it rather than educating.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. YOU are not trans, so YOU do NOT get to tell US what is or is not offensive to us."
I wish it didn't take me being pushed to the limits of my already pain-reduced patience to drive me to a point where I can articulate myself enough to actually get the fuck THROUGH to people, but sometimes anger can be a good tool if you find the right lens through which to focus it.
I just wish I could've gotten through to more people. The bulk of those I've been dealing with still think we're all just uptight humorless trannies who need to take a joke.
But if SNL or Craig had done a sketch with a white guy in blackface singing Mammy, or a guy playing a hyper effeminate gay man looking for 10 year old boys to show his "lollypop" to, these assholes would be first in line out for blood demanding SNL/Ferguson apologize for the bigotry and that they remove the offending sketch.
But hey, we're just silly trannies, we just need to learn to take a joke. Right?
Wrong.
And I don't care who I piss off by having the nerve to stand up for myself and my sisters. Our lives are NOT material for bad comedy.
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