Letters to the Editor
Lizzie (greeneyed fem)
Published Letters: 6 Editor's Choice: 1
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Dear John . . .
[Read the article: How did the T get in LGBT?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't even know you and we have to break up!
This piece fails at a profound level to understand how the T and the LGB are intimately related, and have been, since "homosexuality" became a new medical category at the turn of the last century.
I'll say this first and then try and explain why: 'Gender identity' as a legal protection does not only refer to transsexual individuals. It seems like such an easy concept to grasp, but so many folks arguing for the non-inclusive ENDA bill can't seem to do so.
First of all, the T in LGBT can stand for 'transgender', not just 'transsexual', so that might help you in understanding what you, as a gay man, have to gain by including it. Transgender individuals can be butch lesbians and effeminate gay men, drag queens, or anyone who feels, regardless of their sexuality, that they don't fit expectations for what it means to be a man or woman in this society.
Without 'gender identity', the ENDA legislation is profoundly flawed - and it DOES leave loopholes. Can't you imagine an employer saying they fired someone not because of who she or he sleeps with outside of work, but because a woman didn't agree to wear make-up (as has happened - and she was straight!) or a skirt on the job, or because a gay man just wasn't 'manly' enough to fit into the workplace culture? Because 'gender identity' is NOT JUST ABOUT TRANSSEXUAL INDIVIDUALS - it's about anyone who isn't 'straight-acting' (as the gay personals like to put it). It's about anyone, gay, straight, bi, or trans (in any permutation), who doesn't fit into this culture's narrow stereotypes of masculinity and femininity.
Another thing I'd like to say is that although Mr. Aravosis may be right in saying that the T was only added to LGBT fairly recently (although I'd like him to expand on who he means when he writes "we" added it), transgender and transsexual individuals have been on the front lines of gay rights since the beginning. Who suffered the most during bar raids in the fifties and sixties under the three-items-of-gendered-clothing rule? Butch lesbians and drag queens. Who rioted at Stonewall? Drag queens and trans women. "We" may have only accepted the addition of the T recently, but it's been there all along.
Folks who cross gender lines, gay and straight, transgender and transsexual, self-identified or not, are the ones who suffer the most in a homophobic culture. People are attacked because they are perceived to be gay, not just because they are. LGBT AND straight people are boxed in by gender norms - 'gender identity' as a legal protection affects EVERYONE (from a straight man who changes his name upon marrying to a trans woman who transitions on the job).
Gutting ENDA is not a practical decision. It's a narrow-minded approach that fails to understand both how 'gender identity' affects gay, straight, and trans folks, and why it should be protected.