Following an online petition that garnered over 9,000 signatures, The Oxford English Dictionary and Microsoft Office Dictionary have announced that they will include the word “transphobia” in the 2013 editions of both.
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The Oxford English Dictionary is one of the most renowned in the world, and adds new words on a yearly basis to accommodate the rapidly-evolving English language. The words “homophobia” and “xenophobia” are already included, as well as the derogatory slang term “chav.”
Oxford’s new official definition for “transphobia” is as follows:
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transphobia |?trans?f??b??, tr??ns-,|
noun [ mass noun ]
an extreme and irrational aversion to transsexuality and transsexual or transgender people.
Creators of the Change.org petition that made it all possible say the inclusion of this new word is a triumph for LGBT equality:
Including the term “transphobia” in the dictionary is not about accepting the horrible hate crimes that take place, it is about giving recognition to all those who go through a daily struggle because of the state of our society. It’s about identifying the attitudes that deny the transgender community equality and respect.
Members of the transgender community experience victimisation purely because of their gender expression; for expressing the person that they truly are. Entering “transphobia” into the dictionary will both educate people about the stigma that transgender people face and prove that this vulnerable community is not invisible.
Hear, hear! Shout it from the rooftops! The world is changing, and the douchebags are losing!
Dakotahgeo
Heh heh heh… thank you! I think the world was changing a long time ago, ever so slightly. We couldn’t believe the progress and the anti GLBT/life people didn’t WANT to believe the progress! Ain’t life grand??!
hyhybt
I was going to ask about heterophobia, but half the people who are trying to make it a thing can’t even spell it right, and virtually all of them use it to mean something other than what it logically would.