You totally should have taken our bet that GLAAD was going to get upset with Saturday Night Live‘s Estro-maxx commercial! Fine, the media police didn’t use either of our chosen words (“offensive” and “irresponsible”) to describe the skit that mocked MTF trans women and the hormone therapy they undergo, but they came close: “This segment cannot be defended as ‘just a joke’ because there was no ‘joke’ to speak of. The attempted comedy of the skit hinges solely on degrading the lives and experiences of transgender women. Holding people up for ridicule simply on the basis of their identity fuels a dangerous and hurtful climate and puts people in danger, especially given how infrequently the media shines a fair and accurate light on the lives of transgender people.” To be fair, if there was a once-a-month pill that took care of all the hormonal crap Ts must deal with, we’d embrace it.
on blast
Yep, GLAAD Is Pissed At SNL For LOLing At Trans Women
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Brian
I can’t really tell if you’re laughing along with SNL (and at trans women) or not.
Shannon1981
They are right to be pissed. Granted, sometimes I am not all that okay with the way GLAAD handles certain things, but I absolutely love that they are taking SNL to task for this.
Drake
SNL has a long anti-trans history. They ran a skit for years, about “Pat”, whom no one knew whether Pat was male or female, the butt of all kinds of jokes.
Eric
Queerty’s supposed support of trans people and their hatred of GLAAD is going to make them implode.
Christine Beatty
As a transsexual woman I’m grateful to have transitioned on the job “under the radar” 20 years ago before there were hateful skits like this that told my co-workers are the general public is was okay to mock and laugh at my situation. I’m sure the next transwoman (or transman) who gets stomped or murdered in a transphobic hate crime won’t be laughing. What bothers me is, why are there *any* gay people laughing at this? What if this mock ad depicted the worst stereotypes of gay people? Would they laugh then?
Have we learned nothing from the recent rash of gay teen suicides? Can anyone sleep at night knowing there are kids with transgender issues right now who feel the world is against them, who see hateful humor like this “Estro-maxx” skit and instead of laughing see only another reason to kill themselves? Kids don’t have adult sensibilities or sense of proportion; everything is life-or-death and Forever to them. “Get over yourself” is not a comfort.
When I first transitioned 25 years ago and the world seemingly turned against me (including losing my job and being laughed out of college), I became a prostitute and a heroin addict. It was the only power I felt like I had left. I can’t count the number of times I could (and perhaps should) have died. I’m grateful to have gotten a second chance. Many don’t.
A “Get over yourself” attitude is insult atop very real injury. The LGBT community deserves better. If we can only defend our own neck of the woods then we have no right to complain when the entire forest burns down.
Shannon1981
@Eric: I love GLAAD, and I don’t think a gay blog should be hating on them either.I love the work they do. However, sometimes I kind of think some of the righteousness goes too far. EVERY.LITTLE.THING. is not homophobia and every hetero isn’t wishing for our heads on platters. But I can see how they sometimes come off that way, and that kind of scares me. It’s bad when some people-even other gay people- think we are nothing but whining bitches who want special treatment, when nothing could be further from the truth.
This is NOT, however, one of the instances of which I speak, and I applaud their action here. Tweeted their Call To Action and posted it on Facebook too.
Christine Beatty
@the blogger who created this thread:
When you say “To be fair, if there was a once-a-day pill that took care of all the hormonal crap Ts must deal with, we’d embrace it,” you demonstrate you know little about the HRT (hormone replacement therapy) of transwomen. Transsexual women on oral hormones take pills only once a day, anyway, (but I guess that wouldn’t have helped the premise of the “joke”).
BTW, I’m also puzzled like Brian above: are you laughing along with SNL at the “funny” “trannies” or not?
gina
@Christine Beatty:
Brian and Christine:
The JD who published this thread is JD Ordonez who, if you watched the Brooklyn season of The Real World, was the gay man who was pretty much shot his mouth off about his trans woman housemate’s history and made a number of pretty transphobic statements to boot. That should tell you something about what his intent.
gina
^correction: “what his intent is.”
KalperniaRena
Wow. I can see why this wuold be totally offensive.
Jason Vieres
It’s not particularly funny, but if it upsets trannies, then I am for it. These are the people who have hijacked our movement and our name. They are the most selfish and insensitive people around.
In 2010, we lost an historic opportunity to protect millions of gay and lesbian Americans from discrimination b/c the “trans” hijackers insisted that nothing get passed unless it dealt with their bizarre bathroom issues. Barney Frank warned us all that if the so-called “LGBT” groups insisted on including this issue, then nothing would pass. And nothing did. Now, nothing will get passed for years if not decades. That is on your heads, trannies.
We are gay, not “LGBT”. It is offensive to force gay people to define themselves as related to transsexuals and sufferers of GID.
Alex
What can I say about this short?
After the shit I go through in real life for being trans, snl is not something I generally give a fuck about. Let the show become even less relevant, I say.
Shannon1981
@Jason Vieres: I don’t understand the trans hate. They, to me, seem to be more invisible than any of us. How have they hijacked anything? I admit, being a lesbian, I don’t *get* transexxualism. How could I? But I don’t get this anti “LGBT” sentiment. Because we are gay, does it mean we deserve equal rights, but to hell with the bisexuals and the transexxuals? I don’t understand that. We should all be one movement. Sure, each group within LGBT has its own unique needs. But, strength in numbers. We all want- and deserve- the same things in the end.
Christine Beatty
@Jason Vieres: If you can only defend your own neck of the woods then you have no right to complain when the entire forest burns down. FYI, it was “trannies” who kicked off Stonewall and who’ve fought side by side while sweater queens have tried to shove back into the closet every gay and trans person who didn’t look straight enough for prime time. And you have the unmitigated gall to call transgender people the “most selfish and insensitive people around?”
Let me guess: you’re closeted Log Cabin Republican who doesn’t care about anything or anyone other than your bank account balance and other straight-acting gay men and who can’t say the word “lesbian” without grinding his bleached, capped teeth. If I missed the mark I’d be surprised if it was by very much.
FYI, “trannie” or “tranny” is just as offensive as “fa–ot” or “ni–er” so wise up.
Bernie Keating
It’s pretty simple really. If a sketch like this is funny, then it’s simply funny. But if it’s not funny, it’s offensive. This sketch isn’t funny. It’s just offensive.
sweetbrandigirl2004
I think that if the skit was offensive it was only offensive to the transgender community and not the Transsexual community and yes there’s a difference. Why because for the vast majority of those in the Transsexual community follow the SOC and as such would never have been fulltime or out in public until they have things like facial hair and HRT under control, unlike those in the transgender community who think they can strap on a gaff throw on a dress slab on some make up and pop a few Internet hormones and WA LA their women. SNL takes place in New York and that’s a huge city and there’s millions of peeps there so seeing a transgender person is far more common, so the skit made fun of the mess these people make of their lives. Most of them don’t have GID and have never seen a counselor for fear of what they’ll be told (your not GID) they are living out a fantasy or a fetish. They then latch onto a diagnosis set aside for Transsexuals and trying to use it to demand that society accept them and give them rights…ha ha what a joke…. They have nothing in common with HBS Transsexuals at all…these freaks are a joke and it figures that SNL see’s that too they known comedy when they see it.
Devon
I attempted to give a fuck.
Just couldn’t pull it off.
Tori
@Devon: You gave enough of fuck to not only read the article but post and fill us in on the way you felt.
Mike
We also make tons of jokes about heterosexuals. If you really want to feel emancipated, you should accept that being the butt of jokes is part of it.
Get a life.
Jason Vieres
@Shannon1981: I am not saying to hell with trannies, but I don’t think that it is right or honest for us to be forced into one artificial community with them. Gender identity is not sexual orientation. Gays, lesbians and bisexuals are all one community b/c we all share a common, defining characteristic. Trannies are mostly straight and have issues that have nothing to do with sexual orientation. We could be allies with them, but it was wrong for some unelected activists to re-name our movement and our community in order to hand trannies a veto power over us. That is why we lost ENDA.
@Christine:
Wrong on every count. I am no Log Cabin type, although I do thank them for suing to end DADT. As noted above, I think that that lesbians, gays and bis are all one community. No gritted teeth.
It is an insult to gays, lesbians and bis to tell them that they should be categorized as crossdressers and transsexuals. That is a stereotype. It is also wrong for trannies to be told that they are sort of a variation of gay. They aren’t. LGBT is a lie and it always was.
missanthrope
@sweetbrandigirl2004:
Shut up with your HBS trolling. It’s more disgusting than the transphobia expressed by non-trans people because you should know better. Nobody cares that you’re more transsexual than anybody else.
Kev C
“Trannies are mostly straight”
Well, I suppose they are now .. or were then. Listen, this isn’t a time to dump on TGs just because someone on TV did the same. Just turn off the TV. Nobody watches SNL except as a form of torture.
Dave
I thought it was funny. Trans folks are overly sensitive. Plus, I also agree that we should not all be lumped into together. I have nothing in common with a man who wants to invert his penis into a vagina or vice versa.
Otto DeFe
@missanthrope:
Word!
Otto DeFe
@Jason Vieres:
And you say nothing in regards to Christine’s statement in regards to Stonewall and the Compton Cafeteria Riots. I don’t blame you. These “hijackers” have been at the forefront of the equality movement from the beginning. You know, gender identity and sexuality are not mutually exclusive, some of us (like myself) are both queer and trans.
Why you would deliberately re-use a slur which you have just been told is offensive is beyond me.
Shannon1981
@Jason Vieres: Ok. I get what you’re saying, but the amount of disgust coming across in your comments is a little disturbing. Also, and this is something that has bothered me for awhile now…the phobias WITHIN OUR OWN COMMUNITY are downright alarming. Something we gotta realize is this: to the heterosexual community, we are all one big group of freaks that they don’t(and don’t care to) get or understand. I get that transsexualism brings a whole other group of issues to the table that even WE, the LGB population, do not and never will get. I also understand that said issues make the heteros think things about all of us that otherwise wouldn’t issues. However, I still don’t think we should be trying to exclude ANY group within LGBT.
I do get where you’re coming from, but I also disagree with it.
Mad Hominem
The Ls, Gs, Bs, and Ts all have one thing in common, and that is that society views them as transgressing gender roles. At least in our heteronormative culture, to be (cisgender) LGB means that you’re a gender-traitor by not solely pursuing the opposite sex like you “should.” LGBs also catch a lot of flak for matching up with gay stereotypes like the fabulous fashion designer gay and the flannel-wearing buzz-cut lesbian, because they adopt characteristics that have been assigned to the other gender.
Meanwhile the transgender/transsexual community get hate from moral conservatives for supposedly rejecting “their” assigned roles, and from a bunch of LGBs who think that it somehow invalidates THEM and the discrimination THEY get for transgressing gender norms.
Orientation and gender identity are different, yeah; orientation doesn’t dictate your gender and vice versa; but the discrimination the whole of the LGBT community faces is based on not sticking to the cultural dictate that if you’re born a man, you dress like this and marry a woman, if you’re born a woman, you dress like this and marry a man. I think calling bullshit on the rigidness of gender norms is one of the best things the LGBs can do for themselves, never mind how it helps the trans community.
Shannon1981
@Mad Hominem:You last line was well said. While I am NOT a lesbian that wears plaid or wears a buzz cut, I certainly CANNOT pass for straight. Even when I was in the closet, I couldn’t. People knew and just didn’t say anything. We all- or at least 80% or more of us IMHO- display characteristics to the straight community on a daily basis that defy their ideas about normality. No changing that. That is part of being LGBT, whereever you fall on that spectrum. Let’s stick together.
gina
@missanthrope:
THIS!
sweetbrandigirl2004
@missanthrope: I won’t shut up I’ll continue to educate people on the differences between true Transsexual and the wannabes. I’ll also continue to keep explaining why Those in the transgender hoard don’t fall under the GID diagnosis. For how can one claim they are gender Dysphoric and are in the wrong body then not want Genitalia surgery ? They can’t and those who refuse to fit into society and within the boundary of two genders will continue to have troubles in life. Oh and just for the record I’m not a Transsexual I’m a women. You and the others in the Transgender hoard should stop confusing people and trying to force Transsexuals under your stupid umbrella just so you can latch onto a diagnosis meant to cover Transsexuals and not wannabe who play dress up.
Otto DeFe
@sweetbrandigirl2004:
Missanthrope hit the nail on the head. You are an HBS troll. Why you would bring your peculiar form of “education” here is beyond me. Ask any Trans or queer hating bully from the religious right and they will respond likewise: “I’m educating people.”
Sweetbrandigirl, you are a bigot. You’re bigotry is particularly loathsome because you’re directing it at other trans people. If you took the time to learn about the umbrella groups you demonize you would certainly be in for a surprise. As it stands, your ignorance is appalling.
If you don’t want anything to do w/ the transgender umbrella then why don’t you go kick rocks? You say you’re a woman and not a transsexual, fine. I respect that. Unless you’re a lesbian I wonder what you’re doing on a queer discussion board…aside from trolling.
Shannon1981
@Otto DeFe: ditto. re: “Unless you’re a lesbian I wonder what you’re doing on queer discussion board…”
The trolling here is on my nerves, TBH. Unless you are LGBT what the fuck are you doing on a site called Queerty.
Jeffree
“Sweetbrandigirl” pops up from time to time to troll about her own limited viewpoint. Google her name for some of her “gems” of wisdom. Far as I can tell she is no ally to L, G, B, or T people and feels superior to all of us.
@Missanthrope:,@MadHominem:,@Shannon1981:;@Otto Defe: Applause to all of you for saying what needs to be said. Thanks.
missanthrope
@sweetbrandigirl2004:
You’re not the arbitrator of whose is transsexual and who is not. Stop your fucking transphobic body policing and actively harming other trans people. Your kind are worse than Bailey or Raymond, now be gone.
Shannon1981
@Jeffree: thanks. And I am sick of two things: trolling on gay sites by people who SHOULD identify as one of us but DON’T and the BS discrimination within our own community. Both need to be nipped STAT. And every time I see it I will call it out.
Dana Taylor
Here is why I am offended and my thoughts on the impact. After the ‘actors’ completed their therapy they were portrayed as ‘men in skirts’. This alone can create a hostile work environment for those that are in transition at work. It can also cause anxiety and depression in those who are still in the planning phase of coming out at work. Personally, I have been ridiculed in public over my transition status which has caused depression and great anxiety. I am in fear most of the time now that that will happen again.
And another reason I am offended by this. What is the main opposition to getting ENDA passed? They don’t want men in dresses using the womens restroom. So now the public sees transsexuals as ‘men in skirts’. SNL has pretty much destroyed any progress we have been making to gain tolerance and acceptance.
I see a lot from the gay community who just can’t understand why we don’t see this as funny. Well, think about that the next time ENDA comes up for a vote.
Arianna D.
?”Hijacked our movement and name”????
Um, ok… please take into consideration the fact that that has been turned 180 degrees around, the LGB has been appropriating TS/TG people’s struggles for (I can legally say this…) for DECADES. We did not “hijack” any larger group, it landed on US TS/TG peoples like Plymouth Rock landed on the Native Americans and Africans forced into slavery in this country (I can definitely say that, because I am woman of descent from both stock, as well as having been born Transsexual and Intersex with an underdeveloped uterus and right ovary)! The credit and legacy for starting Stonewall, Compton Riot in the Bay Area and the riots at Cooper’s Dougnut Shop in 1959 were taken from the very TS/TGs at those forefronts – police primarily began harrasing people frequenting those establishments because they were “cross dressed” or were not behaving in a manner “correct for their gender” (does the name Sylvia Rivera come to mind?). TS/TG did not add the “T” to the alphabet banner, it was annexed.
This skit only helps to perpetuate Transphobia, hate crimes, mutilation and murder – where is the mass commdenation when those incidents occur?
Dana Lane
Jason Vieres RE: Hijacked your movement.
You seem to have forgotten that a transsexual woman was a key player in the first gay rights’ movement. Who hijacked what?
Mike
My goodness, you people. You want to be accepted by society but you can’t even accept each other.
Talking about drama queens…….
sweetbrandigirl2004
I think you all fail to realize that by APA standards, you have failed transition by transitioning to trans something rather than woman. Some of us knew from the get go we were meant to have female bodies and grow to be women. Professional trans are considered failures by the top level folks that made up the DSM team and advisors and will not be considered “cured” by the new standards. I have no problem with you being a professional trans, I have a huge problem with you representing women such as my self as like you or clowns like Sandeen and Helms and company.
Transsexuality is pretty much proven as much as anything in biology gets proved, to be a neurological pre-natal form of intersexuality. You either are or you are not. If you are, you will move heaven and earth to put mind and body in congruence, this is called the Dysphoric Imperative which is the cause of what used to be called GID crisis. You are doing a huge disservice to future women born with this condition by contribution to it’s apparent erasure in the eyes of the general public which has been the goal of the transgender dogma for the past 15 years. TGs have left zero room for mutual respect here as you know.
Shannon1981
@sweetbrandigirl2004: I think what YOU fail to realize is that, if you are, as you say, not a transgendered person, transsexual, or a lesbian, but a WOMAN, a non queer woman, that you and your weirdo form of “education” doesn’t belong here. Why are you trolling?
sweetbrandigirl2004
I’m not trolling as you have so easily assumed I am in fact a Lesbian and therefore have reason to read this blog not that it’s any business of yours. Regardless my viewpoint and that facts I’ve stated still stand.
Dana Taylor
@Dave: You don’t realize what you just said did you. Or ‘did’ you?
A man doesn’t invert his penis into a vagina but a woman who was born with one would.
Zoe Brain
@sweetbrandigirl2004 – Woman? Not in Ohio, you’re not. You’re male there. And in Tennessee. And in Kansas too, unless you can prove you don’t have XY chromosomes. Even if you’ve given birth.
Whether you are or not in Texas will depend on the results of the Araguz case.
You don’t have the privilege of saying what sex you are. Only those born cis-sexual (be they straight, gay, lesbian or bi) have that.
That’s not the way it should work; but it’s reality.
Shannon1981
@sweetbrandigirl2004: excuse me. Then you do belong here. However, you are still an HBS troll, who has come here to lecture and play body police. The sad thing is, you are showing bigotry against people just like yourself.