Ru Paul speaking on trans issues. Why?

[dreadcircus]

http://www.transadvocate.com/i-repeat-gay-media-rupaul-is-not-a-trans-expert.htm

Ru Paul certainly doesn't speak for me and he's talentless.

[Asherbella]

I don't know.
Perhaps as a drag queen performance artist he gets confused, gets identified as a trans person and feels the discriminatory effects of what it feels like to be trans. As for him being talentless; I think he's comfortable in womens' clothing and airs his views whilst wearing womens' clothes confidently. Perhaps Ru Paul is trans and hasn't publically confirmed that. I have no idea, Jade. Have a good day.

[datkindagal]

my message to Rupaul

Ru doesn't get trans. <-

Ru is not trans, Ru is a gay man, Ru needs to learn some respect. There are words we dont use because someone has kindly told us not to use them. I respect that. However, you continue to use them. This makes you a bigot. Show some respect. I dont mind the T word with the Y at the end but many, (and I mean many) of my trans friends dont like it. I have to defend that and you have to respect it. This is not PC madness so dont try and white wash it. this is an oppressed marginalised group of people living in modern society who are "telling you" we dont like it". Simple. At5 this point nobody knows what you are trying to prove other then you are being an ass clown and displaying bigotry behaviour. This isnt rocket science and you celebrity doesn't give you special license. We can write a million blogs about it or we can just ask you straight up. We dont have a problem with you objectifying woman we just want you to not say the T word with the Y at the end. Is that too much to ask?

[datkindagal]

if he wants to have a circus that objectifies woman, that's fine but leave our terminology out of it.

He goes back to man after being on stage, He doesn't have the slightest idea of what a trans life is like.

If i went around throwing the N word around the away she throws around the T word around. I'd be locked up.

get a clue Ru

[HubbaHubba]

I don't think he reads same same

[Grumpy]

Maybe a protest float in MG parade would go down a treat, I'm sure the bitch will be on the lead float.

[datkindagal]

I don't think he reads same same
thats why I posted it on his page

[datkindagal]

http://transplantportation.com/2012/01/23/the-violence-of-the-t-word/

The Violence of the T-Word

I was in graduate school in snowy Syracuse, New York when the word “queer” came onto the scene as a self-identifier for LGBT people. One colleague whispered her horror to me, saying that “queer” always was and always would be a terrible word. Yet the wave swept over a large segment of the LGBT community and the collective decision, at least in my generation, was to “reclaim” the word for ourselves. We were out, loud, and proud, and we had just discovered that we could co-opt Roy G. Biv for our political purposes and move past the pink and black triangles of our elders. Queer Nation was here.

Fast forward into the age of the information superhighway, and conversations roiled online about the use of “tranny” among LGBT people. We’ve arrived in a different place with this epithet, and it doesn’t include any kind of reclamation. Whereas people in the LGBT umbrella felt that they themselves could use “queer” as an in-community term, that has not been the conversation with the t-word. Even Kate Bornstein, the author of Gender Outlaw, was told in no uncertain terms that her trans sisters were hurt whenever they heard her use it, and they wanted her to erase it from her vocabulary. She went public with her feelings of conflict.

If trans women are walking away from using “tranny” en masse, then the rest of us should, too. Even trans men like myself. Even if that word has been used against us personally. Certainly non-trans gay men should consider it verboten. Ru Paul and his insistence on throwing it in the community’s face is not only misreading his own likeability, he’s making it harder to find common ground between gender nonconforming people and transsexuals, two groups who surely need each other politically. As I’ve said for years now, people who would discriminate against someone because they don’t fit gender norms don’t ask first how an individual identifies, leaving the transvestites or masculine women alone and only oppressing transsexuals.

We are in this together, or rather, we need to be in this together. By “this” I mean the fight for our civil rights. And by “civil rights,” I mean, the following:

The right to receive affordable and necessary preventative and critical health care
The right to receive health care insurance appropriate for our needs as gender nonconforming people (e.g., I need my PAP smear covered, I don’t need a prostate exam)
The right to have our identity documents reflect our gender identity
The right to have our commitments to loved ones honored legally just as they are for non-trans, heterosexual people
The right to custody or visitation of our children when our legal commitment to a partner ends
The right to obtain and keep our jobs, and not be discriminated against in our place of employment because of our gender identity or expression

The right to obtain and keep our housing, etc.
The right not to be harassed at school or at work because of our gender identity or expression
This is not an exhaustive list of course, but you get the point. The line between discriminating against butches and trans men is fuzzy, full of vagueness precisely because bigotry is not a rational process.

That said, the crevasses between L, G, B, and T are enormous, and our lived experiences vary because we live with intersections of race, class, and mobility, as well as other aspects of social power. If trans women ask and then tell a celebrity like Ru Paul to stop using the t-word, he should. Instead, he pushes back, insisting on using it even more. After all, if Ru Paul can stop using one word, when does it end? Transsexuals everywhere will stop him from speaking at all by the end of this slippery slope, right?

Silencing only comes with institutionalized power, which presumably trans women as a group don’t have. Consider the latest instance in which transfolk are supposed to just laugh along and let a gay man make a mockery of trans women (WARNING: triggering content in the YouTube video):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0KRxXCNFuc

Let’s talk about slippery slopes. If the t-word can’t be banned within the LGBT community, can we ask non-LGBT to stop using it? If we’re supposed to laugh at Ru Paul screaming “tranny!” in front of “hot mess,” every week on his show, must we laugh at the image of a battered trans woman sex worker? Is no marginalized group allowed to purge a terrible word with a violent history from the public popular culture sphere, or must they all wait for the mainstream general public to decide they’re not interested in using that term anymore?

I call bull hockey on this. The days when we could use this word with impunity should be over.

[MyHorseLikesYou]

OK I'm probably gonna get attacked for this but thought I'd ask anyways.

I was having dinner with some friends last night, one whom happens to be transsexual that uses the word tranny herself & apparently considers it descriptive as opposed to derogatory. I mentioned this issue to her (ie the furore around the use of the word tranny). Now before anyone gets all heated she is one, not the majority & it was her personal preference that was stated.
A conversation that really came to no conclusion then ensued around why people would find it offensive. If one of my gay mates calls me a fag I don't take offense. If a yobbo on the street yells it out a car window I reply I know but thanx for noticing. Australia is famous for it's shortening of words ie Robert = Robbo, Jonathon = Jonno, Service Station = Servo - the list goes on. Is it just a shortening of the word transsexual & if so why is that offensive?
Gay is now a word synonymous with crap, yet I'm not offended really. I mean I'm not really defined by one word or that use of that word whether as a weapon or not. Although I will admit I take offense to the "no homo" crap that gets bandied about around skate parks especially in the U.S. but I don't find the word homo offensive.
Alas after having that conversation I was left with a few questions. Excuse my ignorance and accept my apologies if any of this has already been covered in previous threads etc. So I guess I would like to ask why is it that word in particular is considered offensive? Is offense a choice? ie the ownership of the word Queer.
I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything I'm just asking so play nice.

[datkindagal]

I agree, however

:)







For a very long time I used that word "tranny" for myself and around friends. Guilty as charged, I was wrong. What i have learned is the true violence behind the word and the souls that it has broken and continues to silence and oppress.

Reclaiming words is a tricky business and its a discussion that hasnt stopped since libragate but one things is for sure.

A resounding no to the use of the word "trannie". We our now applying this to oureslve's and policing our own langauge as good activism starts at home.

SO I have also been skooled and I am 100% on board with this.

Its time to stop putting the minority voices in the light to discredit trans people in general. A lone trans person cannot make this call and the "and I have a friend who is trans" line has been well flogged. I have a friend who is Asian and she says etc.

I am not slamming you, I am pointing out a fundamental problem that trans people seem to have in communicating and educating the GLB.

The trans* community is not asking for respect, they are demanding it really. Its only fair that words like "faggot" which for the most part isnt used by trans people because we know better (oh and trans people get gay bashed too).

You may notice i throw the word community around a lot, that's because we are a community and we are organised and contrary to popular belief i am not or never acting alone. <3

Lets have the conversation that needs to be had.

it is not up to gay, lesbian, Asian or Technocrats to tell trans people how or why they should be offended.

that responsibility lies with us.

we discussed reclaiming and we got "tranny" no more...

[MyHorseLikesYou]

Thanx Dat

I think I need to do a bit more research on this to gather a better understanding of this violent history you speak of.

For the record though I didn't mean it it to come across like one of those "I have a trans friend therefore I know what I'm talking about". I just found her opinion a counterpoint & it got me thinking.

Also just want to say I fully respect your tenaciousness regarding this issue (even if sometimes it does come across a bit harsh to some people) & appreciate your patience with my questions.

[datkindagal]

well lets just say I'm not a hack