Now That Trayvon Martin's Murderer Is Jailed, We Should Still Keep Up This Momentum And Demand Justice For ALL People of Color In the U.S.!

with little pal Harmony following the March 26th "Million Hoodie March for Trayvon Martin" in downtown Los Angeles

The Washington Post published this photo of me and other activists on Tuesday from the April 9th march in downtown L.A. which demanded Zimmerman's arrest, which happened the next day

The good people’s prayers and demands have been answered. Moving forward, now that 17-yearold Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, is finally in custody and being charged with murder, where do the millions who cried out for justice go from here? How can the millions who marched, rallied, signed petitions, made Justice themed artwork, wrote articles & blogs, prayed, called or wrote their elected officials, utilized online social networking, started or joined causes such as Million Hoodie March , Occupy, Justice For Trayvon Martin and many other movements, and cried, chanted and shouted for Zimmerman’s arrest turn this case into something bigger than one man’s arrest?

We all know this is not an isolated incident. What’s the bigger picture? Shouldn’t we reach higher?

Of course it will be a lengthy trial, so we will have a lot of times on our hands. Why not make the most use and productivity of that time?

Take action! Stay involved! Join one of the many groups who helped organize rallies and marches. Join a local social justice group. Register to vote! Volunteer. Invite friends. Let’s turn this tragedy into a powerfully positive force that we use to accomplish our dreams of a just and peaceful society.

In spite of the condemning evidence against Zimmerman, he was initially allowed to go free. Likewise, many crimes by those in power against minorities, women and the poor go unchecked all the time! Could this case be a starting to point to reform the police departments and judicial systems that time and time against fail the Black, Brown and economically oppressed communities in this country? Many Americans know that this case can be bigger than just Trayvon Martin if the We the People make it so. With all the unrest going on in this country and in the world, this is a prime time to storm the gates and demand a real democracy!

This mobilization is about rightness for ALL the Black and Brown youth around the country who have been in the past, currently are and will continue to be victims of corrupt law enforcement and unjust court systems! We are tired of our young Black and Brown brothers being illegally ‘stop & frisked’ without cause or warrants by racist and classist police officers. We are appalled at the neo-slavery that is enforced through the prison industrial complex in the country that unfairly imprisons Black and Brown men for lengthy periods of times, making the corporations who profit off their labor rich. We are disgusted by the GOP’s war on women’s rights and healthcare, which disproportionally affects women of color and the poor. We can’t believe our ears at the racist propaganda that screams at us from far right media outlets and pundits. We cry out against the laws in Arizona that make racial profiling legal, which obviously target at our Brown brothers and sisters and mirror the Jim Crow days. We protest the exploitment, scapegoating and mistreatment of our undocumented Brown brothers and sisters. Sadly, the list goes on of the systematic oppression of people of color in the “modern” country.

It’s urgent that this momentum does not slow down, but become a massive tidal wave that smashes the system that divides people in this country instead of uniting us together.

“An injury to one is an injury to all!”

It’s important that those fighting for racial social justice become aware and fight against the alarming and growing war against women that has been waged by the Republican Party! 50% of people of color are women, so the GOP’s war on women is also a racial justice issue, especially since women of color will suffer the worst if this current assault on women’s healthcare, contraception rights, well-being and self-esteem waged by the affluent white men who run the Republican Party succeeds. All social justice movements really do need to come together ASAP!

Again, take action! Stay involved! Join one of the many groups who helped organize rallies and marches. Start your own! Join a local and/or national social justice group. Register to vote! Volunteer! Invite friends. Paint a picture of what justice means to you! Write a poem, perform spoken word! Get the message out! Let’s turn this tragedy into a powerfully positive force that we harness to accomplish our dreams of a just and peaceful society.

2012 is not the end of the world as the Mayan calendar suggests, it’s the BEGINNING of a new dawn, the people’s dawn! Haven’t you noticed that people all around the world are rising up against tyranny and economic injustice all at the same time? There is also this global human consciousness awakening that many feel happening, a universal enlightenment. So much promise and positive energy is here and awaits us. And of course, right here and NOW is the time to take a stand!

A favorite chant of mine from the Trayvon march:

“Ain’t no power like the power of the people cus’ the power of the people don’t stop! Say what? Ain’t no power like the power of the people cus’ the power of the people don’t stop!”

Justice for Trayvon! Justice for All! Justice for Now! Justice for Our Future!

I met the cutest little trooper for Justice on the steps of L.A. City Hall on March 26th following the Trayvon Martin march

ABC Cancels 'Work It'. Now If Only GLAAD & HRC's Transsexual-phobia, Hypocrisy, Inaccuracies & Constant Misgendering Could Also Be Cancelled!

Yesterday ABC cancelled the controversial sitcom 'Work It'.

I couldn't care less about this development.

What I do care about however is accuracy. GLAAD and HRC's sensational campaign against the show was unfounded. The show itself was degenerate and with a weak premise, but not for the reasons HRC or GLAAD said in their misguided and disingenuous campaign against the show. The show was about two cross dressing men, it wasn't about women with transsexualism. Yet these organizations saw the show as an opportunity to get on a soap box and appear to be doing work on our behalf by protesting it.

This couldn't be farther from the truth.

If these organizations were sincere in their reasoning for protesting the show, and if their reasons were legitmate, then why are they not protesting the hit Tyler Perry film series Madea? Or Big Momma? Or Ru Paul’s Drag Race? Or the fact that right down the street from GLAAD’s New York office the star of Broadway's Peter Pan is being played by a woman? It’s because like Work It, none of these shows are actually claiming to be stories about people with transsexualism.

GLAAD's weak excuse for unwarrantedly associating the medical condition transsexualism to the show’s plot about two cross dressing men is that "many viewers unfamiliar with the realities of being transgender will still make the connection." Hmm, actually, the only reason society is “making the connection” between cross dressing males and women with transsexualism is because GLAAD’s website and employees guide, and even demand, that they do so! In GLAAD's very own words written in their media (mis)guide they themselves misinform the public that women with transsexualism are the same label (transgender) as cross dressing male fetishists, gay male drag stage acts and gender deconstructionists. Hypocrisy much? Unbelievable! Then they have the nerve to have their pot call a kettle black. (Though in the case of 'Work It', the show was not misgendering us, it was just a stupid show about straight male drag queens). It’s BS politics on their part. If GLAAD thoroughly cared about our public perception they would stop misrepresenting and invalidating transsexual Americans.

And HRC is in no place to act as a protector of a minority they themselves have harmed in legislation repetitively, and are continuing to do so.

In GLAAD's and HRC's advertisement against the film that they placed in Varity Magazine they used a photo of controversial HRC board [token trans tom] member Meghan Stabler as a "trans model", yet just months ago Stabler sold out the transsexual community by becoming legally male in Texas just to marry, which is way more of a mockery and threat to our well-being and rights then 'Work It'. Stabler’s betrayal of the transsexual movement upset numerous respected transsexual and transgender leaders in Texas and nationally.

I haven't publicly commented once on this silly and dangerous spectacle of a campaign against Work It until today because the campaign was a mockery of our medical condition, misled the public into thinking that cross dressing was the same thing as being born with a legitimate transsexual medical condition recognized by the American Medical Association and the campaign obviously was just for show.

The campaign did more to correlate male cross dressing with transsexualism then the show did, just like GLAAD’s media guide, which HRC and all the other LGB”t” organizations deem as sacred. GLAAD and HRC need to "work it" out them damn selves and stop miseducating the public about transsexual issues.

We as women born with transsexualism are not transvestite fetishists, Halloween dress uppers or third gender separatists. We are women, and would appreciate it if GLAAD would stop denying us our medical legitimacy by misgendering and mocking our realities.

The bullying and misrepresentation of the transsexual medical condition by homosexual organizations is malpractice, transsexual-phobia and fraud.

Will GLAAD ever reform their media guide? Or will they continue to treat us as a vote-less colony?

GLAAD Says The Huffington Post is "Reinforcing Gay Stereotypes", But What About GLAAD Reinforcing Misrepresentation of Transsexual Medical Condition?!

GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is protesting The Huffington Post for "reinforcing gay stereotypes", but what about GLAAD reinforcing misrepresentation concerning the transsexual medical condition?

GLAAD makes a lot of people with transsexualism SAAD and MAAD due to GLAAD's BAAD miseducation about transsexual issues.

"Do unto others what thee shall have done unto you"

In full disclosure, I do write occasionally on The Huffington Post about transsexual, transgender and intersex issues, but that is not why I’m writing this blog post. I'm writing on this 'GLAAD protests The HuffPost’ story just to point out GLAAD's hypocrisy. As a member of the transsexual and intersex communities, I personally suffer the consequences of GLAAD misrepresenting the transsexual medical condition

For almost twenty years GLAAD has sought to erase the term transsexual from existence and replace it with transgender. I'm sorry (actually, I’m not sorry), but what does a heterosexual married man who is a transvestite once a month, a gay male drag queen who makes fun of women on stage and a gender queer activist have to do with a woman who has a transsexual medical condition? Absolutely nothing. Yet according to GLAAD's intellectually dishonest and lazy grouping of numerous groups of people they don’t understand, they are all inaccurately labeled as "transgender" and tossed in a 3rd gender reservation. This provides numerous problems for women and men of transsexual history.

GLAAD needs to stop ignoring us. I am already hearing reports that some people in the transsexual community are getting ready to press charges in court against GLAAD if they keep up their identity theft, misinformation and transsexual-phobic media guide

We are done being misgendered, objectified, erased, mocked and disrespected by GLAAD's media (mis)guide. We are fed up with them endangering our well-being. We are sick of them implying we are the same thing as a man in a dress. And we are through with them denying our medical condition it's valid legitimacy and accurate narrative.

So the gays and lesbians (no transsexual people work there, yet they think they can (mis)speak for us) who work at GLAAD don't like how it feels when they feel people are being homophobic? Well then, they need to understand that is exactly how the transsexual-phobia in their media guide and GLAAD enforcing "transgender umbrella ideology as fact whether transsexual people like it or not" makes us feel.

What's it going to be GLAAD? Will you continue to aid the religious far right, radical feminist lesbians who are anti-transsexual and discriminatory insurance/health care companies in misgendering us?

Hypocrisy much?

Read the following articles that explain more in depth why GLAAD's media guide is very problematic and inaccurate pertaining to the transsexual medical condition:

"GLAAD Media Guide Reform — It's Time." by Andrea Rosenfield
http://www.ts-si.org/science-news/28585

'GLAAD – Stop calling us transgender' by Dana Lane Taylor
http://www.ts-is-liberation.org/blog/2011/05/21/glaad-stop-calling-us-transgender/

'Transgender Inc and GLAAD' by Suzan Cooke of 'Women Born Transsexual'
http://womenborntranssexual.com/2011/01/25/transgender-inc-and-glaad/

'Why GLAAD Doesn’t Represent Me' by Suzan Cooke
http://womenborntranssexual.com/2011/06/11/why-glaad-doesn%E2%80%99t-represent-me/

'Yvonne Cook Riley Confesses Inventing “Transgender” to Erase Transsexuality' by Cathryn Platine
http://radicalbitch.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/yvonne-cook-riley-confesses-inventing-transgender-to-erase-transsexuality-to-skin-transvestite-weiss/

'The Death of the 'Transgender' Umbrella' by Mercedes Allen
http://www.bilerico.com/2011/06/the_death_of_transgender.php

The Advocate Interviews Ashley Love on the Unjust H.B. 235 Compromise: 'Md. Gender Identity Bill on the Move'

I was interviewd today by The Advocate about why the compromised version on HB 235 must either be ammended or withdrawn. It's great to have a national LGBT news source tell both sides of this story. Many LGBT news sources have been censoring the dissent against this bill from the transsexual and transgender community, and only expressing the gay and lesbian (not transsexual's) leadership's POV via Equality Maryland's 'talking point' team. Article below:

Posted on Advocate.com April 05, 2011

Story Updated : April 05, 2011 05:30:00 PM

Md. Gender Identity Bill on the Move By Julie Bolcer

An endangered gender identity antidiscrimination bill has been moved to the Maryland senate judicial proceedings committee, where a hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

The Gender Identity Antidiscrimination Act, which had appeared dead for the year, was moved to the more favorable committee Tuesday morning after extended public pressure that included hundreds of constituent calls and e-mails.

Equality Maryland announced that the senate rules committee voted to send the bill to the judicial proceedings committee, where it is expected to pass and head to the full senate for consideration. The bill passed the assembly by a strong 86-52 margin last month, but in the senate it was unexpectedly assigned to the rules committee, where prospects dimmed.

"This important piece of legislation that will extend vital protections to Transgender Marylanders in housing, employment, and credit lives to see another day thanks to the tremendous leadership of Senators Jamie Raskin and Rich Madaleno both of whom were instrumental in making sure the bill moved out of the Senate Rules Committee,” said Morgan Menses-Sheets, executive director of Equality Maryland, in an e-mail to The Advocate.

“Other legislative allies, including delegates Joseline Pena-Melynk, Ariana Kelly and the LGBT caucus can also be attributed to keeping this bill alive,” she said. The seven members of the house LGBT caucus sent a letter to senate president Thomas V. Mike Miller last week urging him to allow the bill to be passed from the rules committee to the judicial proceedings committee.

“This bill would offer limited protections with respect to employment, housing and financial security,” wrote the caucus members in a copy of the letter provided to The Advocate.

“In the hearing in the health and government operations committee we learned the transgender community has double the national average rate of unemployment (14%) and 90% face discrimination or harassment at work. With regard to housing, 11% report having been evicted for being transgender and 10% have been homeless.”

The bill has divided transgender advocates, however. Some groups opposed to the measure, including Trans Maryland and Trans United, say it offers inadequate protections by failing to include the category of public accommodations, which encompasses restrooms, hospitals, restaurants, transportation, shelters, and other public areas. Delegate Pena-Melynk, the lead sponsor of the bill, said the category was excluded in order to secure passage of the bill, which has failed over public accommodations in the past.

Transgender and transsexual advocate Ashley Love called the measure a “second-class bill” in an interview with The Advocate, likening the proposal to settling for civil unions instead of marriage equality. She said that removing protections for public accommodations could set a dangerous precedent by buckling to conservative critics around the country who focus on the issue of bathrooms in trying to defeat transgender rights legislation.

"H.B. 235 passing without public accommodations protections will create a second-class status for Maryland’s transsexual and transgender community, and more dangerous, other states could follow this unjust blueprint,” she said. “It’s hypocritical that Equality Maryland refused second-class civil unions, and only first-class marriage, yet they’re accepting a second-class ‘antidiscrimination’ bill for transsexual and transgender people, when most transsexual and transgender Marylanders only support a first-class, fully inclusive bill."

Love indicated that she and others would continue to advocate against the bill.

A senate source confirmed that testimony would be heard on the bill in the senate judicial proceedings committee this Thursday at 1 p.m. The hearing time is likely to be abbreviated due to the volume of unfinished business as the Maryland state legislature approaches its adjournment date of April 11.

Protesting the UN-Fit "FIT DVD", Transphobia, Stonewall UK's Bullying & Dept. for "Education's" Irresponsiblity.

I'm outisde the British Consulate New York last night protesting child bullying

We protested last night in front of the British Consulate, New York, because a very alarming situation is happening in the UK. A transphobic DVD named “FIT” has been approved to show children and youth in public schools. The anti-transsexual slur “tra**y” is being used, which is used as a taunt and insult when bullies and bigots harass people perceived to be transsexual, intersex or gender non-conforming. The protest was presented by Media Advocates Givivng National Equality to Transsexual & Transgender People (MAGNET) and International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE). MAGNET's press release: www.themagnetsource.blogspot.com/2010/11/protest-of-stonewall-uks-bullying.html
Outside the British Consulate New York "Dept 4 Education OR Dept. 4 Transphobia? Edit Out The T-Word!"

Stonewall UK is behind the messaging in the PSA. We chose last night to protest to coincide with the Stonewall Awards in London, which took place last night as well. Originally, the London LGBT community was going to protest outside the awards, but Stonewall UK gave into the gay and lesbian community’s demands to advocate for marriage, so it was cancelled. However, Stonewall UK did not even address the transphobic DVD, therefore devaluing the needs of trans people. Many UK transsexual and transgender people are outraged that the demonstration was cancelled even though the (mis)educational video has not been edited. Since we wanted to show solidarity with the UK trans community, and because transphobia in any classroom affects us all, we decided to have our own protest in New York. Too many times trans people get thrown under the bus when gay and lesbian people have their needs met, and we are sick of having our human rights tampered with.

The FIT DVD is supposed to be an “anti-bullying” video- however, the use of the taunt and slur "tra**y" is used- which is a verbal form of bullying which leads to dehumanization and violence. How did an anti-bullying DVD become a DVD that bullies trans people?? This outrage is being ignored by Stonewall UK, who not only advised on the DVD, but has an unhealthy past with the UK trans community: Stonewall UK excludes them from their mission statement, yet has the audacity to (mis)represent them, and has even been caught back lobbying against their interests. There should be “no taxation without representation”. This colonial practice is abusive, and goes against the human rights of trans people living in the UK. From MAGNET's press release "The United Kingdom is very pioneering by having the Gender Recognition Act. The Department of Education is obligated to uphold this Act (verbal abuse is still abuse and sometimes hurts more than stones). The anti-trans slur must be edited out".

Trans people initiated the Stonewall Riots of 1969, which catapulted the modern LGBT movement, yet Stonewall UK hijacked the word and oppress the same people who started Stonewall! This is appalling, and we must respect our history

If this video is shown in schools it will affect the US trans community as well because the promoting of a stigmatizing anti-trans slur in an "education" video will give every transphobe and bigot the "right" to get away with using that word, and will refer to the FIT DVD as an excuse. Much like the "N" word affects the Black community, we need to take a stand against the T Word

Many UK trans advocates and leaders asked us to continue with our protest. Some of them feel inclined to not speak out publicly against Stonewall UK because of political reasons, access, etc. We feel this video is NOT a time to compromise. Many people are disappointed that many times “token trans leaders” get either seduced by the bureaucracy, compromise for career advancement, ignore the complaints of their own trans people, are “out of touch” with today’s youth or submit to the same establishment that oppresses the people they are supposed to represent. We must not give in until the transphobia is edited out. Our children need us to be adults who protect them.

The T-word is very controversial. For example, it's used as a way to dismiss a woman's (who was born with birth challenges and a medical condition) womanhood. A woman born with a medical condition is still a woman, not an "it, sub-woman or "tra**y"". This is not a Halloween costume, it’s her life. Many drag performing MALES appropriate transsexual issues or words. It may be all fun and games to a drag performer to use words to be "hip, shocking, offensive or sensational", but not to a trans woman who's hate crime assailant is calling her the T-word as he murders her, or to a trans person who gets called that on the bus by a trans-phobe or bigot. Stigmatizing pejoratives are not "cool", they hurt really badly, and the trans youth will be ridiculed in their own classroom unless the transphobia is edited out from the DVD. Name calling and taunts are a form of verbal bullying, and many times lead to physical violence .I don't hear Asian people just dying to use the N-word just because it’s “cool” in hip hop music videos and then telling Black people to "lighten up". Likewise, I get annoyed when gay men and drag queens fight to be able to reclaim a word that is not theirs to reclaim. Some of their entitlement issues and insensitivity is astounding, and oppressive. The director of FIT, Rikki Beadle-Blair, is a gay man (not trans), and does not have the right to tell women (usually the slur is directed at MTF women) what to be offended by. This is sexist, arrogant and clueless in regards to the mental violence and dehumanization that the word inspires. He claims “I hear kids use the word sometimes”. I hear Black kids use the word “ni**er” and girls use the word “b*tch”, but it doesn’t mean I should put the slur in an “educational” video(especially for children's schools where bullying is a crisis and LGBT youth are committing suicide),for crying out loud!

We ask the British Department of Education, The Teachers Union, Equality and Human Rights Commission and Stonewall UK to protect the well being of all the children who attend school, and make the responsible and socially conscious decision to edit out the dehumanizing pejorative from the DVD. Normalizing the T-word, much like how the N-word was normalized decades ago to degrade Black people, will have severe consequences for the acceptance of trans people in mainstream society. It’s unbelievable that an oppressed minority group, especially children, could have their human rights be disrespected like this by authority figures. As adults, we must protect trans children. Teachers being forced to show DVDs with anti-trans slurs will do no such thing. The good news is that the decision makers involved still have a chance to do what’s right and fix this horrid mistake.
After the protest outside the British Consulate we went to the Stonewall Inn (unlike Stonewall UK, Stonewall Inn does not oppress trans people, and in fact, it was trans people who initated the Stonewall Riots of 1969, so how bizarre and shady is it that Stonewall UK excludes trans people, and advocates for anti-trans slurs to be in "educational" videos to be shown to children which is a form of verbal bullying.

Get over your fear of people born with disabilties, birth challenges, medical conditions or who do not conform to gender. (There are even people in our own LGBT community who are transphobic)

Reuter's Interview w/ Ashley Love about "TOTWK"

"An Image I'd Rather Forget" - My Synopsis & Critique Of TOTWK

Note: If you'd like to read my more detailed/longer synopsis of the film, email me at magnet_right_now@yahoo.com

The film “Ticked Off Tra**ies With Knives” spreads a fear, misogyny and hate stemmed ideology. I have seen the film and it’s very upsetting that people unfamiliar with transsexual and transgender women will walk away from the film with a stigmatizing perception of trans women. This film is dangerous propaganda, whether intentional or not. TOTWK leaves the viewer with the false impression that transsexual and transgender women are unauthentic in their gender identity and really “gay men in drag.” The film portrays all trans women as hypersexualized, jokes, murderous and/or unstable. This is not only inaccurate, it's offensive and incites further misunderstanding and violence.

A student of oppression in the media, I’m an organizer with a trans anti-defamation group named MAGNET-Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Trans People. MAGNET supports the thousands of people who signed GLAAD’s petition urging Tribeca to remove this film or joined the Boycott TOTWK Group. They’re warranted in their protest/boycott of this film whether or not they saw the entire movie. The clips available to the public were reason enough to take action.

• Use of the dehumanizing pejorative and anti-trans slur “tra**ie” in the title.
  
• Insensitively mentioning real trans victim’s of hate crimes names in the trailer (A reedited trailer removes the victim’s names).
  
• Exploiting, devaluing and making light of the crisis of violence against trans women.
  
• Director Israel Luna’s misrepresentation that the film’s about “transgender women”, but often insinuates that the characters are not women- but rather men drag performers, “caricatures” & “impersonators.”
  
  

While we have great respect and admiration for some of the actors in the film, we have great concerns with the director misrepresenting oppressed minorities for entertainment, and with Tribeca’s irresponsible decision to showcase this film. In GLAAD’s analysis of the film, they say, “Because of its positioning as a transgender film, viewers unfamiliar with the lives of transgender women will likely leave this film with the impression that transgender women are ridiculous caricatures of ’real women.’ It demeans actual transgender women who struggle for acceptance and respect in their day-to-day lives and to be valued for their contributions to our society.”

Many stand with GLAAD’s statement. Trans women are just that: women. They’re fighting to pass ENDA, gain APA/GID reform and health care rights, and establish acceptance in society. TOTWK threatens that acceptance immensely. The unhealthy stigma that this film encourages generates misunderstanding and resistance against trans Americans in a country that seriously lacks education, rights and acceptance of trans people.

Tribeca would never present a film with a title having the “N” word, an anti-Semitic slur, the misogynistic “c” word, or many other pejoratives. Tribeca considers the content of films they give a platform to. It’s disappointing that the humanity and safety of trans women was devalued by Tribeca’s programming department. It’s a sad sign of the times that our concerns about depiction and wellbeing are not considered on par with other minorities. Trans people need the same anti-defamation protections other oppressed minorities receive from Tribeca. We are exercising our freedom of speech by boycotting this film. “Cries of censorship” are just a diversion to take attention off the true issues, which are responsibility, accountability, humanity and oppression.

I find it biased and unethical that many male journalists/bloggers have failed to address the feminist side of this debate. The violence, objectification and dehumanization of women in this film are also being protested. It’s disappointing that this film’s controversy has spotlighted the issues of ignorance, transphobia and misogyny internalized within some in the gay men’s community who have opposed our protest, as well as society at large.

Characters in the film, performers in a drag queen show, describe themselves as “We have female qualities and characteristics….straight male personalities.” That description isn’t the definition of a transgender woman, and provokes prejudice. This is one of the roots of anti-trans sentiment: the falsehood that trans women’s gender identity is “fake”. This propaganda is the same that the religious right has been preaching in their campaign to slander trans Americans, denying them equal rights (see their "Do you want men in dresses teaching your children?" campaign), and now this film is doing their job for them! This isn’t a “women’s clothes fetish movement” for crying out loud! It’s about “internal” gender. Luna would have had fewer problems if he would have named his film “Ticked Off “Drag Queens” With Knives” (yet there would still be issues). Inaccurately, he decided to market the film saying it was about transgender “women”, yet portrayed them as over-the-top “impersonators” – actually mocking femininity. It stands to reason that transsexual and transgender feminists feel slighted, their identities misrepresented and attacked.

Merriam Webster defines a drag queen as “a male homosexual who dresses as a woman especially for comic or theatrical effect”. Completely different, a woman of transsexual experience is “a woman in which the sex-related structures of the brain that define gender identity are exactly opposite the physical sex organs of the body. Put even more simply, a transsexual woman has a mind that is literally, physically, trapped in a body of the opposite sex.” A person from the “transgender umbrella” is “someone whose personal idea of gender does not correlate with his or her assigned gender role.” The social political identity umbrella term “transgender” is good for gaining legislation to protect the broad community, yet the diversity of sub groups (who are equal, but different) within the broad community cannot be ignored. Certainly diversity is the spice of life!

Much of the dialog in the film is not only offensive, but effectively teaches the viewer an inaccurate perception of transgender individuals. At one point the performers allege that when God created Adam and Eve, he allegedly “created a third creature named Ava”. Most trans women I know identify as “Eve’s daughter”, or “woman gender”, not a “3rd gender”, or as Luna writes, “a 3rd creature”. Depicting trans women as “others”, “neither, ors” “creatures” and “impersonators” is influential in adding to the segregation and misrepresentation of trans women. While some people identify as “gender queer and 3rd gender,” none would wish to be characterized as a non-human creature. The film even introduces a new term - “tran-imal” (trans person = animal = not human) – which may be the newest trend slur of the season!

One of the characters expresses that sexual assault "turns her on.” This is sickly morbid and disturbingly insensitive, especially given the high rate of sexual attacks and violence against trans women. In another scene a nurse is sexually inappropriate with another character who is recuperating in the hospital after surviving a hate crime attack. In this way Luna’s script trivializes the crisis of violence against trans women which is horrifying and disempowering to all women.

Some of the characters have a “trans face” act that is comparable to “black face” of decades past, when white men painted their faces and depicted black people as “minstrels and subhuman”. Likewise, “trans face” is just as dehumanizing and offensive to actual trans WOMEN. Their “trans face” act is “hypersexualized, vile talking, flamboyant, gay man with women’s clothes on. “

By the end of the film, most of the characters are dead or brutalized. The film ends with a drag diva asking the others “Do you know what the difference is between us and them (the dead men on the ground)?” The answer expressed: “I don’t know,” “Me either”- film ends. So there you have it folks, “transgender women” are no different than “murdered men”.

And that last sentence pretty much sums up the message of the film.

Protest Tomorrow @ Tribeca Center to Combat Transphobia! (press release)

Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Trans People (MAGNET)

Press Release: For immediate release April 4, 2010

“Protest/rally Against Tribeca’s Decision to Premiere Transphobic Film “Ticked Off Trannies With Knives”

What: A protest/rally demanding that Tribeca Film Festival remove the transphobic film “Ticked Off Trannies With Knives (TOTWK)”. Melissa Sklarz (Director of NY Trans Rights Organization),Ashley Love (Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Trans People),Denise Le Claire (Exec. Director of International Foundation of Gender Education) celebrities, elected officials & LGBT activists will be speaking. A candle light vigil for trans victims of hate crimes will also be held.

When/Where: Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 6:30-8:00pm @ Tribeca Cinemas @ 54 Varick Street, NYC

Why: The movie makes light of violence and rape against trans women, exploits the high-profile murder of teenager Angie Zapata, includes the pejorative term “trannies” in its title, inaccurately depicts trans women’s identities as drag queen “performers” and “caricatures” and misrepresents the lives of an extremely disenfranchised group who suffer violence at alarming rates.

Kim Pearson, Executive Director of TransYouth Family Allies, says "Negative and stereotyped media portrayals of transgender people hurt the community because Americans still need more education on transgender issues. The images in this film (TOTWK) make a mockery of their lives. I want more for my child and all transgender people.”

“The transsexual and transgender communities are all too often the victims of violence, marginalization and discrimination as a result of insensitive media depictions like this film, which is offensive, dehumanizing and misogynistic and causes further misunderstanding and harm to an already dangerously oppressed minority group”, states Ashley Love, Organizer of Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Trans People (MAGNET).

MAGNET had a meeting with staff at Tribeca Center on Friday, March 26, educating them about why this film is extremely problematic and dehumanizing. They refused to remove the film or make a statement that they don’t endorse the oppression of transsexual and transgender women, so MAGNET is now organizing a protest/rally, in association with Families United Against Hate, International Foundation For Gender Education, New York Trans Rights Organization, and Remembering Our Dead, to demand that they remove the film, and to draw attention to injustices trans people face in everyday life and in the media. Many trans advocates, trans organizations, women’s groups and allies voiced their concerns to GLAAD, expressing they needed aggressive action. GLAAD issued an uncompromising and strong petition & call to action demanding that Tribeca remove the film: http://www.glaad.org/calltoaction/032510

To support or endorse protest on Tuesday, receive information about issues raised or press questions, or become involved in anti-defamation/media work for the transsexual and transgender communities:
CONTACT: Organizer of MAGNET: Ashley Love- Email: magnet_right_now@yahoo.com

Join the “Boycott TOTWK” Facebook page & find more info/articles on the story: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=103500239687288&ref=mf#!/group.php?gid=106926329329724

For info/articles on issues raised: Ashley Love’s blog: http://www.transformingmedia.blogspot.com/

Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Trans People (MAGNET) is an anti-defamation organization dedicated to educating the media about transsexual and transgender issues, as well as pushing for more authentic and positive portrayals of trans people in the media.