I’m A Bitch, I’m A Lover

Meredith Brooks once sang:

I’m a bitch, I’m a lover
I’m a child, I’m a mother
I’m a sinner, I’m a saint
I do not feel ashamed
I’m your hell, I’m your dream
I’m nothing in between
You know, you wouldn’t want it any other way

But I guess there are some gay men who aren’t channeling Meredith. From the Washington Blade’s “Bitch Session

“It’s transgender people that need the gay and lesbian movement to succeed not the other way around. They are a minority within a minority who couldn’t get very far without us yet they always arrogantly fail to recognize that! Learn some humility instead of being so damn uppity.

To the transgender activist who had the gall to say that gays and lesbians can’t move forward without them: The fact is transgender activists have opposed gay rights legislation in the past simply because they weren’t included! Despite their being as bad as Christian conservatives or selfish brats, we often managed to succeed without them! They should thank us for forgiving them for this and allowing them to retard our progress by including them now!”

Uppity (gosh, in what context have I heard that word used)? To anyone who has this mindset, I say *insert your favorite expletive here*.

First of all, learn your community’s history:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/rDefl11mCGk" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

and

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/WRm1zhBdXUY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

We are ONE community. You may want to deny this because we embarrass you. But we’ve always fought with you and for you. We’ve earned our place next to you with our bodies.

If you still want transgender activists to go away, then tell your organizations to remove us from their mission statements. The leaders of your organizations are the people that formed this marriage. Go talk to the leadership in the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and all the other GLBT organizations that say they represent the entire GLBT community.

We aren’t asking for your charity, we’re demanding our rightful place next to you. We don’t want to hear you complain until you tell the massa’s to free the “uppity” transgender people from your mission statements. Until you do that, shut the hell up.

Marti Abernathey is the founder of the Transadvocate and the previous managing editor. Abernathey has worn many different hats, including that of podcaster, activist, and radiologic technologist. She's been a part of various internet radio ventures such as TSR Live!, The T-Party, and The Radical Trannies, TransFM, and Sodium Pentathol Sunday. As an advocate she's previously been involved with the Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance, Rock Indiana Campaign for Equality, and the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition. She's taken vital roles as a grass roots community organizer in The Indianapolis Tax Day Protest (2003), The Indy Pride HRC Protest (2004), Transgender Day of Remembrance (2004), Indiana's Witch Hunt (2005), and the Rally At The Statehouse (the largest ever GLBT protest in Indiana - 3/2005). In 2008 she was a delegate from Indiana to the Democratic National Convention and a member of Barack Obama's LGBT Steering and Policy Committee. Abernathey currently hosts the Youtube Channel "The T-Party with Marti Abernathey."

10 Comments

  1. Actually, not wanting to detract from the sentiment of your article, but the song wasn’t by Alanis Morissette – it was (co-)written and performed by Meredith Brooks.

  2. Actually, not wanting to detract from the sentiment of your article, but the song wasn’t by Alanis Morissette – it was (co-)written and performed by Meredith Brooks.

  3. Actually, not wanting to detract from the sentiment of your article, but the song wasn’t by Alanis Morissette – it was (co-)written and performed by Meredith Brooks.

  4. Let us not forget that there are Trans Lesbians and Trans gays, which scare the heck out of some folks. Not to mention all the darn Bisexuals of all genders who tend to get punted about on all sides. Not all T*s came out of G&L communities, some did and some waded in the pool because they thought they had to (thanks to old notions of GID and Homosexuality being intertwined).

    I cannot see Marti’s history lesson, it is just a big blank on my screen, but the great Stonewall riot that G&L organizations use as a battle cry was fought by and for predominantly T* patrons of that bar. So, who is riding on who’s coattails?

    All the splintering of special interests dilutes our strength, but I would rather be 100 thousand supporting 100 thousand, than 100 thousand supporting 1 million who may not support us back. (numbers are just numbers, not actual estimates)

  5. Let us not forget that there are Trans Lesbians and Trans gays, which scare the heck out of some folks. Not to mention all the darn Bisexuals of all genders who tend to get punted about on all sides. Not all T*s came out of G&L communities, some did and some waded in the pool because they thought they had to (thanks to old notions of GID and Homosexuality being intertwined).

    I cannot see Marti’s history lesson, it is just a big blank on my screen, but the great Stonewall riot that G&L organizations use as a battle cry was fought by and for predominantly T* patrons of that bar. So, who is riding on who’s coattails?

    All the splintering of special interests dilutes our strength, but I would rather be 100 thousand supporting 100 thousand, than 100 thousand supporting 1 million who may not support us back. (numbers are just numbers, not actual estimates)

  6. “They are a minority within a minority who couldn’t get very far without us yet they always arrogantly fail to recognize that!”

    Funny…

    I seem to recall us getting our marriages recognized in New Jersey just a weeeeeeeeeee bit before you got yours.

    How weeeeeeeeeee?

    Howzabout three fuckin’ decades worth of weeeeeeee, you arrogant transphobic bastard?!?!?!

    Find me one pro-trans victory – or one attempt to secure trans rights – that has resulted in extermination of existing gay-only rights or…

    Nah – to hell with it.

    I’m compassionate. I don’t want you to wear out the gerbil-n-wheel DBA your brain.

    Here’s the answer: NONE EVER HAS! However, every failed attempt at gay marriage has set the stage for extermination of existing trans rights – and sever already have exterminated such rights.

  7. “They are a minority within a minority who couldn’t get very far without us yet they always arrogantly fail to recognize that!”

    Funny…

    I seem to recall us getting our marriages recognized in New Jersey just a weeeeeeeeeee bit before you got yours.

    How weeeeeeeeeee?

    Howzabout three fuckin’ decades worth of weeeeeeee, you arrogant transphobic bastard?!?!?!

    Find me one pro-trans victory – or one attempt to secure trans rights – that has resulted in extermination of existing gay-only rights or…

    Nah – to hell with it.

    I’m compassionate. I don’t want you to wear out the gerbil-n-wheel DBA your brain.

    Here’s the answer: NONE EVER HAS! However, every failed attempt at gay marriage has set the stage for extermination of existing trans rights – and sever already have exterminated such rights.

Comments are closed.