I don't understand why the littlest mistake by a supportive individual brings out such vitriol. It's making me trans-phobic too.

The crazies are always attracted to the edges. When the edge moves further out, so do the crazies. When we can bring trans people and trans issues in away from that edge, then the crazies won't be attracted to it anymore.

@2

I think you're 1/2 right. But for a lot of people trans issues aren't on the edge anymore, not as edge as they used to be at least, hence people who are looking to rebel through activism have to up the extremism to stay edgy.

@4, is your co-worker's step-sister transgender?

It's like the tran's allies always have to have this pissing contest about who's life is harder. This episode is just going to generate even more bad will towards this community that really needs our support. sad :(

the moment I saw the name Cathy Brennen in the article, I knew it was a giant clusterfuck. She's the sharp stick that is constantly pokeing the trans waspnest. Most of the allies in that kind of bruhahaha are young ijits who cant see that Cathy gets off on getting them upset.

When it comes to race and religion there have always been those who go into convulsions over the most miniscule perceived slight or anyone who deviates from what you are allowed to think or say. I always thought gays were the only "marganilized people" that didn't have those exceedingly vocal and stringent types. Apparently I was wrong. I think it stems from being able to control people through your "outrage". It allows people to persecute and vent all their hatred on innocent people while playing the victim card.

I'm starting to think there are more crazy "trans allies" than there are actual trans people.

And the whole radical-feminists-vs-trans-activists dogfight is a Republican wet dream.

Crazy shit, indeed. This kind of behavior is all too present on the internet. Hand people a mask or banner they can hide behind, and presto. Human social evolution goes straight out the window and we're dealing with tribes of baboons.

Not that that isn't a huge burden to overcome, but this seems like a stupider example of that behavior than usual.

Not that words can not be harmful, and that word choice does not matter, but I think groups representing minorities of all types would be better off if they grew thicker skin when it comes to individual word choice. Words are not bricks, they can only hurt you if you allow them to.

Policing words is really only a step away from policing thoughts.

When a community gets so up in arms about something like this it just distances them from well meaning and supportive allies who are not in the community. Makes them look nutsack crazy, really.

Jesus Christ. She even apologized. The fuck is WRONG with people.

I support people who are not assholes, those attacking this child are assholes.

Ye gods, the insistence on certain terms that people make up yearly is just about as stupid as thinking the bible is consistent.

As far as I can tell, people are pissed she still used the slur in her apology for using the slur, a la Mean Girls: "Alyssa, I'm sorry I called you a gap-toothed bitch. It's not your fault you're so gap-toothed. " Had she simply said "I'm sorry for using a slur against trans folks, it was not my intent to hurt and I no longer use it", people wouldn't have flipped. But she used it, and people flipped.

These "radical queer/trans activists" have more in common with radical Christian militias or cults than they do with activists. Not because of violence, but because of strict unwavering adherence to a specific doctrine and a "with us or against us" philosophy.

I don't see these people spewing the same amount of hate and vitriol toward someone who is actually transphobic, and that's the greatest irony. They're attacking Laci Green because they know she cares about what transgendered people think. They won't attack an actual transphobe, because the transphobe doesn't give a fuck; the transphobe lives to piss on the people he/she hates.

Good lord...she apologized. Can we move on now?

Kindly,
A Trans Ally.

Except 15 that's not how she apologized. And honestly this behavior is what turns me off social justice. It's not about helping people it's about proving how morally superior you are. It about losing any sense of humor or scale and refusing to acknowledge that sometimes people mess up and this doesn't make them evil. It's about deliberately looking for issues where there are none and taking things way too far.

@17

I don't see these people spewing the same amount of hate and vitriol toward someone who is actually transphobic, and that's the greatest irony. They're attacking Laci Green because they know she cares about what transgendered people think. They won't attack an actual transphobe, because the transphobe doesn't give a fuck; the transphobe lives to piss on the people he/she hates.

It goes even further than "they don't attack transphobes." They specifically only attack other allies.

You don't see this shit turned on, say, Cracked.com, which uses transphobic jokes on a nearly daily basis. They're not hunting down every moron on Twitter who uses the dreaded T word, though they could easily do so. They don't try to organize boycotts of Comedy Central. No, you hear about how Glee used the word "tranny" in the RHPS episode and is thus evil, or people throw glitter at Dan Savage, or send death threats to a young woman who has been nothing but a positive presence.

Why? Because they'd rather eat their own than take on the larger culture. Because it's easy to hurt people who care, but it's hard to actually affect motherfucking change.

This kind of shit is why my boyfriend and I have very, very little to do with trans communities now. We get better and more realistic support elsewhere.

"The world is a rainbow of assholes." So true.

Her first mistake was to apologize.

Listen, It's not like there is an elected trans president, this community is figuring it out. One thing they know, there isn't a great solution yet, medical witchcraft isnt at the grow a wang stage yet.

So take that in mind, these people are gender pioneers. In the future there probably will be a solution to easily change genders, and at that point, trans people from today will be looked on reverently. They are figuring this stuff out the hardest way.

Then, one uppity asshole starts insulting people you call allies and what happens? Comments rain down suggesting that trans people be isolated from other, more successful rights movements.

It just has to suck to go through all this. That's why at the other end you have mentally damaged people that deserve support and patience and really cool amazing people that have found a balance in such an insanely chaotic life.

It's just a lot harder than anyone non-trans ever admits to.

@20,

I definitely agree with you. The thing is too, the writers at Cracked and Comedy Central may not be transphobic per se (I'd venture they're more ignorant and suffer from head-up-ass-itis), but they also wouldn't give a shit if transgender activists tried to protest or boycott them.

Does anyone know if she is alright?

I've compiled some of the reasons the Social Justice Sallys say they hate Green.

She’s white.
She’s popular.
She's pretty.
She's a woman.
She lost some weight.
She’s pro-penetration.
She’s proud she lost some weight.
She thinks Mormons are sexist.
She thinks Islam is sexist.
She made an ironic joke about domestic abuse once.
She didn’t put a trigger warning for epileptics.
Did I mention she lost some weight?

@27
If she was black.
Unpopular.
A man.
Encouraged rape hoaxes.
Thought whites, Asians and Jews were sexist.
Made non ironic hate speech about Asians, whites, and Jews.
And led a lynch mob into a Jewish neighborhood, incited a race riot in which 7 Hispanics died, and encouraged anti-Asian bigotry (picketing their shops and hollering they were "exploiting" his people in order to extorting money while at the same time dealing crack)
he'd be "civil rights leader" Al Sharpton

Oh, and I forgot to mention, he had lost some weight.

@25, Woooooooooow. Thanks for that. It shocked the hell outta me to see such a legit comment in the midst of this.

Oh wait, that's #24.

"Green's also white, a biological female who presents as a feminine woman, able-bodied, and slender, which led to charges of her being ableist, transphobic, ignorant of the strife of people of other races, and an all-around idiot dummy jerk."

Welcome to the world of an average white guy, Laci Green. Privilege Club dues are only $5 per month, mostly to pay for coffee and donuts at the meetings. And don't worry, you'll get thicker skin naturally over time, making those slings and arrows sting a little bit less every year.

That's the other thing 25. In my experience these folks are unwilling to have actual dialogues with people. They just yell you're an fill-in-the-blank-ist and basically carry on like the person just kicked a puppy.

There's no attempt to explain or to hear out the other person, and whatever apology was given it will never be enough, so I get the feeling they wind up alienating more people then they recruit.

I am transgendered and have lived as a woman for 15 years. What the big deal the kid apologized. When someone professes to be a transgendered spokes person I look the other way. I have no idea what a CIS is anyway. We are a real minority and people use wrong terminology about us all the time. I dislike the false umbrage.

Marie

Of the transfolk that I know [several across the range from part-timers to post-GRS] not one of them takes the time to get their panties in a wad over these kinds of trivialities.

And thank you, Mar3ie @34 for representing the NALT-trans population.

Why don't you invite her to the podcast, Dan? You could get your shadowy, mega-wealthy employers to put her up in Seattle for a bit while this shitstorm blows over, chat her up about the whole situation, take some listener questions...and of course establish your dominance over her in all things sex column-y.

I think it was a mistake for the international congress of transfolk to decide that 'tranny' was their n-word.

I can see the attraction as a minority: You put a stake in the ground and say "y'all can no longer use this word" and then mark those who comply as 'allies' and everybody else as enemy oppressors.

The problem with 'tranny' is that it's being used by non-tranfolk who, while they don't spend a lot of time on "cissues", have a live and let live/equal rights attitude.

That is until silly stuff like this is reported.

I'll admit that I'm in several privleged categories so may just be very ignorant on how much sting the t-word has. I get the impression though that not everybody who is transgender worries about it as much as the glitterati.

Maybe someday we'll all be horrified at next-generation trans-rappers who stuff their rhymes with the t-word.

Mark, I wouldn't blame this particular debacle on trans people being thin skinned. Some are, some aren't.

So, based on years of study of feminist theory, my understanding is that the perspective of Radical Feminism is that it seeks to de-center and ultimately overthrow (that's the 'radical' bit) patriarchy (that's the 'feminism' bit). In no way that I can see does this mission conflict with trans rights, as the heterosexual matrix that demands congruence of biological gender, social gender, and sexuality is part of the reinforcing structure of patriarchy. Is the fight between the groups over the fact that social and/or biological gender matter a WHOLE FUCKING LOT to trans persons, while radical feminists are trying to create a world where gender isn't inflected with privilege, constructed along strict prescriptive and proscriptive norms that define its bounds, and ultimately won't be particularly important or even necessarily recognized? Is the issue here a failure to distinguish between different contexts, on the part of one or both 'sides'? Is the problem that in a world without gender hierarchies or prescriptive/proscriptive gender roles/performativities, there could cease to be both cis and trans people because gender won't be considered an important aspect of identity? Is the fight over the disturbing/ironic (though somewhat understandable, when one is coming from a perspective where ONLY essentialized meanings are given legitimacy, or perhaps just where essentialized meanings are given privilege) tendency of any number of trans activists (perhaps a majority, perhaps not) to de-essentialize the physical body while simultaneously essentializing social gender (I get into Internet Fights over this one)? Is it over ignorant Radical Feminists essentializing gender in such a way that denies or marginalizes the experiences of trans persons? Any/all of the above?

@41, a paragraph break or two would be awesome.

@41: I really liked your point

"over the fact that social and/or biological gender matter a WHOLE FUCKING LOT to trans persons, while radical feminists are trying to create a world where gender isn't inflected with privilege, constructed along strict prescriptive and proscriptive norms that define its bounds, and ultimately won't be particularly important or even necessarily recognized"

As a feminist (who doesn't really ally myself with any particular ideology), I have always felt the social construct of gender roles to be very harmful and limiting. And what is gender, if not a proscribed set of behaviors for men and women, which by its nature is limiting? And it seems to a certain extent, like transpeople want to perpetuate those very binary roles, instead of breaking them down.

I know woefully little about transpeople or trans issues though.

well #41 you write a whole lot that doesn't mean much. Transgenders are just trying to get through life with dome dignity. People that speak up for the GLBT community like to dress up in tuxedos and gowns in Washington DC and think what good things they are doing while their company's are outsourcing jobs and screwing everybody. Just a little dignity and if some child or person makes a mistake, shrug it off. Now if some republican trys to pass laws taking away rights or attempts to marginalize us rise up and scream.