A commenter at JMG:
Dan Savage raises over $5000 (from his largely “straight” readership, mind you) for an African American trans woman’s funeral after her murder.
Dan Savage raises over $2000 (from his largely “straight” readership, mind you) for a young trans student kicked out of the same school in Mississippi that Constance McMillan was kicked out of.
Here’s his support of a brutally beaten trans woman in Michigan.
Dan Savage raises the remaining needed funds (from his largely “straight” readership, mind you) for trans porn star and acitivist Buck Angel to finish a documentary about his life/work.
Like I said yesterday: If I’m the enemy of trans people everywhere, trans people everywhere could use more enemies like me.
And…
…if I may address this piece of batshittery:
You may notice that Dan Savage managed to get the glitter bombers arrested, which tends to be a particularly dangerous experience for trans people. If cis folk with the privilege not to get so badly harmed once they do inevitably get arrested were willing to do it, more power to them.
I didn’t get anyone arrested. There was security at the event—there’s always security at television shoots because the presence of TV cameras brings out the crazies—and campus police officers went looking for the GBers while I was backstage getting de-glittered. I went back on stage and continued with the talk. I didn’t know that someone had been arrested until the talk was over—90 minutes later—when the police came backstage and told me they had caught one of the people who “assaulted” me. I laughed when they said “assaulted” because, you know, we were talking about glitter. The cops asked if I wanted to press charges, I said no, and I asked them not to hassle the GBer they’d nabbed. I’ve had no further contact with the police, and I’m not pressing charges.
And this is my favorite comment:
Savage is so addicted to attention and also seems to have such few scruples that I wouldn’t be surprised if he hired this last group of glitter-bombers to do what they did just so he could play the victim and also create this post with impunity. I would not put such behavior past him. Its already been revealed they were not transwomen.
I glittered myself! And the GBers weren’t brave cis folks putting their privileged bodies on the line in defense of their trans allies! They were working for me!
@200: Hawke — I’m not sure if this has been said enough, but it’s really wonderful that you’ve taking the time and the emotional energy to keep posting on here despite all the negativity and difficulties in communication. Out of these 200 comments at least 2/3rds really do want to improve communication and refocus the debate on productive change and better understanding. Thank you for helping this happen.
@200, Hawke — let me support judgmentalist above. It is good to see that not all people are all about the hatred.
Telsa, would it really be so damaging to you, in whatever internet pen name you choose, to actually engage and try to discuss why you think Dan deserves the post you wrote? Why you think his opinion hasn’t evolved, why you think his current support for trans people doesn’t mean anything, etc.?
@206: It’s much easier to tell someone what they believe and tear into a straw person than it is to actually face them directly and have a dialogue.
So, I got tired of reading so much negativity, so I had to skip most of these comments, but early on, there was a request for a reasonable response from a trans person. Now, I hadn’t responded to this particular article, but here’s the response I gave after reading the Queerty article “Trans Activist Glitter Bombs Dan Savage Again. Counterproductive?”
“As far as all this nonsense about attacking Dan Savage, I wouldn’t say it’s counterproductive, as that implies it’s actually doing anything. I would just say it’s unproductive. I think it’s clear that Dan Savage has said some rude things about trans people, though likely out of ignorance and/or encouragement from trans friends of his. It’s only more clear from that last article written by him that he understands what can be hurtful and wants to be respectful of it. Considering how he is, I think that’s pretty big of him. I honestly wonder how many people who are outraged by his statements have ever read Savage Love (which, I’ll admit, is kind of funny from time to time).”
And as for the use of the word tranny, I don’t like it. I think it’s often used in a derogatory context and I let people know that I would prefer they not use it. That’s all. If you want to keep using it, go ahead. I’m not going to stop you (as though I could) and I’m not going to demean you or assume you’re a lesser person for using it.
Is anyone genuinely offended by the use of the term cis? It seems like I’ve only seen people say they’re offended by it as a knee-jerk defensive reaction to trans people being offended by the word tranny. If people actually consider it offensive, I’ll happily drop it from my vocabulary. It wouldn’t be very difficult and worth it to me to make others feel more comfortable.
Telsa: don’t flatter yourself. You’re a short and all-too-familiar story, and no amount of pettifogging (even the prestigious amount you produce on cue) can disguise that.
I don’t see why you had to be defensive rather than just apologizing for any offense you caused and saying you’ll continue to try to be a better advocate for trans people. Now you’re just making this argument go on longer.
“I don’t see why you had to be defensive rather than just apologizing for any offense you caused “
One shouldn’t have to apologize for a disinformation campaign, though.
This isn’t nearly as entertaining as watching a bunch of trans folks have a shit storm of a fight over whether to use transsexual or transgender, which is more appropriate, which is inappropriate, and who is really trans.
i have no idea what “cis” means in the context of a discussion about gender or sexual orientation.