Co-Opting the Transgender Community

     Transgender Education Network of Texas mission is to educate the public in interpersonal and infrastructural settings on gender diversity. It is a job I love, it is a job I wish someone would pay me to do full time. To reach that goal, I have to raise money, we have to generate program income from living out our mission.
     Two incidents this week have frustrated me and caused my feminist brain to lock into analysis of the "helping" of the transgender community and what that means.
     Let's start with a disclaimer and with the professionals. I have had the pleasure to meet honest, good, and sincere professionals doing work lately in the field of trans realities and how to train other professionals in appropriate professional care. I respect and treasure these people, what follows is a general trend argument not directed at their work....

     I have been teaching about trans realities and how to interact with trans people for about 10+ years in a variety of settings, from "in the classroom as a teacher (in 2003 my first roundtable)", to direct service agency providers, to the healthcare setting. Guess what? One of three things usually happened.
1. Individuals listened and participated, but no movement took place on action plans made or training put in place.
2. Individuals took the information and then presented it as though they were the pioneers in the effort (there are exceptions).
3. Individuals thought I was unqualified despite my science background, my stellar mind.....and oh, that thing called lived experience and intense study of a community.
4. I was someone's project for a graduate class and then they just moved on to their own thing....forgetting "us trans people".

     However, NOW....... HHS, the CDC and others have lain out the directive that transgender people will be counted and have attached monetary award to the effort.  Seems now that people are literally crawling out of the woodwork to "offer our community help", "want to meet with us", and "create curriculum for other professionals like them".

    I feel some kinship with my native american neighbors at the stealing of my culture for white profit.

    You, whomever you are, may mean well. It is admirable when you meet with us and try to base your teaching on real lived experience...make sure you take a wide and thorough sample of our community.....oh, you might want to actually hire some of us to "guide you" through the trans jungle too. Ultimately though:
1. There are already best practice methods you need to be researching
2. You need to show realness and investment in the community FIRST
3. You are, in reality, taking our culture to make personal profit.

I am not opposed to professionals developing decent curriculum (well, ok I am)....but be serious about this work, you are playing with people's lives.

Flip side is the second incident of the week. Requesting trans related materials printed (but not owned by) our organization without context, followup, or real investment in our organization, by trans people that may feel they can just "whip a program together". It requires people skilled in doing these kinds of programs to do it well.

We exist to serve these materials....

It costs money to do this work....

Good, quality diversity training, should be paid well and does cost money.

Don't just ask for some brochures and pass them out and expect people to "get it". We are professionals, hire us to come and give a program. Pay for our gas, and donate to our organization.

Gender is not a transgender owned concept, we share it with everyone....try hiring us to create understanding and establish a safe space environment instead of just giving "transgender" lip service.

I guess I have exhausted my fire....let me end with the caveat.

During the 80's our gay men, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities were left with no one to help with the AIDS epidemic. Let me reiterate....NO ONE wanted to touch us. What did we do? We friggin took care of each other. My forefathers and foremothers pioneered safer sex advertising, found ways to get each other through the plague and perservered. AIDS agencies were GLBT agencies because those are the only people that were invested.

As HIV/AIDS care became an industry it become professionalized and the GLBT individuals who once were serving in soup kitchens, bandaging cuts, and doing the work were replaced with nurses and others who found this as an occupation.....with only varying degrees of connection to the culture and history...and we lost something in that change.

I fear the same for the transgender community. That does not mean I don't treasure, uplift, and welcome our allies with open arms....We as a community need to be kinder to our allies....it does mean that I need to know you are indeed part of our family and not just someone trying to make a quick buck.

Deconstructing the buy local, support Ma and Pa business myth

I have good liberal minded friends who encourage me "Buy local", "Aschew the evils of corporatism", "Support local businesses". Good, but misplaced statements, let's see why.

1. Local businesses are a product of group think, a culture of locality that may be in the interest of all people and diversity minded, but also may be closed off and hostile.
• If Ma and Pa have not learned about the queers and will not let go of their preconceived notions despite discussion and love, why should I spend my dollars with them.
• Ma and Pa may alternatively be open and totally welcoming of all people....we have some such establishments locally (looking at you Janis Atkins)
2. Top Fortune 500 companies have resources that are brought to bear for diverse populations. These include policy protections, employee resource groups, etc.
• Sorry, I would rather go to a corporate establishment with enumerated policy protecting diverse groups of people, such as those with protections in employment on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression or those with domestic partner benefits.
• Companies like Dell, IBM, etc give..and give to organizations doing good work. They also have employee programs in place that empower the individual to donate in ways that mean something to them. Dell's use of the YourCause platform has been a boon to Transgender Education Network of Texas. Not only was last year's TDOR program paid for, but this year we received funds for an employee who volunteered with us. Money in our org pocket means more opportunities at public education - this is good.
3. Big companies employ people locally. Yes, funds funnel to the top....but the other part of that equation is that people that may not have had jobs with insurance, 401k, etc now have it...and they money that those employees are paid feeds the local economy.
• Yes, I admit, a good amount of money also syphons out of town...unless your town is the corporate headquarters.
4. Personal narrative. 
• When I joined my paying gig of the last 15 years I was joining a "wholly owned independent subsidiary of a state company". My trainer was fired because he had PFLAG paraphernalia on his car (1997)
• The business model has always been to empower local businesses through advertising at the small and mid-size market size. I have been involved in helping Mom and Pop businesses improve their reach and service to the community by empowering their voice. That is a democratic idea. That is liberty. That resonates with my core values.
• When we were bought by "big brother" Cox Communications I was able to come out as trans and transition on the job. Why? Because I felt more protected than when we were independently owned. Cox, a corporate structure, had diversity policy in place, training prepped, and domestic partner benefits to hang a hat on if needed. After Cox sold us to our current owners I found out that my existence paid off - gender identity and expression was added to corporate policy.
• Currently, now with a smaller corporate entity again I have some protections, but not explicit in policy...and I have lost the ability to have domestic partner protections.

All this to say that my experience has shown that while there are Walmarts out there, there are also good Fortune 500 corporate entities. Similarly, while there are good, local, and ecologically empowering buying options...there are also one's where I should fear for my safety as a trans woman.

So endeth the lesson....learn more, don't make ridiculous blanket judgements.

Weaving a Trans Curse

Authors note: Inside my head I am in quiet darkness holding me like cool satin and warm velvet, caressing my face, healing my soul....I am resting before marching the road of social justice again.

As a self denied mystic, a wanderer, and a fool, I have picked up a few tidbits about curses and blessings along the way which should help me in the healing exercise of putting a ward upon my person for use against direct attack.

What ingredients do I have at my disposal.

Age: At 41 going on 42 I do not have the concentration of raw power that the ancients do, nor do I have the totality of fluidity and adaptation that young adepts do. My age confers to me a mixed balance of raw power and adaptable fluidity......something to keep in mind while weaving.

Blood/Lineage: I am not a gypsy.....downer there. What can I claim though in my personal history and in my blood lineage that will adhere in this spell? The Stewart's were the whorish clan of the English isles, pandering in service to the Kings and Queens.....possible....very possible, we might have picked up some polyamorous spellcasting there. On the German side though.....ahhhhh, the Frost Giants of old, the Black Forest, the people of white who moved through the snowy landscape unseen and pounced at the things of color in their environs......definitely some old magic there.

Trans Lineage....one of the ancient clan of healers, the walkers between the genders, the priests, the scribes, the hand behind the power......very strong ingredient.....

Horoscope: I am a Scorpion, a water creature....does that mean my blessing are more powerful with emotion, or  more fluid in nature themself. I don't know, but this will affect the outcome.

OK, what words shall I use?
This is the tricky part. Any curse must make its point. However, any curse may bounce back threefold/ sevenfold/ etc  upon the caster. The question is, what can I send out that I can "handle" if returned full force or more upon me?
This is why blessings are used. What is blessing to one, may not be to another.


So.....here goes....

I curse you
By the words and deeds you have sown, May you see their harvest tenfold
That of trans which you abhor
May the Divine, She who walks between the genders, grant you peace
Open your eyes to the reality of those whose experience is transgender
Heal your heart and increase your empathy for the reality of transgender family against whom you throw hate.
Create in you a receptacle of Understanding
And help you find Peace in shared Humanity.
So by my foregenders I bind this to you.

Live, learn, empathy

We will see, have to let this sit awhile now and "cook" in my dark dark soul. :-)

DeConstruction of Gay Pride.

This past weekend I was able to be present at Austin's Pride Festival. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity and for the way in which the Austin Gay and Lesbian Pride Foundation (AGLPF) gives back to the community.

Specifically, I am thankful that they support the mission of Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) in the Austin area and throughout the state.

Doing educational work across a vast state requires funds. Those funds are a tool that leverages change creation on the local level.


While at the festival there were two bags that caught my eye and caused me some consternation. One is the one to the left "Totes Gay", the other was "The Big Gay Bag"

So, before I "attack" the branding and marketing of these bags in predictable ways, let me take a moment to set up how context shapes our understanding and use of language.

AGLPF does an excellent job in calling their celebration "Austin Pride Festival", "Austin Pride Parade", etc. as compared to the too oft used "Gay pride parade, festival, etc. Why is one more appropriate than the other?
Because "Gay" does  not reflect the diversity of our community. I say that with the caveat that many use "gay" as an identity term, even in place of "transgender". I honor that, and respect that on the individual level, but have to question it at the meta, organizational, and macro levels.

The term "Gay" does not speak to the breadth of identities in the LGBTQQIAA+ community. Single terms
rarely do. The closest that we really have is "Queer" and that too is frought with controversy and problemitizations at the regional discourse and generational discourse levels.

Next, we could try to use a term that is inclusive but does not reference individual identities. "We could go with words like "Equality"....ie "Totes Equality" "Big Equality Bag", and Equality Festival . .....good option...except that:

1. Equality as in Equality Festival speaks to something that might be organized and launched by my second home Equality Texas.
2. "Equality" is a liberal term and does not resonate with our conservative family members. "Liberty" might, but is as problematic for our liberal family.

So, it seems that the best we have at this point might be "Pride". I am not sure, as I have not talked to conservative queer family members about feelings around the term "pride"....but at first blush it seems a better approach.

It also does not conjure images of carrying around a little gay person in a bag. 

Sorry, but "Totes Gay" also makes me think that there is a little gay person stuck inside the bag crying for release.

I bring this up not as a "shame shame" on those that created the "Totes Gay" and "Big Gay Bag"....not my intention at all. I bring it up as an educational opportunity first, and a thought experiment second of findings ways to brand that resonate appropriately with the great diversity that is the human family.

Thanks for reading.