Separate and Unequal

I was reading the story of the law firm and lawyers who quit working for the supporters in Congress with the legal case to support the DOMA after the Justice Department, and really President Obama, decided not to support the DOMA in both the enforcement and legal challenges, currently going through the courts to eventually land in the Supreme Court.

It shows what the GLB community has gained since the first legal challenge to discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1961, and more so since the late 1960's following the Stonewall riots in New York City, which by the way wasn't about gays or lesbians but about transgender people who were the ones who fought back, far more than the gays and lesbians.

But this situation and the DOMA shows that the GLB community is separate and unequal, more in reality, than the T(rans) community. It's been that way since Stonewall and it will continue as long as gay discriminate against transpeople, treating them either as cross-dressers and drag queens, the former being mostly straight part-time men and the latter mostly gay men performing as women.

And often treating them as less than human. Gays don't really like transwomen, as many women and many lesbians don't like them either. But gays don't because it's about their penis and manhood. Gays don't mind and often like men who play at being women, they don't like them when they actually become women, physically and legally.

Overblown? Not really. Consider all the support the GLB community voiced for all-inclusive ENDA a few years ago to get the transcommunity support and work on the bill. But when it was clear it wouldn't pass, and they blamed the transpeople, they dropped the T in the bill faster than you picking up a hot skillet off the stove.

And in recent rounds to get it passed, they did the same thing again, but were suprised when the transcommunity wanted assurances of inclusion beyond words. Gee, like transpeople don't trust gay men anymore? Really they don't. I wouldn't and don't. At least on issues.

Gay men aren't really any different than other men, only their sexual preferences are different. Gay men are just men being men, and all the reason never to trust them farther than you can see them walking away from you in a crooked hallway, meaning about 10 seconds after they stop talking.

And that's the crux that the transcommunity has learned over the last decade and decided to forego help from the GLB community as seen in recent discussions with politicians and the White House. Stand alone and proud and do what you know is right, and if the GLB community wants to be there for you, great, but for your cause and issue, for your results to get fairness and equality, and not for anything or anyone else.

This is where the DOMA is interesting in that it never defined who was a man or a woman since that is the jurisdiction of the states, and where there is the full range of diversity of legal definitions. The DOMA never distinguished between a genetic man or woman and a legally defined (by surgery and birth certificate) man or woman, and the states differ.

Something the gay community never wanted to discuss to confuse the argument for their case, which was simple, recognition for gay men in marriages, and lesbians get a free ride if they join the fight. And transpeople? Well, that's another fight later. Or so said the gay community. Let's not confuse the politicians and public.

But the real issue to them was association with transpeople. They didn't want and don't want transpeople to have the same rights, have the equality in work, life, marriage, etc., and have the same protections from discrimination. At least not in the same deal as them. It's ok to covertly support transpeople, just don't make gay men be overt about it.

That pesky penis thing they deep-down don't like when transwomen have "that" surgery (SRS/GRS) to become women. It really it scares them that some women-born-male aren't men and want to transistion to be whole and complete women, physically and legally, and some men-born-female, keep their vagina as men. Alien concept to them and alien they think they are.

It's why the DADT policy never touched on transpeople and the DOMA hasn't. The gay community kept it out of the discussion. The seperate and unequal concept. The transcommunity can help the GLB causes and issues with nuggets of vocal support, but, in the end, not legal support. Some gays did help transpeople and the transcommunity, but they wouldn't and didn't stand up when the pressure was on passage of the bills.

And that's the lesson learned. The transcommunity has learned to be separate and equal, and then be inclusive as equals, not forgotten people.