Campaigners attack ‘outrageous’ petition to drop ‘T’ from ‘LGBT’
A petition to drop the ‘T’ from ‘LGBT’ has been heavily criticised by LGBT rights organisations.
The Change.org petition, which has been signed by a thousand people, calls for ‘T’ to be removed from ‘LGBT’.
It was created by a group of gay, bisexual and lesbian women who want trans people to be “disassociated” with the term LGBT.
The petition reads: “In essence, we ask that organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, Lambda Legal and media outlets such as The Advocate, Out, Huff Post Gay Voices, etc., stop representing the transgender community as we feel their ideology is not only completely different from that promoted by the LGB community (LGB is about sexual orientation, trans is about gender identity), but is ultimately regressive and actually hostile to the goals of women and gay men.”
It was authored by an anonymous person with the username ‘Drop the T’, and notes hostility by Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists, or ‘TERFs’, towards the trans community.
The petition goes on to note the apparent “vilification and harassment of women and gay men/lesbian individuals who openly express disagreement with the trans ideology.”
It also notes comments made by feminist author Germaine Greer, who recently said trans women are “can’t be women”, and attacks the trans community and its allies for “re-writing gay and lesbian history,” after complaints that Roland Emmerich’s film ‘Stonewall’ erased gender non-conforming people of colour from its telling of the Stonewall riots.
The author writes: “Particularly frustrating was the fact that media outlets such as The Advocate, Out and Huff Post Gay Voices, who should have been the first to point out the fallacy of this notion, actually went along with the lie.”
They go on to claim that if laws like the recently defeated Houston ordinance to protect LGBT people were passed, cisgender men would pretend to be trans in order to infiltrate women’s bathrooms.
The author claims: “We are not advocating intolerance or prejudice against the transgender community; we recognize and respect the right of adults to determine their own path in life… [it] cannot occur by infringing upon the rights of women, gay men, and children.”
“In the end, we feel that the transgender ideology is not compatible with the rights of women, gay men and children and ask that the organizations and media outlets mentioned above disassociate themselves from the transgender movement and return to representing their base support of gay men and lesbians.”
GLAAD has responded to the petition with a statement, calling the petition “outrageous” and “destructive”.
The statement reads: “GLAAD stands firmly with the transgender community and unequivocally rejects the outrageous and destructive idea that the ‘T’ be removed from LGBT,” said GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement.
“For decades, transgender people have worked alongside lesbian, gay, and bisexual people to advance equality for everyone, often leading the way in the movement for full equality and acceptance. Many trans people are also lesbian, gay, and bisexual — they are an inextricable and invaluable part of the LGB community. At a time when anti-LGBT activists continue to attack the basic rights and protections essential to all of our lives, we must stand together, rather than succumb to the ruin of divisiveness.”
Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, also condemned the petition.
He said: “This is unequivocally wrong. The hate that killed Matthew Shepard killed Zella Ziona. The bullies at school aren’t just harassing the gay kids, they’re harassing the transgender kids. The parents who could provide loving homes for the 400,000 children in foster care aren’t only lesbian parents, or gay parents, they’re bisexual parents and transgender parents.
“This idea that we are somehow separate and apart is patently untrue. We are one movement, stronger in our unity. We are one community, period. And the Human Rights Campaign will not be done working until equality reaches every single one of us.”
Due to abusive messages, comments have been disabled on this article.
