Barney Frank, get out of my pants
Via The Sexist:
Barney Frank has this to say about a trans-inclusive ENDA:
He said concessions were made in the drafting of the language to address moderates’ concerns. For instance, Frank said, transgender people with “one set of genitals” would not be able to go to a bathroom for people with another set of genitals.
And, Frank said, they also would have to have a “consistent gender presentation” in order to be able to sue for discrimination. “They can’t sit there with a full beard and a dress,” Frank said.
Really, Barney Frank? How about writing in some language that lesbians and gays better act straight or they’ll not be able to sue for discrimination? Cuz, really, folks get put off by all that nelly swishy shit, don’t you know?
Honestly, I can’t even bring myself to critique this, and if folks can read it and still not see why it is transphobic I’m at a loss. Policing us is no less oppressive when it’s done by gay people, and Barney Frank is using the language of oppressors here.
Classist (only those who can afford or choose to have genital surgery get to use the bathroom?), misogynist (women aren’t women if they have facial hair), anti-Intersex (there are only two kinds of genitals in Frank’s world)… I could go on, but I’ve said it before: Social justice is not going to come from cis, white men.
ETA: As there is a significant amount of not getting my point happening already, I’ll add this to the final sentence:
Cis, white men who know this become part of social justice activism (or they engage their privilege). Barney Frank is not a social justice activist, he is a politician. He’s showing that willingness to throw out solidarity for the self-interest of “deal making.” He has shown before his willingness to sell out others, and as such we shouldn’t trust him in the least, and we should call out his privilege and his acts of oppression.
Trackbacks
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- ENDA: Barney Frank Shows His True Colors Yet Again « Questioning Transphobia
- Uneasy allies: Trans women and Cis gay men « gudbuy t'jane
- dear traditional values coalition: i am Mary and i do teach your kids. | inchoaterica
Barney Frank has been consistently transphobic his entire life. I don’t know why people are expecting him to change any time soon. He is not our ally.
What I would like to know is: Since when do other people know what “set of genitals” other people in the restroom with them have? I mean, okay sure, if you have a penis and you’re standing at the urinal next to someone with a penis standing at the urinal.
But if you’re uncomfortable with such up-close-and-personal genital examination, mightn’t you just go into a stall and close the door? How is this an issue? Why are we doing genital policing? Why is it a problem!? Why is it even a concern for people to address in legislation? Oh my god. I’m just going to have to make my own post about it because I’m that pissed off.
I had the same thought, Jules. Are they going to institute genital-checks at the door to the bathroom now? Why does it even matter what a person’s external genitalia look like in this context? That’s what stalls are for.
And where do we draw the line on “consistent gender presentation”? If you can’t have a full beard and a dress and be protected by this “inclusive” ENDA, can you have long hair, breasts, and wear men’s suits and be covered? Who defines “consistency” for one’s gender presentation?
And who wants to bet that, even after this has been watered down for the “moderates”, it will still garner not. one. Republican. vote? Just like HCR. I am so sick of this sham of compromise. When will they learn that it DOES NOT WORK?
The thing is, I don’t think Frank is making any concessions here. I think this is pretty much how he feels. He’s got a pretty horrible record on trans issues and it can’t all be from concessions. Inserting that language and failing to see why it’s harmful is at best willful ignorance, after all of the efforts by trans activists to educate him, and at worst malicious and transphobic and simply being passed off as supposedly necessary concessions.
Frank served 3 full terms in the House before coming out and now he wants to make other people disclose information about their genitalia before they can urinate at work. When he finally came out, he said, “‘I don’t think my sex life is relevant to my job.” Well, I’m fairly certain that most Americans don’t feel like their genitals are relevant to their jobs either.
I agree with everything in the post save it’s conclusion. There will always be some good allies, and the goal of a vanguard, like with every other social change, is to build a supportive silent majority around this vanguard.
That and cis women can definitely take the oppression train to not-getting-it-town too. And no, I see no need to break out a list.
Unfortunately, Barney Frank will continually throw the trans community if it gets cis white gay men some measure of equality. As a cis white gay man, this saddens me and forces me to send letters.
Eeek, sorry Mod’s left out the phrase “under the bus” as in. Unfortunately, Barney Frank will continually throw the trans community under the bus, if it gets cis white gay men some measure of equality. As a cis white gay man, this saddens me and forces me to send letters.
This can’t be true, just listen to Mara Keisling and NCTE. You are getting very sleepy…..
And people wonder why I keep saying I have no real faith in the federal legislature for trans-equality. What transphobic people like Frank don’t see is that part of the problem is without gender expression being protected, swishy boys and butch girls are still going to have the same discrimination.
“I don’t care that you sleep with men, I’m firing you for looking like a [fag] woman.” Change one word, it means the same thing. Not protecting trans people hurts the cis, white gay community as well.
I think the part that bothers me the most about his statement is the complete lack of both awareness and concern for just how broad of a spectrum gender identity, presentation and thus discrimination really is. The more people build invisible walls like this, the more possibilities that go ignored and thus unaddressed. And then the problem just continues because things keep falling through the cracks.
They never seem to surprise me anymore.