Large organizations, splatteringly inclusive research studies, and vague gay-friendly position papers love to trot out “LGBT” all the time. A lot of time they even spell it out, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender.” It’s such a ridiculously common phrase now that it’s turned into noise obscuring signals; you can search for “transgender” on Google, on various websites, or in long documents put out by gay orgs, and sometimes half the hits you get are for this phrase. It’s meaningless in part because it’s a catch-all for “gayness” that often doesn’t have anything to do with the “B” and the “T.” As trans activists and bisexual advocates have been pointing out for years, plastering “LGBT” all over documents or names of things doesn’t guarantee at all that anyone is actually being inclusive of trans and bi people and issues.
But it turns out that the inclusion of T in “LGBT” and of “transgender in its expanded form are really useful for one particular purpose: it makes the heads of right-wing idiots explode.
Shame on Dennis Hastert for joining tranny lobbyist firm
Did Denny Hastert Join a Tranny Lobby Firm?
(Also note, by the way, that they’re keeping Christian Siriano company in use of tacky, derogatory slang. I hope you all get by now that “tranny” is almost always a slur when used by non-trans people.)
I found these links via Wolfrum at Shakesville, and it looks like the information was originally from Open Left. Check out the glaring difference in how the issue’s framed by Open Left and what happened when the right-wing noticed it. Matt Stoller points out the hypocrisy of revolving door politics, especially with regard to gay rights. But the wingnuts are simply obsessed with the fact that anyone even said the word “transgender.” The appearance of that foulest of head-explodey words can be traced back to nerve, the sheer audacity, that this lobbying firm would include sentences like this in their corporate policy:
Dickstein Shapiro’s innovative solutions and superior client service come from the talent and diversity of our attorneys and staff. Our Firm has a steadfast commitment to fostering a diverse work environment in which racial and ethnic minorities, women, people with disabilities, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals enjoy an atmosphere of inclusion and respect.
To you or me, this might look like yet another meaningless token statement in favor of diversity. Especially with the standard GLBT formula, it seems statistically probable that Dickstein Shapiro hasn’t employed a single trans person. But that doesn’t really matter for the purposes of wingnuttery; they have a formulaic web page that says they’re willing to include transgender people. Therefore it must be a tranny lobbying firm, ewww! I mean, for God’s sake, many people in the reality-based community might actually see it as a positive development if there was more than a single actual currently-active transgender lobbying organization in the capital, but there’s not.
I feel fairly sure Dickstein Shapiro has devoted about zero seconds to lobbying for trans rights. But basic employment protections — of the sort suggested in their diversity policy — are something most Americans support, at least according to recent polls done about ENDA. And yes, most Americans even support protection against discrimination for trans people; many respondents in a survey I’ve heard mentioned even believe such protections are already guaranteed!
The first blogger linked above, Eisenstadt, is actually one of John McCain’s advisors. His should give us a good indication of the kind of intelligence McCain can draw on, and how out of step they are with actual American values. Most Americans don’t really support firing someone, or discriminating against them in hiring, just because they’re different in some way. Despite our problems, we’re a nation composed of many groups who are “different” somehow.