TransGriot Nuke A Troll 29-You Were Saying?

Another day, another person I need to drop 50 megatons of knowledge on

This time it's Johan Baumeister, who seemed to have a problem with the March 28 guest post that Denny wrote called 'What Gay Marriage WON'T Do' that expressed his concerns about the overemphasis of the LGBT movement on marriage equality to the detriment of everything else. 

I understand that there is justification for criticism of the marriage-centric "equality" movement.

But a few points for you:

1) Don't eat your allies. It makes them not want to be our allies in the first place.

2) Don't assume you know what someone else's oppression is (like you did in your second-to-last paragraph) and then simultaneously (and justifiably) criticize them for assuming what your oppression is. It undermines all the actual, reality-based points of your argument.

3) I don't think I've heard a single person say gay marriage will fix everything.

I've heard some racist, ignorant shit from twinky, privileged, white cis-boys in WeHo. I've also heard some ignorant shit here. I get you're hurt, and left behind or left out of a lot of what the "movement" talks about.

The solution isn't to tear others down.

5...4...3...2...1   launch

I'm going to give Denny his chance to respond to your comments in another guest post, but since it's my blog, I get first crack at you. 

I'm going to start this with the words of the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, from his 'Letter From A Birmingham Jail' 

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.  

I get so tired of hearing the assertion in predominately white LGBT circles that justified criticism of the strategies taken by this movement, especially when they come from people of color, is seen as 'eating your allies' or 'tearing others down'.

If it was good enough for Dr. King when he called out in 'Letter From a Birmingham Jail' the white moderate as the biggest impediment to Black human rights, we trans and SGL African-Americans are going to speak our minds and call it like we see it in terms of the civil rights movements of our times.  

What Denny did is in the traditional mold of  Black leadership (and is what I try to role model) in speaking truth to power and questioning the wisdom of policy stances.  It's going to be contentious, but needs to be done. in order for better policy more reflective of all the voices of the LGBT community to come out of the process.  

As the late Dr. Ronald Walters defined it:

The task of Black leadership is to provide the vision, resources, tactics, and strategies that facilitate the achievement of the objectives of Black people.

These objectives have been variously described as freedom, integration, equality, liberation, or defined in the terms of specific public policies. It is a role that often requires disturbing the peace. And we constantly carry on a dialogue about the fitness of various leaders and the qualities they bring to the table to fulfill this mission.

Denny's post is echoing the thoughts of many people in Black trans and SGL World concerning the wisdom of pursuing an 'all marriage all the time' strategy when many people in our community are reeling from double digit unemployment.   And as for your other point of you never heard anyone claim gay marriage will fix everything, as recently as August 22, 2011  Richard Socarides made the claim that the achievement of marriage equality would bring trans rights along in its wake.  

To quote Dr. Jillian Weiss, "The idea that marriage equality is going to help transgender rights is a theory that has no evidence to back it up.”

Um no it didn't in New York, where trans people are STILL waiting for SONDA to be passed over a decade after they were cut out of an inclusive bill in 2002 that protects only GL people.  The same reprehensible pattern is taking shape in Maryland in which the legislative session concluded April 8 with another trans rights bill dying in committee and GL people since 2001 having rights that they once again threw transpeople under the legislative bus to get.  

As for your comment that what Denny posted is 'ignorant'...Exactly which one of those points that he discussed in the post about what gay marriage won't do is 'ignorant' in your mind?

Gay Marriage will not end racism, or transphobia?    He's right on that one.  
Gay Marriage will not end queer teen homelessness?   
On target there, too.
Gay Marriage won’t stop me from being fired from my job? 
Sure won't, and especially true if your trans. 

Gay Marriage will not end bullying?
On point there as well. 

Looking forward to seeing Denny's response to your comment, but in the meantime, duck and cover and don't look at the flash when the troll nuke goes off.