Is It Something I Said?-More Musing About B.Scott

Been an interesting 48 hours since I wrote the B.Scott post that included the tweet I made hours after Scott's 'I'm trans' announcement

The reason I wrote the post in the first place is because I'm quite aware of the fact as a longtime Twitter user you cannot covey the nuances of a constantly evolving subject like transness in a 140 character tweet and I felt the need to further clarify where my head was at when I typed it. 

I'm not retracting or deleting the tweet because it's exactly what I was thinking at the time.  I also wrote almost eight years ago on these electronic pages:

There are times that what I write on an issue is going to be in lock step with your worldview and other times it's going to piss you off.  But the goal in either case is I want people doing hard, solid thinking and talking about the subject.

And boy have I gotten what I wanted to happen in this case and then some.  It triggered this interview one from Janet Mock.  Some folks are annoyed to pissed with moi because I did say it.  Others are congratulating me for having the guts to say what they were thinking as well in terms of asking the valid question that's percolating in many trans people's minds about the timing and sincerity of his 'I'm transgender' declaration.' 

I've gotten comments on my Facebook page and e-mails pro and con about it (mostly pro).   But for those of you criticizing me over the post that I included the Tweet in (and really didn't have to when I composed it), you also keep missing the money paragraph in which I said this. 

I'm quite aware of and know evolution and shifting along the gender line segment happens with people as they gain self-awareness and knowledge about where they fall under the trans umbrella.  I'm also quite aware of the fact that sometimes it takes years to get comfortable with the spot you're in under the trans umbrella.  But it's the timing of the 'I'm transgender' declaration that has my 'things that make you go hmm' antennae up.

So hello, I'm not 'erasing genderqueer identities', 'doing gender policing', 'hatin' on B. Scott' or some of the other specious charges that have been leveled in my direction.  

The post was not an attack on B Scott as I presumed I made crystal clear on August 7 or is debating whether he belongs under the trans umbrella or not.  I believe B.Scott does on the drag-genderqueer end of the umbrella.

I am amenable to the idea of having a discussion with B. Scott in the near future about his 'I'm transgender' declaration and exactly where he sees himself. 

I also want to make it clear to him why there are transpeople who have issues with that August 7 declaration 

Many of us on the end of the trans umbrella and gender line segment who live our lives as African descended transfeminine women have been in some cases for decades out there taking the slings and arrows of being trans as we live and fight for recognition of our humanity and human rights. 

Some of the people we've have to battle in that struggle for recognition of our humanity are sadly same gender loving people in our community.  Some of those SGL haters have been self identified effeminate gay men who bristle or get offended if you call them 'Miss', conflate them with transsexuals or ask them when they are going to have SRS. 

There's a sentiment fueling this 'yeah, right' reaction that's encapsulated by something that activist Nadia Belinda Roberts wrote (no relation) in a Facebook discussion on the issue.
"Everybody wants to be Trans, but they don't want to BE Trans!"  

In other words, what Nadia is saying is that some trans women are of the opinion that some of the peeps under the trans umbrella want the benefits and perks of being able to perform femininity under the protection of it but don't want the other negative baggage that comes with taking on the trans feminine label. 

And when it comes to Black trans women, that baggage includes the horrific levels of anti-trans violence and 'unwoman' negativity we deal with inside and outside the Black community.    

That's a discussion for another day.   Why Scott is getting some skeptical reaction is driven by that sentiment and the fact that before August 7, 2013 Scott lived his life as a self-declared androgynous gay man.  If B. Scott had made the "I'm transgender" announcement before the BET incident and now subsequent multimillion dollar lawsuit, I submit there would be less controversy in Trans World about it and more 'welcome to Team Trans' sentiment about it instead of the 'yeah, right' sentiment prevalent in sections of it.     

Now I can't or don't have the ability to read B. Scott's mind, and can only go by what he has stated in Janet's interview or future ones as to whether his epiphany concerning his gender journey is valid and led him to make the declaration at this time.

But only future efforts to reach out to those of us on the transsexual-trans feminine end of the umbrella and the passage of time will reveal the next chapter in this unfolding B. Scott gender saga