I sometimes wonder about the militancy of LGBT people — particularly trans people. Sometimes it seems like LGBT people are a little bit oversensitive. But a reported incident of transphobia recently made me angry, to the point that I wanted to lash out in this blog, to give the alleged gulity party (or parties) the one-figured salute with the verbal “up you!” annotation.
The incident: A trans person is reporting (see Gaystar News report) that she was repeatedly — and purposefully — misgendered and humiliated by a comedian on stage at a Microsoft Xbox event at the Eurogamer Expo in London.
And she reports that she received further transphobic abuse afterward on Twitter from gamers.
I have to confess that if it had happened to me, I would have given the comedian a piece of my mind right then and there, on stage, in front of everyone. I would have let the world know what a bigoted, ignorant, transphobic jerk he was. And I probably would have called for a boycott of Microsoft Xbox — given that boycotts of products are all the rage these days (see reports about Barilla).
I want to remind all LGBT people that they do not owe anyone explanations or apologies for their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. And when you are the victims of ignorance and bigotry, speak up.
And, once again, don’t grant media interviews unless those media outlets guarantee that they will moderate — and delete — hateful comments from readers.
Jillian
