We are a group of gay/bisexual men and women who have come to the conclusion that the transgender community needs to be disassociated from the larger LGB community; in essence, we ask that organizations… stop representing the transgender community as we feel their ideology is not only completely different from that promoted by the LGB community (LGB is about sexual orientation, trans is about gender identity), but is ultimately regressive and actually hostile to the goals of women and gay men.
The petition, passionately lacking in human empathy, then breaks down the skewed reasoning in a series of lengthy bullet points: namely, the “vilification and harassment of women and gay/lesbian individuals who openly express disagreement with the trans ideology;” “The infringement of the rights of individuals, particularly women, to performance normal everyday activities in traditional safe spaces based on sex;” “the appropriation and re-writing of gay and lesbian history and culture, most notably attempting to re-cast the majority gay white men [sic] who participated in the Stonewall riots as transgender; and “persuading parents and health professionals to diagnose children as young as four as transgender.”
Several groups have responded to the petition, which as of this writing has 1,380 supporters.
GLAAD responded, in part:
“GLAAD stands firmly with the transgender community and unequivocally rejects the outrageous and destructive idea that the ‘T’ be removed from LGBT,” said GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement. “For decades, transgender people have worked alongside lesbian, gay, and bisexual people to advance equality for everyone, often leading the way in the movement for full equality and acceptance. Many trans people are also lesbian, gay, and bisexual — they are an inextricable and invaluable part of the LGB community. At a time when anti-LGBT activists continue to attack the basic rights and protections essential to all of our lives, we must stand together, rather than succumb to the ruin of divisiveness.”
Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin had this to say:
In response, a new Change.org petition titled “We stand with trans people – Reject ‘Drop the T” has been posted online:
“We, the undersigned, urge the organisations petitioned by ‘Drop the T’ to disregard their call to disassociate themselves from promoting the issues of trans people alongside the rest of the LGBTQ+ community.
We find the petition by ‘Drop the T’ to be insulting, inaccurate and transphobic and we want to make it clear that this narrow group of people do not speak for the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.”
The petition currently has 2,293 signatures. You can sign it here.
