More Trans Misogyny From Browning, Continued Silence From GLAAD

Today, Bil Browning–Editor-in-Chief of The Bilerico Project, a website being honored by GLAAD–has posted yet another offensive entry targeting a woman of trans history. In this entry he labels transsexual advocate Ashley Love a “nutjob” and a “Twitter troll” for her analysis of the climate of hostility towards trans women perpetuated by many (not all! *hugs!*) non-trans gay males. The post is titled “More Crazy Conspiracy Theories & Assumptions” and ultimately is another derail from taking responsibility for inaccurately reporting the Savage glittering incident.

Ironically, he charges Love with not “sticking with the facts” something he himself is being criticized for as a result of his unrepentant attitude towards mislabeling the activists who allegedly glittered Savage as trans. This issue has been covered ad nauseam.

In previous weeks, Browning has used his website to call me a “hypocritical idiot” in an entry titled “The Stupid Burns Files: No 3842” and has identified Katrina Rose as the leader of an imaginary “trans mafia” in an entry titled “Another Rabid Conspiracy Theory.” He is yet to apologize for, retract, or correct any of several articles on his website unfairly scolding the trans* community for the glittering of Dan Savage.

Browning’s disrespect towards women of transsexual history is not isolated. In October 2011 he twice mislabeled Ashley Love as “transgender,” tagged her as a “notorious troublemaker,” and characterized her work in bringing attention to the lack of representation of trans women of color at the NAACP’s past conference as “[crashing] a panel discussion he was moderating” and “trying to get everyone pissed off at Don Lemon.” That entry was titled “OWS: Ashley Love Strikes Again.” Lemon has gone on to blame a child’s transness on her mother and suggest that she shouldn’t express herself truly (another issue GLAAD was silent on).

The mislabeling of Ashley Love as “transgender” parallels the labeling of the queer activist group The Homomiltia as “trans activists” because it is apparent Browning disapproves of both and uses trans language to express this. Love is outspoken about not identifying with the term transgender, just as The Homomilitia cited transphobia as one of many issues they have with Savage and never self-identified as trans. Browning’s reassignment of trans or transgender labels in both cases is an act of cissexism by denying self-identity to either Ashley Love or The Homomilitia in favor of what he wants to call them.

Browning’s tendency to dismiss trans women is echoed in his comment from June of 2011 which is hopefully well known by now.

When outsiders to the trans community see response to transphobic slurs or discussions as excessive it is precisely because GLAAD and self-professed LGBTQ news blogs in the public eye refuse to treat us with respect or remain accountable for content regarding our communities. GLAAD’s choice to honor a website edited by a person with a history of disrespect towards women of transsexual history is scandalous.

GLAAD’s choice to award Bilerico is an endorsement of “cue the outraged trans women” and all the reasons those women are in queue. GLAAD’s choice to award Bilerico is an endorsement of the mislabeling of a transsexual activist as “transgender.” GLAAD’s choice to award Bilerico is an endorsement of fact-free reporting on “trans activists” and the “trans community” which has inevitably encouraged more transphobia as expressed in comments like this one on another site GLAAD is awarding:

Even if political solidarity is shelved, we deserve mutual respect. The demeaning language as a result of inaccurate reporting on the glitter incident, the demeaning language used against those who call out this behavior, and the expected nature of this disrespect are characteristic of the accepted transphobia permeating LGBT+ spaces.

We should be beyond this. “Eff those trannies right in their fake gashes” should not be on an LGBT news blog in 2012. Fact-free claims about the trans community should not remain on LGBTQ news blogs after they have been called out. If activists want to talk about “it gets better,” then let’s make it better now by being accountable and sensitive to issues of representation and self-determination.

cross-posted from Trans Femmergy