How Bad Was the SNL Thing?

January 31, 2011 ·

Even The John thought it was wrong:

A colleague defended the SNL skit by comparing it to lampooning Sarah Palin – isn’t it okay to make fun of people, he asked. Well, that’s the same as defending making fun of someone for being a “f-g” by saying “we make fun of other people too, so why not make fun of gays? Why are they off limits?” Well, it depends. Are the people you’re making fun of an oppressed minority that doesn’t have full and equal rights in our society? Are they beaten and murdered for who they are, do their young far too often kill themselves because of the perceived taint of who they are? Will they lose their job and their family for who they are?

Gay? Yes. Trans, yes. Sarah Palin? Not so much.

The issue isn’t “can’t we make fun of people?” It’s very much a question of who you’re making fun of and what you’re saying about them. When you use offensive stereotypes to belittle an oppressed minority, the joke is not satire or parody that somehow teaches us all a lesson about tolerance. Rather, like this skit, or the Ron Howard “that car is gay” joke in his recent movie, simply reinforces the prejudice….

You mean like calling bisexuals “part-time gays” in order to score anti-trans ENDA points?

That’s why the SNL skit was wrong.

No…

That’s why, even though its nice to see The John take the position he’s taken regarding the SNL thing, just as with the ‘we thought The Simpsons’ 2005 gay marriage episode was okay even though it was even more transphobic than 2011’s Estro-Maxx, we lauded it and then, a week or so later, limpy chided it for being transphobic’ GLAAD…

I don’t buy the love.

[Cross-posted at ENDABlog]

In categories:Katrina Rose Politics
Next Post

Evan Wolfson: LGB or T and Single? Drop Dead!

Mr. Gay-Marriage-And-Nothing-Else-But-Gay-Marriage doubtlessly try to spin away from that characterization of a HuffPo piece, but if you're single and/or trans and/or LGB or T and currently living somewhere that doesn't provide access to the legal system for LGBTs to combat employment…
Read
Previous Post

Michael Bailey and Alice Dreger Are Up For GLAAD Awards For Television Screenwriting For Their Work On The Jan. 29, 2011, Edition of Saturday Night Live

Well, I can't say for certain that Bailey and Dreger wrote this bit (after all, it could have been Cathy Brennan and Shannon Avery for all I know - or maybe a menage a transphobique combining their 'talents' with those…
Read
Random Post

PLEASE! ‘Come For’ Us!

There’s a laughably pathetic piece of nonsense making the rounds right now – emanating from one of the usual pits of transexterminationistic insanity.  I have no intention of linking to it, but this is the beginning of it: First they…
Read
Random Post

The New "Faggots" Are Trans

Bayard Rustin is a civil rights icon of the African-American and gay civil rights movements. In 1986, Rustin gave a controversial speech entitled "The New 'Niggers' Are Gay," and that speech is included as an essay in the book Time…
Read
Random Post

I Can’t Get Over Being Told to ‘Get Over It’

It’s amazing what’s expected of us as trans people. We’re supposed to watch our trans sisters succumb to unspeakable brutality on a constant basis. We’re supposed to ignore the fact that we can be legally fired in thirty-eight states simply…
Read
Random Post

Genital Checking, Bad ENDA Language, and NCTE Lobby Days

Recently  I did an  interview with Ethan St. Pierre of Transfm.org. You can listen to here: We discussed a post at the Bay Area Reporter titled "Leaders: ENDA will get House vote this month", specifically comments from the executive director…
Read

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.