Thursday, January 22, 2015

What Do You Think?

I scrapped my planned blog because the non-profit that I’m a member of received an email and I want your opinion on it. I do not know if they have any trans members on their board or in leadership positions; but this is part of the email we got,
The STONEWALL Rebellion Veterans' Association ("S.V.A.") is comprised of the legendary veterans of the historic 1969 N.Y.C. Stonewall Rebellion by Gay boys and girls (not 'men' + 'women' as is sometimes wrongly reported) and their regular friends (not 'activists' as is often falsely stated) for Gay - with a capital "G" - civil rights at the now landmark Stonewall Club in Greenwich Village, New York City.  The monumental event established the modern Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Transgender (GLBT) community and launched the worldwide Gay rights movement, now benefiting millions of people, whether Gay or strait, in civil rights, marriage, employment, housing, hospital visitation, healthcare, insurance, apartment succession, legal, prison visits, joint tax filings, right of survivorship and many other benefits plus much more, i.e., respect!
Okay, what I have a problem with is “…legendary veterans of the historic 1969 N.Y.C. Stonewall Rebellion by Gay boys and girls…” and “…Gay - with a capital "G" - civil rights…” and “…worldwide Gay rights movement…” I feel that this marginalizes all the lesbians, bi, and trans people that took part in the uprising by lumping us under the “Gay” umbrella.

The email goes on to say,
>From the legendary Gay (observe the capital "Gay", not 'gay') people who originated the 'Gay Marriage' movement as of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion when, after the first night on June 27th, many signs read: "Gay Marriage" as well as "Gay Rights" and "Gay Power"; no alphabet GLBT soup non-sense!
As a member of the “alphabet GLBT soup” I find that offensive (also noticed that they put the guys first in LGBT, whatever happened to chivalry?).

So what do you think (and remember this was sent to a trans organization)?
Do you find the email open and affirming to all?
Or am I being overly sensitive?

1 comment:

  1. Stephanie Lee-Davis1/22/15, 10:11 AM

    That is because it's Glb=====>>t Always was, always will be.

    ReplyDelete