My school district, like many others, recently endured a governing board public comment section that rivaled a Saturday Night Love skit. And, that’s the problem right there. We all described the alt right Christo fascists as bizarre caricatures, laughably stupid and unserious. We object to the demeaning and invalidating comments they made against the trans community, sure, but one has to wonder what the response would have been by the watching public, the governing board, or the press if the dehumanizing verbiage they levied at a trans child had been said about a black student or a Jewish student or a student with special needs. I think, their microphone would have been turned off as protection of free speech doesn’t have to extend to hate speech. I think articles would have been written about the members of the public who came to make those bigoted statements. I think my old school district’s governing board and others in the same predicament would seek legal counsel in an effort to limit hate speech that targets their very own students. Per Arizona law, school governing boards do not have to allow for public comment. Until the targeted attacks on trans students occur- maybe that’s an option we should be exploring. I don’t know. But, I do know, we’d be doing an awful lot more about it if the attacks were directed at any group other than the trans community.
So, thank you for the reminder that I need to speak up, again, and use my voice to encourage others to do more. I know I can do more and I promise that I will.
A great book and introduction to transgender kids and their families is “Becoming Nicole: The inspiring story of transgender actor-activist Nicole Maines and her extraordinary family” by Amy Ellis Nutt. Available on Amazon.
Very good hearing a positive column about transgenders. Thanks. On my play list is a song by the Kinks, Lola. Came out in 1970. It’s about a transgender woman and a man who fell in love. “Walked like a woman and talked like a man”. One of the great songs of the 70’s. Way before it’s time. Should be played at trans rallies. 🥳
Thank you Hank and Rachel for being humble enough to own your mistakes in reporting about trans folks and to let a member of our community highlight how to do it better. Gaelle's words are powerful and give so much good info about how to report on this topic. This is not a morally neutral place where both sides have a valid opinion that should be aired, and journalists need to stop acting like it is!
Arizona Agenda kicks it out of the ballfield again! What a great and educational piece, and what a great idea to lend a platform to a critic! Daily i am happy to be a subscriber, but today even a little bit more than usual!
I read this article when it came out the other day and took more from it than I thought. In today’s NYT, there was an article about food inflation and how it is changing consumers’ buying habits. In the middle of an article quoting many different people, only one of them had their pronouns mentioned. Mx. Anderson, 37, who uses they/them pronouns... Truly unnecessary since 1) not all subjects were mentioned by pronoun and 2) it had no bearing on the topic of the article.
I may not have noticed that imbalance?/inequity? before reading Gaelle’s article.
Thanks Gaelle, I learned something from you this morning.
Thank you, Gaelle. I needed to read this.
My school district, like many others, recently endured a governing board public comment section that rivaled a Saturday Night Love skit. And, that’s the problem right there. We all described the alt right Christo fascists as bizarre caricatures, laughably stupid and unserious. We object to the demeaning and invalidating comments they made against the trans community, sure, but one has to wonder what the response would have been by the watching public, the governing board, or the press if the dehumanizing verbiage they levied at a trans child had been said about a black student or a Jewish student or a student with special needs. I think, their microphone would have been turned off as protection of free speech doesn’t have to extend to hate speech. I think articles would have been written about the members of the public who came to make those bigoted statements. I think my old school district’s governing board and others in the same predicament would seek legal counsel in an effort to limit hate speech that targets their very own students. Per Arizona law, school governing boards do not have to allow for public comment. Until the targeted attacks on trans students occur- maybe that’s an option we should be exploring. I don’t know. But, I do know, we’d be doing an awful lot more about it if the attacks were directed at any group other than the trans community.
So, thank you for the reminder that I need to speak up, again, and use my voice to encourage others to do more. I know I can do more and I promise that I will.
A great book and introduction to transgender kids and their families is “Becoming Nicole: The inspiring story of transgender actor-activist Nicole Maines and her extraordinary family” by Amy Ellis Nutt. Available on Amazon.
Thank you for writing this Gaelle, and thank you to the Agenda for giving her a platform!
Very good hearing a positive column about transgenders. Thanks. On my play list is a song by the Kinks, Lola. Came out in 1970. It’s about a transgender woman and a man who fell in love. “Walked like a woman and talked like a man”. One of the great songs of the 70’s. Way before it’s time. Should be played at trans rallies. 🥳
Thank you Hank and Rachel for being humble enough to own your mistakes in reporting about trans folks and to let a member of our community highlight how to do it better. Gaelle's words are powerful and give so much good info about how to report on this topic. This is not a morally neutral place where both sides have a valid opinion that should be aired, and journalists need to stop acting like it is!
Arizona Agenda kicks it out of the ballfield again! What a great and educational piece, and what a great idea to lend a platform to a critic! Daily i am happy to be a subscriber, but today even a little bit more than usual!
I read this article when it came out the other day and took more from it than I thought. In today’s NYT, there was an article about food inflation and how it is changing consumers’ buying habits. In the middle of an article quoting many different people, only one of them had their pronouns mentioned. Mx. Anderson, 37, who uses they/them pronouns... Truly unnecessary since 1) not all subjects were mentioned by pronoun and 2) it had no bearing on the topic of the article.
I may not have noticed that imbalance?/inequity? before reading Gaelle’s article.
There’s always room for growth!