November 9, 2015 :: 5:04 AM
The Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD have issued public responses to an online petition calling on them, as well as other LGBT organizations, to ‘Drop the T’ and stop representing the transgender community.
The Change.org petition, so far signed by 1,300 people, claims to be from “a group of gay/bisexual men and women.” It calls on the HRC, GLAAD, Lambda Legal, The Advocate, Out and HuffPost Gay Voices to “stop representing the transgender community as we feel their ideology is not only completely different from that promoted by the LGB community … but is ultimately regressive and actually hostile to the goals of women and gay men.”
The petition goes on to criticize the trans community for “the vilification and harassment of women and gay/lesbian individuals who openly express disagreement with the trans ideology,” adopts the popular right wing complaint about trans access to gendered bathrooms, and diagnosing gender dysphoria in young children who would supposedly otherwise grow up to be “well-adjusted gay men and women.”
Both the HRC and GLAAD have already issued formal responses to the complaint.
“This is unequivocally wrong,” wrote HRC President Chad Griffin. “The hate that killed Matthew Shepard killed Zella Ziona. The bullies at school aren’t just harassing the gay kids, they’re harassing the transgender kids. The parents who could provide loving homes for the 400,000 children in foster care aren’t only lesbian parents, or gay parents, they’re bisexual parents and transgender parents. This idea that we are somehow separate and apart is patently untrue. We are one movement, stronger in our unity. We are one community, period. And the Human Rights Campaign will not be done working until equality reaches every single one of us.”
“GLAAD stands firmly with the transgender community and unequivocally rejects the outrageous and destructive idea that the ‘T’ be removed from LGBT,” echoed GLAAD CEO & President Sarah Kate Ellis. “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.”
A counter-petition has since been launched, calling on LGBT groups to reject the ‘Drop the T’ petition. That petition has already gained more than 2,000 signatories – more than the original, in a shorter space of time.