“For over 25 years, GLAAD has worked with news, entertainment and social media to bring culture-changing stories of LGBT people into millions of homes and workplaces every day.
Why? Because words and images matter.”
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation exists to hold media accountable for the words and images they present. Recently, GLAAD called for the termination of CNN’s Roland Martin for an allegedly homophobic tweet. CNN ultimatelysuspended Martin in response. Hooray, said GLBT Organizations, including GLAAD and the Equality Forum. Mission accomplished.
Now, what happens when the Anti-Defamation Organization promotes defamation? That is, who watches the watchdog?
In early March, GLAAD highlighted the work of Monica K. Roberts on its website. Roberts recently published a post on the website of Ebony.com that GLAAD cross-posted, along with this note: “GLAAD worked closely with both Monica Roberts and EBONY.com to place this article.”
For years, lesbians and feminists have condemned Roberts for referring to females and lesbians as “Fish” on theTransGriot blog. Roberts also frequently threatens to “pimp slap” women and anyone else who disagrees with the unique world view Roberts pushes.
“Fish” is a slur against Females and we don’t like it. It reeks of misogyny, reducing Females to what Males think of us (and think we are). “Pimp Slap” invokes violence against Females. Roberts also threatened me last August because another feminist and I wrote a letter to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Womenquestioning anti-feminist “Gender Identity” legislation pushed by national GLBT Organizations.
The GLBT Community has made great hay out of anti-bullying campaigns and has condemned violent threats against Gays when made by our “opponents.” But when Roberts threatened me, nary a peep was heard (with at least one notable exception, thanks Jillian Weiss); suggesting, of course, that violence is acceptable if the speaker says something with which you disagree.
GLAAD knows about Robert’s violent and Misogynist language against females and lesbians because we have told GLAAD. And yet, rather than censure Roberts, GLAAD glorifies Roberts’ work and ignores our well-founded concerns.
Sadly, this fails to surprise me. Misogyny and Sexism is rampant in the GLBT Community. AMERICABlog, a popular blog focusing on “Gay concerns,” has no Female bloggers. Bilerico does better by the numbers, but its editor, Bil Browning, has demonstrated his disdain for lesbians and feminists more than once, noting, for example, that that although he will delete Misogynist comments about lesbian feminists, such comments make him smile.
So, GLAAD, who watches Gay Media? Who watches you? Who calls out misogyny? Who calls out sexism? Who calls out women hatred? Remember, Lesbians are FEMALE – Misogyny is a Lesbian issue.
Truth is, no one watches GLAAD, no one watches Gay Blogs, no one watches GLBT Organizations, no one calls out Misogyny, and no one calls out Sexism.
Why would they? Misogyny and Sexism are deeply ingrained in Gay Culture. Before the whole Trans Shtick came along, there were few objections to Drag Culture – even though Drag Culture is Misogynistic. The Gay Male Community rarely if ever objected to characterizations of Lesbians has “man-hating dykes” or “too ugly to get a man” or “fishy.”
GLBT Organizations do not address Misogyny or Sexism because they cannot – if they did, the Gay Males who fund these organizations might complain and stop funding them. Thus, the GLBT Movement message of “Equality” is that Gay Males deserve to be equal. MoveOn.org recently released a video that promises to send chills down your spine when you see the “oppression” Gays suffer.
Oh, I reacted – with sheer anger that our Movement ignores Females. Now, I am happy for Marriage Equality, and I am proud of my friends who worked to achieve it here, but understand this – Marriage Equality will not make Females equal. Females will continue to lag behind in every single way because the GLBT Community and our broader culture will never address Sexism and Misogyny.
And that brings me back to Monica Roberts. Here, GLAAD, are some of Monica’s greatest hits:
Anti-defamation? Sure. Right. We get your message, GLAAD, and it ain’t Female-loving.
Friday, 09 March 2012
You think I just don't understand, but I don't believe you. 
[…] So Not GLAAD exposes how a prominent gay/lesbian rights organization doesn’t follow its own policies when it comes to women Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. […]
[…] So Not GLAAD covers the same shameful behavior by the GLBT organization Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeOne blogger likes this post. […]
Look, your positions here are very clear and obviously very entrenched, so I doubt anything I can say will change your mind at all, but from someone who has just stumbled on your blog, I have to say:
What this looks like to me is one of those situations where obsession with form manages to completely miss the seriousness of the content. It’s not even missing the forest for the trees — it’s like, being so obsessed with the cell structure of the lichens on the rocks in one square meter of the forest that you miss the fact that you are in the middle of the Appalachians or something.
What Roberts is reporting on here is that these young queer people are DYING. That they are criminalized from birth until (often tragically premature) death, and heaped a heart-wrenchingly unfair amount of misery upon in between. i live in New York. I hang out with these kids. What they put up with over the course of a single month is more than what it would take to break most people over the course of a lifetime. And, I would point out, this is language used among young queer kids of color who are born male, female, and intersex — it’s a widespread thing, and it’s a cultural tradition that has been around for hundreds of years, and has its roots in linguistic strategies that have kept queer kids like them safe from heterosexist white people, the police, and the state for decades. This is extremely sophisticated language, more so than you give it credit for.
And sure, okay, maybe within their own communities, on their own terms, it’s worth discussing, among themselves, how they talk about beauty and femininity. But to critique Roberts for trying to talk to communities in their own language seems akin to when Christian conservatives freak out when sex educators use words like “dick” and “pussy” when dealing with teens who do not respond to clinical language. Roberts is talking about “fish” because these kids are talking about “fish.” And to try to detract from the recognition of her work on these terms seems at very least short-sighted, and at worst, racist and kind of evil.
I approved your comment because of this: http://boniver.org/2011/08/12/concrete-jungle-where-dreams-are-made-of/
Now, I think what you are saying is that it is racist to call out misogyny. Correct?
Now, you tell me – You’re a white dude. Amirite?
[…] for full details. Ms. Ryan calls me “racist” for this column: http://bugbrennan.com/2012/03/09/so-not-glaad/ – her statement is demonstrably false (as a side note, defamation is actionable in Maryland). But […]
http://radfemworldnews.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/transgender-contestant-to-compete-in-miss-universe-pageant-afterall/