Gender-Variant Shot – We’re All Clueless

Last week, two female presenting people, possibly transwomen or crossdressers, where attacked and robbed in Cincinnati. One was shot when the thief tried to take her purse. How did no one hear about this? (Myself included and I’m on the look out). Needless to say, it wasn’t headline news. But then again, maybe its better it wasn’t because the media did such a terrible job of covering the story. Wrong pronouns everywhere. “…Attacker shot one of the victims, who was dressed as a woman, while trying to steal HIS purse.”

If it is clear someone is presenting in one gender, why are people determined to get the pronoun wrong? People are determined to stick to their brain’s sex binary. To add insult to injury, the civic response to this is thing short of a sick-minded comedy hour.

“…if the shooter gets caught, he’ll probably only be charged with a “missed da weiner.””
“…don’t they know it’s a man under that skirt! Probably a big one too!”
“You don’t think that Shanequa and Shantay were out trying to make some extra money.” –Transphobic, racist and classist. Charming.
“What a drag!” – Ok this one is shitty, I know, but I have to appreciate the accurate queer-vocabulary.

There was another attack that same week in a Cincinnati suburb where a gay man was beaten on account of his sexual orientation. In response to this a huge protest has been organized by big name queer organizations. I’m not trying to hate on anyone, or show a lack of support for the survivor or those working to fight hate. All I’m saying is where’s the rally to protect the genderqueers? I realize people can’t rally around something they don’t know happened. Maybe we just need to open our scope a little wider, be on the look out a little more. Mainstream media isn’t going to do it for us. Its up to us to make sure everyone is protected and supported.

cross-posted at amplifyyourvoice.org

One thought on “Gender-Variant Shot – We’re All Clueless

  1. Amy says:

    This seems to me it's a case of the local Queer bloggers ignoring the story. While it is possible that everyone managed to miss that bad bit of reporting, I didn't see it before today; I suspect that it was just ignored by anyone who came across it. Anyone that has spent time in OTR knows of the transwomen / crossdressers along Vine Street and McMicken. I see the same women every single day. They are black, they are sex workers, most have substance abuse issues and violence is often directed at them. It's all politely ignored in the community. Bluntly, they are part of the queer community that no one wants to acknowledge. On ignoring this huge issue, we've collectively been caught with our privilege showing. Thank you for taking the time to say something.

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