LGBT groups respond to ‘Drop the T in LGBT’ petition
A week ago, an anonymous man claiming to represent “a group of gay/bisexual men and women,” launched a change.com petition asking GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, and media outlets to “stop representing the transgender community.”
His reasoning is that the group believes the trans community “is not only completely different from that promoted by the LGB community (LGB is about sexual orientation, trans is about gender identity), but is ultimately regressive and actually hostile to the goals of women and gay men.”
The petition then continues to list reasons why the trans community is harmful to the LGB community citing bathroom rights, gay culture appropriation, and the diagnosis of young children as transgender, claiming “90 percent of children who express ‘gender dysphoria’ at a young age grow out of it by adolescence.”
The Human Rights Campaign issued a statement condemning the campaign.
“The bullies at school aren’t just harassing the gay kids, they’re harassing the transgender kids. […] 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.”
A counter-petition called “We stand with trans people – Reject ‘Drop the T'” launched five days ago, and already has more than 4,400 supporters, while ‘Drop the T’ only has 1,960.
We are already bombarded by anti-LGBT activist, that forming a wedge amongst ourselves is reckless. We must stand together if we want change to happen. Quit being counterproductive.
