Bigotry Exposed in the Daily Trojan

I believe I was not the only one who was appalled at the publication of the Daily Trojan yesterday.

[Image Description: The banner at the top of the Daily Trojan's website: dailytrojan.com]

In the Opinion page, there was a piece expressing a writer's thoughts on recent passage of two new Californian anti-discrimination bills: Gender Nondiscrimination Act (AB 887) and Vital Statistics Modernization Act (AB 433). AB 887 amends an existing anti-discrimination employment law, which already stated that employees are not to be discriminated for their "gender identity", to clear up confusion in regards to transgender people. So now, with the new amendment, the law states that employees cannot be discriminated against for both their "gender identity" and "gender expression". And AB 433 is a law that expedites the process for transgender individuals to petition to change the gender as stated on their birth certificates, as it is a difficult and confusing process already.

The shocking piece can be read on the DT''s website here. While there are a lot of things that can be refuted about the piece, the presentation of cissexism and transphobia by the Daily Trojan is disgusting. Although the article was only an opinion piece and the author is entitled to their expression, the Daily Trojan must remain a medium of intellectual discussion and cannot allow such ignorant and hurtful statements be made. The privileged author argued for the consideration of the discomfort of that certain individuals have in dealing with transgender people, but failed to discuss the vast amount of discrimination and suffering transgender people have and continue to experience in the work and public spheres. This blatant lack of understanding and compassion on the part of the author and Daily Trojan for transgender community, which includes those in the Trojan family, is what I found despicable. The author went so far as to suggest that our representatives should focus on "fix[ing] our broken budget" instead of passing such anti-discrimination laws that the author feels are so trivial. Honestly, my incredulousness almost lead to contemplate that the piece might have been meant to be satirical. But unfortunately, it is not.

However, there is a silver lining. In response to the article, many Trojans have expressed their opposition to the piece. This can be found in the comment section to the article (link again). I found one specific comment to be relevant, and it came from a Trojan alum. Here is the comment (directly drawn from the comment section):

I am a Trojan alum (Class of 2010). My partner Annika, who is also a Trojan alum (Class of 2009), who is transgender and blogs about trans issues, is writing a formal response. I currently work as a Legal Intern at the Transgender Law Center, though this comment is being written to represent only my views.

It is very saddening to me to see TLC’s work being used to perversely justify discrimination. Trans people experience such high rates of socioeconomic marginalization precisely because of pervasive, frequently legally sanctioned discrimination in educational and work settings. Every day, trans people are fired from jobs for simply not living a lie or harassed into dropping out of school which creates a cycle of poverty. People of color experience even further marginalization due to the combination of racism and transphobia. Trans people, especially trans women, also experience one of the highest rates of murder in the world. Every single day trans people are murdered just for being trans. These bills send a message that hate and violence against trans people are not acceptable and rejected by the state of California. The author thinks that the college campus is a bubble, but she doesn’t understand the bubble she lives and the privilege that she has that allows her to be so dismissive of the lives of trans people, especially the majority who do not live in LA or SF.

The author of this piece suggests that we should instead have sympathy for people who “aren’t as comfortable” treating trans people like any other human being. It is disappointing that she can’t see how this argument has been made over and over again against people due to their race, gender, political beliefs, and religion. Throughout Europe (and sometimes in the US), similar arguments are made to prevent Muslim women from being able to wear hijabs or niqabs in schools/workplaces/government buildings/public streets. And for the same reason, these arguments are wrong. Bigots of any sort should not be coddled and protected in their ignorance and hatred. (The funny thing is that two years ago I wrote angry comments on a similar DT piece that advocated for a ban on niqabs.)

It’s really a shame that this article was published the week before the Transgender Day of Remembrance. I hope that the author and others who feel similarly that trans people and their lives are unimportant and not worth protecting do some reflecting, reading (starting here: http://www.endtransdiscrimination.org/PDFs/NTDS_Exec_Summary.pdf), and maybe speak to an actual trans person (including many members of the Trojan family) to learn about their lives and how we all have shared humanity.

(I bolded the last line myself, for emphasis.)

Also, there has been quite a letter response from the Trojan community, and their inspiring letters to the editor can be read here.

Understanding and compassion should be what we strive for. Because as we have learned countless times within this class, gender and sexuality are complex, but we must always find solidarity as a species in our humanity and compassion for each other. Through this class, we have become aware of the bigotry and misunderstanding experienced by many people who are marginalized by the gender binary system. So we must always be cognizant of our privilege and vigilant when discrimination strikes, especially in our own Trojan family. And we must always be considerate of others. After all, it's the sixth trait of a Trojan.