True But…

There is an article in the Huffington Gay Voices where Tyler Curry tries to make the point that gays and lesbian should support trans-rights.

In the battle for same-sex rights, who was a part of our demographic was decided for us long ago, and we didn't know we could question it. We were LGBT, and our opponents, the moral majority, knocked us out round after round.

But we are no longer the wimpy kids in the corner, vastly outmatched by our foes. Over the last several decades, we've grown to become a worthy opponent and are winning state and federal policy battles. As we continue to progress in the fight for equal rights, it has become apparent that the "T" in LGBT is being neglected as gay men and women continue to take precedence.
That we have been pushed aside in favor of marriage is very true, in many states that won marriage equality the gay lesbian organizations have folded up and popped the champagne cork to celebrate their victories while in the dust left by them.

He goes on to say,

In the beginning of the gay rights movement, the battle against violence, outright discrimination and blatant intolerance was one that gays, bisexuals and transgender men and women were equally invested in.

But now, the concerns of gay men and lesbians have shifted to such things as marriage equality and employment discrimination. Although transgender men and women also share in these inequalities, they are subjected to many more injustices that fail to gain hardly any mainstream support.

I have problems with that, only 21 states and the District of Columbia have anti-discrimination laws protecting sexual orientation and of those only 17 states and the District of Columbia protect gender identity and expression. Public opinion may have changed but the laws have not. What we need is the Civil Rights Act of 2014 that adds the same protection for sexual orientation and gender identity and expression the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does for race and sex.

Also violence is still part of the gay and lesbian communities. If a gay man has feminine mannerism or a woman has masculine characteristic they become that target of hostiles. It is the gays and lesbians, as well as the trans-person who are less likely to experience discrimination.

He writes,

Just last week, actress Gabourey Sidibe repeatedly used the slur "tranny" while on Arsenio Hall's show. Sidibe, an outspoken supporter of gay rights, was stunned to find out that the slur was considered offensive, and she quickly apologized for her error.

But then, something interesting happened. Stories published on several media forums, including the Advocate Magazine online and Instinct Magazine online, posed the question of whether we are being too sensitive about a word that is commonly used in the gay community.

A funny thing happen after the Stonewall Uprising, it became the “Gay Rights Movement” and the part that trans-people played in it got sweep under the rug. When Rep Barney Frank (D-MA) said in August 2008 that,

We’d make even more progress if the transgender community was willing to do the hard political work. And not, frankly, think they can just talk a few leaders into handing this to them.

Our erasure from history took its toll. The fifty years of trans-activism was wiped out because of the “Gay Rights Movement”

Mr. Curry finishes the article by writing,

Now we have the chance to throw our strength behind a group who continues to be marginalized just as we were not too long ago.

Transgender people still suffer from the bullying, discrimination and injustice from which many gays and lesbians have long since moved on. Now, more than ever, it's time for the LGB to start championing the "T."