The Trouble With Tranny

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The Trouble With Tranny Editor's note: It's been a long couple of weeks for the word tranny. First Glee came under fire for using it in its Rocky Horror Picture Show episode, when a student said he couldn't take part in the musical because his parents didn't want him "dressing like a tranny." GLAAD discussed the incident in a blog post saying, "The word tranny has become an easy punchline in popular culture, and many still don't realize that using the term is hurtful, dehumanizing and associated with violence, hatred and derision against transgender people -- a community that is nearly invisible in media today." And last week, after we used the term tranny in a story on President Obama's gay drag queen nanny, we received some heat, too, and several people asked us to delete the word. I pushed to keep tranny in the headline for a variety of reasons but mostly because as a writer and editor, I know that words have power. While I agree with GLAAD that too often (especially within mainstream media/culture) the word is used pejoratively, we must always take into account the context in which the word is being used and who is using it. In the right hands and mouths (hint, hint: ours) the word becomes powerful -- liberating, even -- and loses the sting and stigma others want us to feel when we hear or read it. I am also of the mindset that we should look for opportunities to open up discussions about difficult subjects instead of simply erasing or deleting something (or maybe even worse -- replacing letters in a word with asterisks or hyphens in a misguided attempt to soften the word's blow, which, in my opinion, just makes it look that much more perverse and thuggish). Because of how challenging -- even downright scary -- the word and the shadow it casts can be, this seemed like the perfect chance to give a little more attention to a very controversial and misunderstood term. So, I reached out to both GLAAD and activist and gender theorist Kate Bornstein to see if they would weigh in on this subject. Bornstein was quick to give me permission (and her enthusiastic blessing) to run a version of her piece "Who You Calling A Tranny?" which was originally published in July 2009 and which I think eloquently explains the word's origin and argues for a reclaiming of it by "gender and sex positivists." GLAAD put me in touch with Justin Tanis of the National Center for Transgender Equality who sent me a short statement explaining why the organization opposes the use of tranny due to its power to demean and harm trans people. Give them both a read and then let us know how you feel about the word tranny (or fag or dyke for that matter). -- Noah Michelson