Queer Activists Respond to Transphobic Opinion Piece in NZ Newspaper

Queer Activists Respond to Transphobic Opinion Piece in NZ Newspaper

New Zealand-based activist group The Queer Avengers staged a protest outside the offices of local paper The Dominion Post to take them to task for publishing an opinion piece earlier this week which denigrated trans men who give birth (like Thomas Beatie) as “ego-trippers”. The author, columnist Rosemary Mcleod, also referred to the trans men as “he/she” repeatedly, and called at least one a “rather plain woman”, and generally made it sound like trans-parenting is a disturbing new trend started in that den of iniquity known as California, and due to fly across the Pacific and crash on the shores of New Zealand any day now! But of course, all of this was done in the name of concern for their children, so that somehow made it fit to print.

In what is a personal best for the Queer Avengers so far, the protest was announced on Facebook and occurred about 15 hours later with at least 50 people showing up to show their support. Speeches were made by transgender individuals and allies alike, a letter calling Fairfax Media to account for their aiding and abetting of this act of hate-speech was handed to the editor, and some choice opinions of the protesters’ own were chalked all over the sidewalk. The editor has also invited members of The Queer Avengers to write an editorial in response, to explain exactly why articles like McLeod’s are hurtful and contribute to the systemic oppression of trans people. Because sadly, this kind of thing needs explaining.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 at 11:07 pm and is filed under Drag & Trans, Politics & Activism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.