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DVDLover
Joined: 19 Jul 2006
Posts: 24
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| Posted: 7 Feb 2008, 6:54 pm Post subject: Advocate swing to the right? |
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I am growing ever more concerned that the Advocate, at one time the GLBT publication of record, is swinging to the right.
The evidence is strong. In 2007, the magazine published an editorial that suggested that abandoning transgender members of our community in ENDA was a politically expedient move that was the best course. Respondents to the editorial suggested that transgender people aren't really part of "us."
Yesterday, the online edition ran a piece by a New Republic writer that attacked outgoing National Gay and Lesbian Task Force head Matt Foreman. The article argued that Foreman's insistence on a coalition between GLBT activism and progressive activists such as African Americans, feminists, Latinos and others was mistaken and that Foreman's leadership was flawed.
The Advocate seems to be convinced that the GLBT movement needs to be obsessed with gay and lesbian issues to the exclusion of the transgendered and other progressive political groups.
This willingness to remove the "T" from the GLBT coalition and abandon alliances with other progressive agendas represents a regressive attitude that I hope does not spread. |
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gennee
Joined: 15 Sep 2005
Posts: 402
Interests: reading, writing, poetry, transgender issues, gospel, veteran's issues,jazz,education,religion,literature,Native-American and African culture,lighthouses,trails,castles,tractor trailers, playwriting, biograhies
Physical Location: new york
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| Posted: 8 Feb 2008, 12:00 pm Post subject: Not Much about "T" |
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I think that The Advocate caters more to gay and lesbian issues. I hardly every find anything about bisexuals and even less about transgender issues. For them to say that transgender people aren't one of "us" is pretty ignorant because it was transgender people who got the gay rights movement rolling. I could write about the supposed rift between GLB and T but that's a story for another day.
Gennee |
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JayJay
Joined: 27 Sep 2006
Posts: 79
Interests: gay history
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| Posted: 8 Feb 2008, 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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Hi DVDLover,
I agree that the Advocate article is disturbing. It was written by someone associated with The New Republic, which has become increasingly conservative. The tone of the article is especially objectionable. As though the Bush administration has not done enough all by itself to render the country unsafe and vulnerable, without blaming it on leftists and academics! I suppose this will be the tone of the forthcoming Presidential election campaign.
_________________
Jay |
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DVDLover
Joined: 19 Jul 2006
Posts: 24
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| Posted: 8 Feb 2008, 6:06 pm Post subject: Re: Not Much about "T" |
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| gennee wrote: | | [color=darkblue][b]I think that The Advocate caters more to gay and lesbian issues. I hardly every find anything about bisexuals and even less about transgender issues. For them to say that transgender people aren't one of "us" is pretty ignorant because it was transgender people who got the gay rights movement rolling. I could write about the supposed rift between GLB and T but that's a story for another day. |
Hi Gennee,
You are so right about trans coverage in the Advocate. The Advocate and its failing Planetout Partners, Inc. overlords know their market well, and they're going for the gay- male-targeted advertising gold. As a community institution, though, I think the Advocate can do better and still attract Miller Brewing.
I should have posted here when the Advocate supported HRC and Barney Frank in dumping the transgender coverage in ENDA because it so infuriated me. I don't have a trans bone in my body, but I believe that success in a minority battle for civil rights comes from maintaining strong bonds in a coalition and sticking to core principles of inclusion.
The Advocate makes its money chiefly from the gay male audience and advertisers who want to sell to it. Should it dump lesbians, too? That would put its female editor in a delicate spot and it's also a very bad idea. Still, it makes no more sense to treat trans people as disposable allies of convenience than it does to turn the magazine into a gay male publication.
PS: I would love to hear more about what you think about the recent moves by HRC, Barney Frank, and others to drop, or at least hide, the "T" in GLBT because they find it politically inconvenient. |
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