Monday, February 28, 2011

The Case for ENDA: The Other Shoe Drops in Rep. Chris Lee's Resignation, a Size 13 Pump

Photo credit: gawker.com
I posted here a couple of weeks back about Rep. Chris Lee's resignation just three hours after Gawker posted a shirtless photo from his Craigslist Personals ad along with the contents of a chat session the congressman had with a woman he was trying to pick up.

The curious part for me was why he quit so fast without putting up the slightest bit of a fight. In a case like this, you just wait a little while for the other shoe to drop and everything starts to make sense.

In this case the other shoe belongs to a 34-year-old Africa-American, transsexual prostitute named Fiona, who responded to the former NY congressman's ad. She claims that she copied and e-mail the ad to herself, which is why she still had a copy of it after the ad expired and was taken down.

Apparently, like the woman who busted Lee earlier this month, she also did some checking and found out the real identity of the "Sexy Classy guy" and confronted him about it in an e-mail. That was the day the Lee told his staff that his e-mail account had been hacked.

You can read the full story at Gawker. It's all very seedy and convoluted.

What this incident highlights is the plight of transsexuals who are forced into prostitution because of the rampant prejudice against them in the workplace. Often rejected by their families and unable to find legitimate work in an accepting, tolerant environment, transsexual young people have no choice but to survive any way they can, often turning to drugs and prostitution. Is this the kind of life we want to condemn our trans bothers and sisters to by not addressing their concerns?

This is why we need a trans-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). It seems only fitting that a conservative Republican got caught in a trap of his party's own making. The Dems share the blame here as well. How long before we see one of them in a similar scandal? 

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2 comments:

  1. Steve I would hope that you would known the difference between a Transsexual and a Transgender by now or you would at least Proof read these stories before you cut and paste them. I would also summit that this person named Fiona isn't a Transsexual but in fact is a Transgender hooker. I would ask that you please pay more attention to how to use or mis use the word Transsexual as it's the misuse of terms that is build upon and give the general LGB population the wrong impression of what a True Transsexual is.

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  2. Thanks for your comments, anonymous. I continue to try to understand the differences between transgender, transsexual, intersex and all the other terms that are often used to describe the various points in the trans spectrum. If I use transgender, I get blasted by those who prefer transsexual.

    If I use transsexual (the medical term for the condition) I get blasted for that too.

    Regardless of which term I use, I get shit from those who identify as their preferred sex/gender and don't like being labeled as trans anything.

    In this case, I read the Gawker story very carefully. It was my decision to use "transsexual", because based on the feedback I've gotten in the past, "transgender" was the wrong word to use.

    I find it very frustrating to constantly get negative feedback whenever I do a story in support of trans community and trans equality.

    Do me a favor and stop nit-picking about words. How can you expect any cisgender people to be supportive, when we are constantly getting negativity in return? Far be it from me to try to define you or anyone else, I know a lot of trans people. There is no consensus within the trans community about what a True Transsexual is.

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Please keep comments relevant and civil. Comments attacking other people will be deleted.

 
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