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News & ArtsThursday, October 20, 2011
LGBTQITSLFA "It Getteth Better"
Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 10:26 AM
Hilarious, perfect... except for the 5 o'clock shadow on the trans woman. God's going to be on receiving end of a little wrath for that detail.
1
So what's the backstory here... did David Javerbaum come to you with this? Is it something you and Jon Stewart cooked up? Or just a cute marketing angle by Simon & Schuster?
9
I dunno about the transwoman -- I mean, they avoided the obvious stereotype of over the top diva queen. Take out the five o clock shadow and everyone would assume that the woman was a dyke instead. How would you cue in visually the inclusion of transgender folks like this when you have 1 second of air time? I can't think of anything that wouldn't be seen as at least somewhat problematic because the essential issue is that a transwoman *is* a woman. To clue others into her "status" is to provide information above and beyond what we'd normally get on anyone with 1 or 2 seconds to view. I can't think of how to do that without stepping on toes -- any of the rest of you?
I am still going to love forever the visual of Noah... The caption may have been garbled, but the visuals are gorgeously memorable :)
I'm still shorted out by Boehner's logic. That may be hopeless, there.
I am still going to love forever the visual of Noah... The caption may have been garbled, but the visuals are gorgeously memorable :)
I'm still shorted out by Boehner's logic. That may be hopeless, there.
11
@5, @9 -- just read the linked article, still don't know what to think. Sounds ridiculous, difficult to imagine it actually convincing someone. Yet we don't have the full text of the lawyers' argumentation, so it's difficult to guess whether the law (as opposed to justice) would support their claim.
There's an element of desperation in the argument, it seems to me. If the claim is that DOMA doesn't have to be overturned by the courts because 'gay political power' will soon lead to its being overturned by Congress, then it would follow that they're not fighting for it in any sense, just fighting for it not to die too soon. I.e., they agree it will eventually die, but pray that it won't happen right now. Why?
I guess the secret hope is that it won't be overturned in Congress any time soon -- hoping the current trend will be reverted. My guess is this will end up just being one of those incidents that people in the future will look at in amazement, wondering what psychological explanation there could be for this behavior.
There's an element of desperation in the argument, it seems to me. If the claim is that DOMA doesn't have to be overturned by the courts because 'gay political power' will soon lead to its being overturned by Congress, then it would follow that they're not fighting for it in any sense, just fighting for it not to die too soon. I.e., they agree it will eventually die, but pray that it won't happen right now. Why?
I guess the secret hope is that it won't be overturned in Congress any time soon -- hoping the current trend will be reverted. My guess is this will end up just being one of those incidents that people in the future will look at in amazement, wondering what psychological explanation there could be for this behavior.
12
@9 you have a good point. I found it only very mildly annoying because the general message was obviously positive, but I hadn't actually thought of how you would visually represent a transgendered person without being at least slightly offensive.
The moment "It may just get worse and...stay worse" with the Bachmann inauguration was hilarious.
The moment "It may just get worse and...stay worse" with the Bachmann inauguration was hilarious.
13
I found it insulting on 3 levels, but then I'm a woman & a bisexual & an atheist , and this was targeted at male boy Christians for whom male is the only gay and man is the only human and for who god is still a man.
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@13 I am offended by your post because of your inconsistent use of who and whom.
...but maybe we're both being a little touchy.
...but maybe we're both being a little touchy.
15
@9: you're right, creating quick visual shorthand that isn't cheap and offensive can be a tough one. My immediate thought was that they could have cheated and put some random photos of real gay/lesbian/bi/trans folk in there. Or, they could have made the trans woman not visually distinct at all? The bi woman standing next to the trans woman is kind of generic, after all.
@13: the point of the joke is that it's gently mocking the "old white dude with a beard" popular image of a Judeo-Christian God?
@13: the point of the joke is that it's gently mocking the "old white dude with a beard" popular image of a Judeo-Christian God?
16
There was nothing obviously bi about the bi woman. Why would they need the trans woman to be obviously trans? The label floating above her head would suffice.
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Ophian dear, just so you know, I have a huge crush on you because of your post @14.
Don't worry. I'm too old and married to act on it, and I don't like to go out after dark.
Don't worry. I'm too old and married to act on it, and I don't like to go out after dark.
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That's cute. Thanks for sharing. Shared it in a few places and other people think it's ... cool or lulz worthy. In my "online social circle" ... lulz worthy isn't hard to find, but meh.
@16 Actually, the iconic styling does make sense, because (and people will deny this) there are a LOT of transgendered people who no one can identify as transgendered. Use to be you could spot them by looking for the "ultra" fem or masc people, but now that's not even possible. So, I do understand that it's an iconic method. Also note, a LOT of people don't know how to read well and probably think of cars when they see the word trans. ;)
@16 Actually, the iconic styling does make sense, because (and people will deny this) there are a LOT of transgendered people who no one can identify as transgendered. Use to be you could spot them by looking for the "ultra" fem or masc people, but now that's not even possible. So, I do understand that it's an iconic method. Also note, a LOT of people don't know how to read well and probably think of cars when they see the word trans. ;)
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@16 I think bi people can look like anybody, but even though it was kinda hamfisted, i think they were shooting for making the transperson look like they could be trans in either direction--we're just assuming transwoman because of the boobs, but maybe she could be a transman who hasn't had chest surgery yet? That's what I thought, at least
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@19 I don't think so -- a pre-op transman is likely to be binding already. I didn't even catch that one of them was supposed to be bi (although if there was an audio clue, I wouldn't have caught that).
Anyway, it's not a terribly deep clip or anything, just entertaining and hopefully makes a few more people think...
Anyway, it's not a terribly deep clip or anything, just entertaining and hopefully makes a few more people think...
23
Thank you, God. Wish you'd speak to us directly more often, there'd be a lot less confusion and ignorance in the world. I'm just sayin'.
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