THE YEAR IN
OREGON'S LGBTO NEW SM AGAZINE
4
DECEMBER 9, 2011
community’
'
« >
Established 2001
Two Sides to a Complex Conversation
The term is still considered off-limits for
those who do not fall under the umbrella
represented by the T in LGBT, but within
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that diverse community—which includes
transgender, transsexual and genderqueer
folks as well as drag performers (aka
to transvestites)—there is no real
consensus on who can reclaim it.
This issue came to a head recently
when Blow Pony advertised its Oc­
tober party as “Night of the Living
Trannys” for the third year. Follow­
ing a heated online debate, party
organizer Airick 1 leater apologized
and changed the name to “Night of
the Living Homos.”
As part of that ongoing conversa­
tion, two community members offer
their perspectives on the reclama­
tion of “tranny.”
— E rin R ook
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Take the Power Out of Slurs and
Stop Policing Identities
Trans Women Should Lead
Reclamation of “Tranny”
By Fannie M ae Darling, a drag performer
By R.J., a 28-year-old student a t Portland University,
and self-identified tranny
Words have as much power as you choose to give to them. Any
word can be taken and turned into a derogatory one simply by
giving it that power. For example, the word “queer” is used to
describe the LGBT community and it seems to be accepted and
used often.
“Queer,” according to dictionary.com, means strange or odd,
shady, questionable, not feeling physically right or stable, and fi­
nally, it says that it is slang for a homosexual being unmanly.
Somehow we as a community picked this word up and everyone
seems okay with it. We even have performers named Freddie
Fagula, or bars called Bent, or groups called Dykes on Bikes and
everyone seems all right with it because we took the power away
from the words.
What I don’t understand is when did the word tranny solely
become any one group’s to fight for? "Franny is an umbrella term
meaning transformer, transmission, transgendered, transistor ra­
dio, Ford transit, Transylvania, and the list goes on and also in­
cludes transvestite. Ah, transvestite! You mean cross-dresser? Drag
queen? Why yes! That brings me to my biggest issue.
I am a known cross-dressing, lady clothes-wearing, makeup-
slathering, high heel shoe-sprinting, gender-blending, drag per­
former! I AM A "FRANNY! If I choose to classify myself with
that term, or be part of a project in which “tranny” is used, then I
have every right and no one has the right to stop me or make me
feel wrong for using it. If the word “tranny” is used to hurt or ridi­
cule someone, then yes, that word becomes hurtful. Don’t give
power to the word and the word means nothing.
If we want to move ahead and be respected by other communi­
ties then we need to stop creating walls among our own commu­
nity. I understand that many of us have come from parts of the
world where we, alone, had to fight to he heard and fight to be
accepted, but now we are in a community where the last thing we
need to do is fight amongst ourselves.
WED & SUN
ALL N IG H T LO N G !
Thur - Sat
\
genderqueer trans woman and Portland native
To an extent, it is hard to really take a position against reclaim-
; ing any word—after all, language is a shifting and living thing,
formed by millions of people, that is hard to have much control
over. As far as the widespread reclamation of the word “tranny”
goes in LGBT circles, I assume that it will happen eventually. I
still probably won’t like it when it happens, and that may mark me
as part of an older generation of trans people, even though I’m still
not quite 30. But I will accept that change without a lot of com­
plaining if it happens in the right way—the word “tranny” should
be reclaimed by those who have been historically the most nega­
tively affected by it, primarily trans women.
I know that drag performers have used this within that community
for a long time, and I am not saying that its use should stop within
that community. But the drag community, particularly gay men, is not
entitled to reclaim this word in a wider sense and tell trans women
that they aren’t big enough gender radicals for not having reclaimed it
yet, which is something I feel that I have seen. Lesbians didn’t reclaim
the word “fag” and then tell gay men to get with the program—gay
men reclaimed “fag” for themselves, and so it should be with
a,
n
tranny.
There are already trans women out in the community who iden­
tify with this term, and I think that will grow with time. For now,
if people want to identify themselves with “tranny,” that’s fine—
but don’t say hi by yelling “Hey tranny!” across the room at me and
then act surprised when I’m not happy about it.
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from 5pm till close
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at 4pm - till close
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What’s in a word?
Continue the conversation in the comments
on this article at
u
i
m in t
Reclaiming “Tranny”
A trending topic this year in the queer
community at large and at home has been the
reclamation of the word “tranny.”
The reclaiming of words tradition­
ally used to oppress a marginalized
group, in this case primarily trans
women, is always a touchy subject.
Despite its increasing use, the word
“queer” still elicits shudders from
some members of the LGBT com­
munity, while black communities re­
main divided on the reappropriation
of the “n-word.”
But the debate about “tranny” is
different. By and large, those cur­
rently self-identifying with the
word are drag performers and trans
men, not the most frequent targets
of the word when used as a slur.
47
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