Amanda Simpson is now working for the federal government. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the Senior Technical Adviser to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Simpson is eminently qualified for the position with a background as a test pilot, degrees in physics, engineering, business administration, and years of experience in the aerospace industry.
The religious right though is up in arms over her appointment. The Family Research Council pulled out their best purple prose to announce this affront to decency:
”On New Year’s Eve, when most Americans were waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square, the Obama Administration dropped another bombshell in its agenda to radicalize America …”
And what’s so radical about Amanda Simpson? Well, once upon a time, she was known as Mitchell Simpson. You see, Amanda Simpson is transgender - which is defined as “unhappiness with one’s biological sex or its usual gender role, with the desire for the body and role of the opposite sex.” Simpson is among many who have done something about that unhappiness and have undergone the arduous process of changing her gender from male to female.
If gays and lesbians make the religious right lose their minds, transgender people make their heads explode. Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs for the Liberty Counsel, called her appointment “political correctness run amok.”
Barber continued to express his concern regarding the future ramifications of Simpson’s appointment, arguing that it is part of a larger movement within the current administration.“With hate crimes legislation and ENDA (Employment Non Discrimination Act) and other radical GLBT pieces of legislation that are being pushed by the Obama Administration,” Barber told CNA, those who disagree with the GLBT perspective “literally can and will face criminal or civil penalty.”
Who cares if Simpson is qualified for the job; the real fear on the religious right is that they won’t have the right to vilify Simpson for simply being who she is - and having the temerity to be happy about it.
The FRC even goes so far as to assert:
”Gender identity disorder” is a recognized mental illness that should be treated-not affirmed and protected.
The American Psychological Association would beg to differ. In 2008 they issued a statement calling on “psychologists in their professional roles to provide appropriate, nondiscriminatory treatment to transgender and gender variant individuals and encourages psychologists to take a leadership role in working against discrimination towards transgender and gender variant individuals.”
That doesn’t stop the religious right from using Simpson’s appointment to encourage discrimination against transgender people and raise money to fight the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) still pending in Congress that would outlaw discrimination against transgender people, as well as gays and lesbians.
Simpson’s appointment merely confirms the right’s fears that Obama is out to destroy America.
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth voiced similar concern on the Focus on the Family Action website on Jan. 4. “Is there going to be a transgender quota now in the Obama Administration? How far does this politics of gay and transgender activism go? Clearly this is an administration that is pandering to the gay lobby,” he said.
No, Pete, Obama is not “pandering to the gay lobby.” If he were, he would have repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, overturned DOMA, and actually voiced support for marriage equality for gays and lesbians. What Obama did was actually hire someone who had the credentials to do the job, without regard to race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity. The last resident of the White House, a true panderer, would have never done that.
Tags: transgender
Candace, the histrionics of those folks aside, part of the problem is that in the DSM-IV, Gender Identity Disorder is a diagnosable mental disorder with certain diagnostic criteria, so the first half of FRC's statement is, in fact, correct. It's my understanding, however, that efforts are underway to have GID removed from the DSM, but that, in turn, will cause difficulties to diagnosed individuals on disability (a good trans friend of mine, for example)... to wit, if it ceases to be a mental disorder, then disability cannot be awarded based on that diagnosis.
That aside, the biblical literalists do have a problem coming up with a negative comment in the Bible about trans folks, for sure.
Thanks for the info, David. Always good to be informed. That is a rock and hard place for those with GID.
The only thing literalists seem to throw at transgender folks is the prohibition of men wearing women's clothes and vice versa. The taboo they break, especially male to female, is leaving behind the "superior" gender for the "inferior" one. That is the real threat. Why would anyone not want to be a man? That's their thought. Makes me miss Mary Daly more and more ...
With all due respect for the deceased, in this case a genuinely prophetic voice and visionary mind... As a trans woman, I don't miss Dr. Daly's participation in this particular debate. While many of the people whom she inspired have moved beyond the limitations of her theories, her gender essentialism did put her squarely at odds with the transgender community.
It's not just the religious right people who get hot and bothered by Transgender people. Some of the radical feminists do as well. As a Lesbian activist, I remember all of the debate over Transgender people.
Many Lesbian feminists argued that Transgender women "aren't really women." Janice Raymond, who I believe was Mary Daly's partner, wrote a very trans-phobic book called "The Transexual Empire." In this book, Raymond claims that men deliberately get themselves surgically turned into women so that they can invade "womanspace." As for Transexual men (female-to-male Transexuals) Raymond spent just a few paragraphs to explain that these were "brainwashed" women who want to be men. As I recall (though I might be wrong), Mary Daly agreed completely with her partner's analyses of Transgender people.
It's interesting, all of the places where trans-phobia has appeared.
Thanks for the education on Mary Daly. I had read some of her stuff a long time ago and never got into the trans stuff she or her partner wrote. I'm glad to know all of this.
I do remember, once upon a time, going to a women's festival and being very offended that transgender women were not welcomed there, for the exact reason you stated - that they weren't "real women."
Transgender people have been my best educators over the years and I admire them for the guts it takes for them to be their true selves. Gay and lesbian people go through hell to accept themselves, but transgender people get hell double time, along with surgery. Transgender people represent strength, courage, and perseverance to me and I admire them so much.
I condemn any trans-phobia, even in those whose work I otherwise admire.
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth voiced similar concern on the Focus on the Family Action website on Jan. 4. “Is there going to be a transgender quota now in the Obama Administration? How far does this politics of gay and transgender activism go? Clearly this is an administration that is pandering to the gay lobby,” he said. Obama is here to destroy America? Why ?
Mike from the comforter sets guide.
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