Dallas Voice Interview of Protesters at Ft Worth "Ticked Off Tra**ies with Knives"

First interview is Pamela Curry, health activist. Pamela is a loyal friend and advocate to all who find themselves discriminated against, but she doesn't call herself a "transgender advocate" and she will correct you if do do. I think whatever she calls herself she is one awesome person.

Next to speak is my pastor, Curtis Smith. I love this mans bravery and courage. After learning about this movie he brought me to speak in front of the "Would Jesus Discriminate" council comprised of our MCC Church's where it was decided unanimously to buy a FULL page in the Dallas Voice and express there love and support for there transgender parishioners. Curtis is truly one of the few, the brave and the blessed.

Next is a cisgender male, Gary Lidell, a female impersonator whom I have never met. Our experiences as transgender and and transsexual woman really have very little in common with impersonators baring perhaps our earliest days of going "full time", before our skills and personalities had not had a chance to grow and mature. I like Gary though, he has a air of sincerity about him and he is part of of our rainbow.

Lastly is a interview with myself. As you can tell we had been out in the 100 degree heat all day and that really served to get may juices going so I was pretty animated, maybe to much so I had thought immediately following the interview.

The last splice segmented me into a disjointed conversation stating "that's the reaction I get from gay men".

What you didn't hear.

The interviewer had just asked me "What do you find most offensive, the tittle or the content of TO#WK".

I answered him with a question, "What would you find more offensive about a movie called 'F@ggots chained, dragged to death behind cars'? The name, the content or that I could could fill theaters with homophobes, institute discussions normalizing the word f@ggot after screenings, or my me saying gay people should be proud of the word "f@ggot" get over it and claim it?"

And whats wrong with a little body dragging as long as we can have a discussion about it?

The interviewer lost his affable smile, his features clouding with anger and the small space between us became became charged with tension. That's when I said "That's the reaction I get from gay men" because in a instant I had demolished his detached sense of security, I had made us mutual owners equally responsible for the letter "T" in "them transgender" and made this interview as personal to him as it was to me.

I would ask the Dallas Voice, you are the only ones to blur the word tra**y with an "@" to this point. You have long used the word "tra##y" to bait us on you blog. You claim a right to do so because you beleive there is nothing wrong with the word, it is empowering and we should "own it".

You have admitted by your own actions by replacing the "a" with the symbol @ in Tra**y that you acknowledge that the transgender people find this word highly offensive yet you superciliously slap us in the face by inserting a symbol @ in the place of the letter a.

That is the same as me writing smugly about the movie 'F@ggots chained dragged to death behind cars' and feeling smugly justified in having blurred the letter a in faggot with @.

Gay Misogynists, I know you hate that I am an you face advocate for transgender dignity and respect, well thats tough. We did not ask for your hate. We could have lived longer and happier lives without you.

Israel Luna should know this. What you have done is an injustice that we will not forget or forgive. Wherever your movie goes there will be two or three transgender people out front, protesting and educating about it.

Where ever.

Understanding Gay Misogyny: Why "Ticked off Tra**ies with Knives"?

Ain’t nothin’ hotter than a dead girl

To many transgender people the whole concept of Misogyny is a mystery and to others like myself, it is not.

I once identified out of fear as male and played the male dominate role. It had been ingrained in my psyche and served as my cover so no one would get a glimpse of my true self, except.....

.....when I had to lower my defenses as I had to do frequently to engage in sex. Then I was feminine and emotionally accessible and afterwards I felt angry. Angry at myself for being vulnerable, at my sexual partner for seeing my vulnerabilities and in my momentarily sedated mind I was especially angy at my temporary sexual partners for capitalizing on my vulnerabilities.

Seeking retribution and a way to mend my broken self I would tell sexist jokes, visit strip clubs, act disrespectfully and generally try to makeup for my lack of self respect by exhibiting passive aggressive behaviour towards women.

Exit Mr and enter Ms. I am asking you to take a leap of faith with me.

In believing I have transitioned and have had many years introspection and spiritual growth thats allowed me to view that "me" with a rear view mirror. That intimate knowledge of misogyny and the resultant behaviour enables me with a unique vantage point.

But why are so many gay men so enthralled with stereotyping as sexually inferior transgender woman, usurping and denigrating transgender phraseology and whats up with this violence? First lets get a handle on what misogyny is and thanks to glbtq Social Science we will debunk it's mystery.

"Misogyny" literally means "hatred of women." However, in everyday usage, beliefs and actions described as misogynist range from intense hatred of women to a more subtle disdain that maintains women as inferior beings who must be dominated and controlled by men. There are some men who eagerly adopt the label of misogynist and others who take its definition literally to mean hatred and therefore absolve themselves of the charge."

Curious is the response of a few transwoman who defend "TO$WK"!

"Misogyny also infects women, including their attitudes toward themselves as well as toward others. Just as there are homophobic queer people, there are also misogynistic women."

So how is Misogyny exhibited socially?

"Misogyny, and societal acceptance of it, can be blamed for men's violence against female family members, as well as strangers; discrimination against women in employment, education, and politics; lack of appropriate health care for women (such as inadequate funding for research on female cancers); and continuing unequal divisions of labor in the home, among many other social inequities."

How does misogyny effect gay men?

"Gay men are both perpetrators of misogyny and victims of it. In all-male societies where women are neither necessary nor desired, gay men can create a misogynistic culture without the existence of any women to object."

"Gay men's use of drag, as well as campy humor imitating or making fun of women, can be seen as misogynist behavior. Drag exaggerates and flaunts over-the-top femininity in a way that few women would or could. While many drag artists and connoisseurs respect and appreciate women, others engage in drag with the conscious understanding that they are making fun of women, or at least of certain aspects of female behavior and existence."

So how as a transgender woman does gay misogyny affect my life?

"As individuals who reside in the borderlands between maleness and femaleness, or who try to cross this border, transgendered people are subject to particularly virulent misogyny (wit TO$WK). Men who are seen as "acting like women" are subjected to misogynist violence by men who see them as degrading masculinity. Women who are seen as "acting like men" are often especially targeted by misogynists, who believe such behavior is a corruption of nature. Fear of violence from misogynists and others forces many transgender people to try to hide who they are, an onerous task in daily life."

How can I better the transgender experience for people yet to begin there trip on our road less traveled?

I am working hard to expose this sickness in our LGBTQ community. You may also and we can help to open one gay persons heart, stop one gay man from attending TO#WK, stop one LGBTQ film festival from gorging at the temple of transplotation, we have succeeded for today.

For today! Tomorrow as our detractors have often noted much to there dismay, we will work again Never satisfied untill we are treated as fully equal in the Gay and Lesbian Bi Sexual world.


Interesting read: Hollywood’s Misogyny: Top Model’s Beautiful Corpses

Protest TO*WK sight unseen JUSTIFIED/Beating GAYS with Bats a NO NO But 'Trannies' A.OK.

• Q: How is it so many transgender people decline to watch TO*WK yet feel justified in objecting to it's title and message?
  
  We all seem to be ignorant protesters, flying in judgment with out knowing the exact details of who's head was smashed sending scalp grotesquely flying, or which bloodied woman prevailed in murdering their attackers.
  
  
• A: We are e victims and survivors and of hate crimes, and allied people be they transgender or cisgender, who object to the commercialization and sensationalization of murders committed against woman.
  
  Because of the prevalence of murder committed against the transgender community we know this violence personally and like the nightmares that will forever wake us shivering in cold sweat, this movie haunts us with the knowledge of exactly how powerless we are to physically defend ourselves.
  
  It sends a spike of pain, guilt and shame into our very souls.
  
  Except now the provocateurs are misogynistic OPENLY GAY MEN. The director and producers of TO*WK hold a physiological baseball bat above us, waving it contemptuously, maniacally grinning, uttering pejoratives, enthralled and empowered in tormenting weak and vulnerable women.
  
  
• Q: Protesting the 'Tranny' in the title! How could we?
  
  Bashing gays with baseball bats has become an American pastime, especially in Oak Lawn /Cartoon, Dallas Voice May 18, 2010
  
  
• A: We find it contemptuous and the height of hypocrisy that the Dallas Voice, the same gay newspaper that the defamatory usage of tranny was protested on, relies on the same definition of defamatory language to demanded justice when gay man are attacked with baseball bats, has so enthusiastly promoted a movie that transgender people are attacked with baseball bats.
  
  Excuse me, but WTF?
  
  WE find it repugnant that the Dallas Voice, apparently a home of gay misogyny, has repeatedly refused to allow any articles expressing our concerns yet has taken so much enjoyment in publishing articles helping to turn a word transgender people previously used sparingly within our own community to address each other in extreme joy, or as a endearment in deepest despair, into a singularly hateful pejorative.
  
  These gay men are responsible for prompting the public to use 'TRANNY' with total cavalier disregard.
  
  HOW COULD A PERSON OF CONSCIOUS BELIEVE A JUDGE IS NOT A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC AND WILL REMAIN DISAFFECTED?
  
  Do you think this same judge might disallow the word 'Tranny' to be admitted into evidence during a trial of a transgender persons attacker since it's use now is so prevalent in the gay and general population?
  
  To answer no to the above question would be indicative of malice towards transgender people, a kind of hatred previously hidden or displayed only by skin heads and Klu Klux Klan members.
  
  We are not gay! Do not subvert our culture. The word 'Tranny' is ours, has always been ours and unfortunately is also the domain of killers who use it in a defamatory manner while being beating and murdering us.
  
  These are but some of the reasons we are protesting TO*WK!
  
  We stand together with the larger LGB community and cisgender allies who are not seduced by power over woman that misogynist find so essential to feed fragile ego's.
  
  We will hold our Gay film maker brothers to a higher standards. A standard which if you raise to, will allow you to be remembered with reverence instead of being reviled with contempt.
  
  It's your decision.
  
  Am I going elevate myself out of the waters of hatred and contempt? Directors, film festivals and movie goers, this is a personal question from me to you.
  
  Who am I? How will I be remembered?
  
  It's up to you.

Why we are protesting (one reason) "Ticked Off Trannies With Knives"

I was watching this TO*WK trailer and was actually enjoying the acting UNTILL one of the characters commiserating with another about her facial injures sustained during a beating suggested humorously that she should 'put a piece of meat on her eye'. This was a obvious sexual innuendo suggesting her pain would be alleviated and guilt assuaged if a penis and scrotum were resting on her face.

VIOLENCE against transgender woman OR any woman is NOT funny. It is odious to even suggest that rape is warranted, pleasurable or desired by the victim.



And BTW, transgender woman do NOT need to trick men into desiring us by "putting duct tape in all the right places." Those of us who are attracted to men present ourselves honestly and forthright. As all of who live 24/7/365 days a year authentically know, to do otherwise invites horrific violence and even death.

To save maybe (one) life. Those who are yet to transition must be spared this pain. It is unreasonable to expect our effort to expose this horrible movie will completely change the world but to not even try would be unimaginable.

Ticked off trannies with Knives: Controversy Dogs Ticked off in Texas

Israel Luna's 'Ticked off trannies with knives' returns home. Transgender activists poised to protest.

Many cisgender men and a smattering of transgender people in north Texas beleive TOTWK has established an important new genre, camp transexplotion and are defending what they perceive as an attack on freedom of speech by trans activists opposed to TOTWK. Many of movies supporters and actors also feel the transgender community is over reacting to this violent revenge flick and have commented that they should just "lighten up" because it's 'just a movie'.

BBC Amrica interview of Transsexual woman Ashley Love and Israel Luna


Transgender people are not amused.

Conversely the transgender community has protested vigorously denouncing the commercial exploitation of the systemic violence committed against transfolk so graphically and gratuitously depicted in TOTWK as unethical and immoral. Most transgender people are also upset over the pejorative "tranny" in the tittle and have persuaded Luna to leave blank the letter 'n' in tra**y, ostensibly in a effort to obscure the dehumanizing effect of the movies title.

WNYC NPR Fresh air interview of transsexual activist Ashley Love and Israel Luna about the Transgender Controversy at Tribeca Film Fest

Controversy dogs ticked off trannies in Texas.

Tod Camp artistic director of Q Cinema Ft. Worth TX, the next stop for ticked off tra**ies defended his rational for featuring TO*WK in June despite the outraged local transgender community while commenting on a public facebook note:

Camp wrote..."I think the fundamental disagreement we have is what this film is actually about. This is NOT a film about the trans community, it's a film about drag performers, some of whom are transexuals, who call themselves "trannies," as many of them do. They're not PC, they're drag queens " Camp reasons.... "It is no more about the transexual community than "Boat Trip" is about the gay community. "As to his overriding the transgender communities objections.... "I will not be dictated to by anyone as to what i screen at this festival. You are welcome to protest, debate, preach and opine my decision to screen it, but know that this film will be screened."

The Texas transgender community is somewhat relieved that Tod Camp 'Gets it'. However his unlikely comparison of Boat Trip to the murderous characters of "ticked off' leads me to wonder if Camp truly grasps the differences between having light hearted fun poked at you and the end of a baseball bat slamming into your face.

The transgender community has a few small 'successes' to show for their efforts to this point

Luna has removed the references to real murdered transgender woman in the trailer and obscured the titles defamatory slur and in this way tacitly agreed with Camp's opinion that "This is NOT a film about the trans community, it's a film about drag performers". Sadly, however the misconceptions seeded by the tittle and information supplied by the producers still leads one to believe it is about transgender people.

As noted social commentator C. L. Minou recently wrote "This isn’t standing up to oppression. This is fucking illustrating it."

The North Texas community has identified the need to educate the greater LGB and straight community and will do so by holding a educational protest/rally on the opening night of TOTWK.

Protest/Rally information

Facebook event Protest 'Ticked off Trannies With Knives' at Q Cinema FT Worth

Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies call to action.

Religious Leaders Take a Stand against "Ticked off trannies with knives'

A transgender person of faith responses to "Ticked off Trannies with Knives".

There comes a time when people of faith must look beyond ourselves and to our God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit solely for direction. There comes a time when our religious beliefs must be allowed to guide us past our earthbound alliances and interests.

That time is now.

There is a movie written and directed by a Dallas gay man, Israel Luna called "Ticked off trannies with knives"(TO*WK). This movie sensationalizes the murderous violence committed everyday against transgender woman. This movie commercializes on a fantasy concocted by Luna in which violent retribution is subsequently committed by these 'hot, sexy and fierce' transgender victims.

The movie TO*WK misrepresents transgender people as comical caricatures of females who intentionally "fool" men into believing they are 'real woman' who desire heterosexual sex. Upon being discovered by their intended partners as 'men in women's clothing' the transgender woman inconceivably allow themselves to be willing victims of these murderous men. These transgender victims are then transformed in the last moments of the movie into vigilantes who then violently exact revenge on the original perpetrators of the violent acts.

This movie lends credence to the discredited and abhorrent 'transpanic' defence. Prior to the trial of Alan Andrade for murdering Angie Zapata this tactic was successfully and often used in defence of the killers of transgender woman. Andrades claims that he murdered transgender woman Angie Zapata because she had 'fooled' him were not allowed by the court and he received the maximum penalty.

The 'Transpanic defence' has not been attempted since and the reality of receiving equal punishment for murdering a transgender person undoubtedly has played a major role in the demented minds of those considering this violence.

Israel Luna incensed the transgender community by placeing Angie Zapata's name in the begining of the TO*WK trailer and remained there untill he was forced to remove her name by outraged transgender people.

"Ticked off trannies with knives".

Nothing could be further from the truth about the transgender experience. Nothing could be more dehumanizing or damaging to transgender peoples welfare. The uneducated will be terribly misled and transphobic people, regardless of sexual orientations, will use this tragic movie to further there own hateful agendas.

Religion and "Ticked off trannies with knives."

Despite my objections my pastor is attending the showing of TO*WK at the Fort Worth Q Cinema in June and plans to engage in dialogue with other movie goers about it afterwards.

I contend that the a Cisgender male pastor of a MCC church should not enter into a discussion that normalizes the usage of 'tranny', a pejorative so dehumanizing, harmful and hated by transgender womankind.

I contend that the message that TO*WK communicates should not be supported by the Metropolitan Community Church in any way. My Church, Trinity MCC Arlington Texas, does this by supporting Q Cinema, which is featuring TO*WK at it's film festival despite the transgender communities pleas that it does not.

I contend that the primary mission of a pastor at a MCC Church or any other Church, is the well being and safety of their congregations and this priority should not be ignored so as to preserve a social association or obligation outside of the Church.

Will Trinity and all of the other Churches in North Texas who claim transgender people as welcomed by god and by their congregations as equals, sit in silent acquiescence to the damaging misconceptions of TO#WK?

Will Metropolitan Community Churches defend ALL of it's congregants, or will it's allegiance to a earth bound agenda prove more important.

I invite all LGBT welcoming Churches to consider this a invitation to take a stand against the transphobic violence inspiring misogynistic message of TO*WK. I invite all transgender inclusive churches to come to the informational rally at the opening night of TOTWK at Q Cinema in Fort Worth.

Kelli Anne Busey
Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies

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