Despite of the petition, numerous complaints to the Anti Discrimination Board answered at best with form letters, and emails to the Sydney Opera House not to show 'trAnnie' it appears they plan to go forward with this show which mocks transgender children associating them with sexual perversity, substance abuse and pedophilia.
Why would these people make Christmas even more agonizing for trans youth by making their ridicule a yule time tradition?
Why is it conscionable to perform what is essentially black face or trans face by gay people arguably associated to transgender people by the acronym LGBT?
What rational could the Opera House, actors and the government have for helping to intensify the stigmatization of trans youth who already have an attempted suicide rate of 50%?
They all say its in good fun, we should learn to take a joke and we should stop claiming to be victims.
The plot and trailer
The lead role and co writer is Trevor Ashley, an Australian gay man who apparently spent much of his life in cabaret and garnered quite a following.
I just finished interviewing Ali, a transgender youth from Arkansas. While I was writing her article it hit me like a ton of bricks. Her narrative in the Friend Film trailer primarily focused on the hate she endured in rural Stuttgart being forced to present as male and being called a 'faggot'.
Now that she has come out as a young trans woman, she will have to deal with being called a different pejorative one that pierces her heart, "Tranny". This youth survived her early childhood, but she and other trans girls like her, shy and unassuming, are who this production and promotion of "tRanie" puts in peril.
They are the ones we will mourn losing this Transgender Day of Remembrance only days before this show mocks them. Mainly young woman of color, marginalized by the same stigmatization Trevor Ashly promotes with "trAnnie".
The word "Tranny" is a pejorative used almost exclusively as a weapon during beatings and murders and to describe children and adults in the pornographic industry.
Want proof?
Trevor Ashley is connecting with these predators, gay transphobes and a assortment of others on twitter promoting his play with the hashtag "Trannie" .
A screen snip of a man responding to Trevor Ashley and few following unassociated tweets, the kind you will always find by people using the slur "trannie or tranny":
I implore you Ashley Trevor to have a change of heart. We would never know exactly how many lives would be saved by cancelling "trAnnie" but you would know you this.
You wouldn't be contributing to the hate that kills.
