For the summer I went around the East Coast working in politics at the behest of the world’s largest gay rights organization. I worked on 3 major campaigns, in Long Island and Philadelphia. We were so young and innocent, believed Bush could never get elected…the senate race I was working on also lost, so Sen. Santorum became a reality. And that’s all I feel about saying ‘bout that.

When I returned from the East Coast, I had a queer fire under me and started off by writing a piece on Trans issues for UCLA’s LGBT magazine, 10 percent.

TRANSLATING AN ISSUE HRC mission statement revision in recognition of the transgendered draws criticism from those in the community By Faith Cheltenham UCLA TenPercent Contributor May 21, 2001 TenPercent With the portrayal of Brandon Teena in Boy's Don't Cry, mainstream media was allowed into the world of hate that many in the transgender community face. Using a small town as a backdrop, Kimberly Pierce tried to educate America. Raising the American consciousness about transgender issues is no small feat, since understanding about transgender peoples is lacking in the lesbian, gay, bisexual. community itself. Gender non-conformity, one way of describing transgender, could refer to many segments of the gay and lesbian society such as butch lesbians and femme boys. As the laws are now, any person wearing clothes and behaving opposite of their assigned gender could lose their jobs. Shirley Bushnell, co-chair of the Transgender Menace of Southern California, believes that possibly up to 80 percent of the. queer populace push the boundary of straight acceptability. "Not that you walk in and say 'Hey I'm a man who has sex with men'…but that someone has identified (your sexual orientation) based off your appearance or behavior…" Makes sense, right? We all feel as if we don't exactly fit the mold that straight society made for us. We are not a Will, nor are we a Jack. The beginnings of this flexibility of orientation and gender surround us on all sides. However, do the organizations that represent the queer community maintain that elasticity? Recently, the Human Rights Campaign, one of the largest organizations for the queer identifier, included transgender into their mission statement. The second paragraph of HRC's mission statement now reads: "HRC is a bipartisan organization that works to advance equality based on sexual orientation and gender expression and identity, to ensure that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community." Despite the fact that HRC believes the recent addition is "an honest reflection of {their) work at this moment"; the HRC continues to exclude the transgender community from the majority of bills it backs. For the last 20 years the transgender movement has been on a parallel path with the more mainstream gay and lesbian movement. However, it would seem that many of the major victories gained by transgender blood, sweat, and tears were garnished by the gay and lesbian movement. Stonewall itself, one of the first examples of gay civil disobedience, was a riot started by a group of self-proclaimed. deviants. The Stonewall riots no longer represent the liberation from the class, racial, and gender stereotypes that it once did; instead rose a system of separate activism, the inequality of which continues to expose the rift that remains between the lesbian and gay movement and the transgender minority. While Bushnell applauds the HRC for amending their mission statement, she thinks, "if the HRC really looked at all the discrimination cases, all the troubles in the community, and honestly reflected on the statistics,… they would realize that gender identity, behavior, and appearance issues affect more of the queer community than they are willing to admit". Bushnell believes that the HRC and other groups, like the Los Angeles. Gay and Lesbian Center, continue to focus on "who you have sex with," instead of understanding that "who you have sex with is based off your identity as a woman or a man." Often Bushnell is confronted on the topic of her sexual orientation. People want to know why she is a transgender lesbian and why would she have surgery and still want to have sex with women. A community that forces the straight world to reconsider the boundaries of orientation cannot seem to free their own minds, in relation to gender, enough to consider a world of many different possibilities. The defining aspect of this continued phobia is the lack of diversity within these organizations. "I need to see someone like myself," is something that the transgender community says a lot, Bushnell points out. The letters in 'LGBT' should be proportional, but transgender men and women, much like bisexuals, only represent a minute portion of all the leadership in main gay and lesbian organizations. Bushnell asserts that it's important that all organizations demonstrate their diversity with more than just another mission statement. "We may disagree on some of the political issues, but I'll at least know that I'm represented!" The diversity could lead to organizations such as the HRC being more perceptive to the needs of all of its community. Bushnell disagrees with Elizabeth Birch's statement that more education is necessary before gender identity can be Included in the current Employment Non-Discrimination Act. "It can be a viable bill with gender included in it. What they are saying to me is that they want to be like everybody else… It's not offensive to Congress if we look like them, is what they mean by viable." GenderPAC's Riki Wilchins also agrees that HRC's "vision must be expanded," but welcomes the change in mission statement as "an appropriate and constructive step." Bushnell continues to believe that a better expression of "good faith" would be more diversity within the organization, and says "there will continue to be activists like myself…who will come to them and ask 'What are you doing?' And 'How much of the message are you getting out there?' One can only suppose the dissymmetry that the gay and lesbian movement has felt toward the transgender margin directly mirrors the non-reflection of self that gender nonconformists feel. Hopefully, through education and courage a rich and storied history that has been largely ignored and pushed aside will continue to rise to the surface. 'Instead of listening to "someday soon," I shout "Now!"' When Shirley Bushnell yells, "I'm a woman, damn it!" stand with her in support of that glorious declaration.

The word Faggot and its legend of HATE
“An old man on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give them some parting advice. He ordered his servants to bring in a faggot of sticks, and said to his eldest son: “Break it.” The son strained and strained, but with all his efforts was unable to break the Bundle. The other sons also tried, but none of them was successful. “Untie the faggots,” said the father, “and each of you take a stick.” When they had done so, he called out to them: “Now, break,” and each stick was easily broken. “You see my meaning,” said their father” (Aesop).

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word faggot has been used in an assortment of circumstances since the 1300’s. First it is simply referred to a bundle of sticks gathered for firewood. The first negative connotation came when heretics were burned during the Inquisition; “faggots” fueled the fire burning them. So the term “to fry a faggot” became synonymous with being burned at the stake for witchcraft. It is a common misconception in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community that the word faggot comes directly from the burning of homosexual heretics; however research of the origin suggests that faggot is tied instead to both binding and baggage. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the word also was used as early as 1591 in reference to women, especially older less desirable women. So, once again the word’s power lies in the fear of not being desirable to a dominant man, or not being dominant enough if you are male. This suggests the richest form of subjugation; a theme that follows the term throughout its continued evolution.
In the 20th century United States, the term took on a meaning of excessive flamboyance by men, sissyness. James Baldwin, a noted black gay author wrote that
The condition that is now called gay was then called queer. The operative word was faggot and, later, pussy, but those epithets really had nothing to do with the question of sexual preference: You were being told simply that you had no balls

Baldwin was well aware of the word’s power within America, and yet within the black community Baldwin’s wise words have had seemingly no effect. Gangsta rap remains littered with “fag” and “dyke” and the usage is horrific by the most famous and well-respected of rappers. DMX raps in "Get Me a Dog": “…in the back wit ya faggot ass face down/Lucky that you breathin', but you dead from the waist down…” Dr. Dre, one of the most famous current producers, rapped of old band mate Easy E, “You little maggot; Eazy E turned faggot”. While Gay And Lesbian Association Against Defamation (GLAAD), protests against Eminem’s homophobic lyrics they turn a blind eye to the continued usage within the black community. This can only point to GLAAD’s ignorance that subjugation breeds subjugation, and in order to break its cycle a complete understanding of the enslavement of speech is needed.
It’s interesting that even gay bashers have an opinion on of the word faggot. At godhatesfag.com, the author traces the word “faggot” from the traditional etymology of burning sticks with a new twist.
“‘I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.’ Amos 4:11…

Godhatesfags.com continues to say that, “Amos 4:11 could just as easily be translated "…ye were as a faggot plucked out of the burning…” That godhatesfag.com, one of the premiere websites and organizations for homophobic speech and hate, would explain what they believed to be the origin of the word is interesting. For godhatesfag.com, the beginnings of the word faggot are a justification for their hate, because it points to a historical oppression warranted by God himself. Godhatesfag.com, the organization that protested at the funeral of hate crime victim Matthew Shepherd, goes a step further by associating the word faggot with people who support “fags” and people who engage in all other relatively "lesser" perversions like premarital sex and adultery. So the use of faggot evolves again, from homosexual to general evildoers.
It is the right of those oppressed to consider the tools of their subjugation. Over the years many in the LGBT community have worked on the reclamation of the word faggot, in hopes that it might restore the power taken. Dan Savage, noted gay activist and columnist, uses the term to refer to himself and his friends, saying that “inviting straight people to use that term when they address me sort of strips the word of its hate, or demonstrates a way it can be stripped of its hate”. Savage notes the curious conundrum that occurs when straight people use the term, in turn offending gays who use it on a regular basis to refer to themselves. “It's okay for us to use it amongst ourselves, but [many gays believe] it's not okay for me to give permission for straight people to call me that word”.
By interviewing a few members of the LGBT community in West Hollywood, an understanding of current thinking on the reclamation process is grasped. Rian Brooks, a 22-year-old college student says that it “seems like a common way of dealing with past and current oppression”. Brooks also stated that he used the term from time to time in regards to friends, but noted that usually the friends in question were a bit more flamboyant than most. Others in the gay community said that “fag has become a bit of a label, people like to use it to show that they’re not afraid of being a bottom”. Another gay college student, Mike Provenzale, hates the word. Provenzale doesn’t use the term, but heard it recently said by another gay person, “which still shocked me”. While he considered it “semi-cool” for use by a gay person, Provenzale doesn’t think “that straight people can use it a non-demeaning way”.
It is interesting to note that the self proclaimed “tops” or dominants of the gay community, are the ones who are less likely to say or be associated with faggot. While the bottoms or submissives are fierce passionate about owning the word, “I mean I get called it all the time, so why can’t I use it?” said another gay man, aged 20. “I’m a FEM! I enjoy being effeminate and I think more men should be proud of that part of them”, said Joe, a 24-year-old bartender. So we see a difference of opinion, even in the community that the term most specifically oppresses. However, this fits in nicely with the legacy that the word faggot leaves behind, a tendency to be used by the seemingly strong in society to subdue the weak. In this case, is being aware of the history of a word enough? It will have to be. Only by tracing the subjugation, by tracing the hate, will we come to understand that we are all “fags”, forever bound until every single person can take the word and free themselves from a tendency to associate submission with weakness, and weakness with hatred.