I couldn't believe my eyes when I read this article a friend had shared:
Chelsea Lately Resorts to Transphobic Humor to Mock Chaz Bono
Last night’s episode of Chelsea Lately repeatedly made a mockery of Chaz Bono’s transgender identity when discussing the transgender advocate’s upcoming appearance on Dancing With the Stars. Host Chelsea Handler herself started the discussion off with a joke about Chaz Bono’s identity and anatomy, but was joined a few moments later by two members of her all-comedian panel in using transphobic humor to mock him.
Really? Really America? You're going to air that on TV? Nobody thought that pathetic attempt at "humor" might be a teensy-weensy little bit discriminatory and just plain mean-spirited? I thought we were living in 2011, not 1961.
I just want to make it perfectly clear: making fun of transgender people is not OK. This has been a public service announcement from the Society of How Would That Make You Feel?
When searching for any previous posts regarding this incident, I found the following reference in yesterday's Midday open thread:
The announcement Monday that he would join the highly rated ABC dance competition immediately made him one of the highest-profile transgendered people in the world.
It also brought to the surface prejudices about Bono and others who have changed their gender, judging from the "Dancing With the Stars" message board. In hundreds of comments, Bono was the most common subject.
Here's a choice comment:
YOUR choice to bring Chaz Bono into the mix goes too far. I am not about to risk the potential for on screen dialogue about sex changes and gender confusion while my 7 and 9 year old are watching. If you want the 'anything goes' hippy culture, then soon that is all you will get. You've lost us. In case any of you are wondering ... no, we are NOT tolerant. We are not tolerant to allow any and all influences to come unfiltered into our home and especially to our children.
Ugh. You know what I'm not tolerant of? Hate. And being mean-spirited. I was taught from a small child to look people in the eye no matter their appearance or behavior, and be honest with who I was inside. If anyone else has a problem with that, they're the ones missing out on living an authentic life. I hope that if you ever see anyone expressing a viewpoint like this, you call them out. Pull a Golden Rule karate chop maneuver on them. How would it make you feel? What if everyone were discriminated against because they were a little different? How would the world be if we were all the same? Are you into eugenics? Because I'm not about to step down from this moral high horse. Nosiree. We live in an enormously diverse society, and our civilization is better for it. The common good is served by our compassion and understanding of one another, and bigotry only serves the greedy, corrupted mass of dystopian paleo-theocracy that seems to have come to power. Well I'm not down with that narrow little pinprick point-of-view, and I hope you're not either. Please join me in confronting such attitudes with honest derision and humble education.