"Tranny"

There's a mini-storm of controversy sweeping the gay blogosphere regarding the use of the word "tranny" to describe a broad range of gender nonconforming people - transsexuals, drag queens, cross-dressers, etc. The use of the word is being vigorously objected to by some trans folks and their supporters, but is also strongly defended by some trans people themselves.

GLAAD's media reference guide to defamatory language lists "tranny" as a term to be avoided. Last year GLAAD took Project Runway winner Christian Soriano to task for his catch-phrase "hot tranny mess", leading Soriano to issue an apology of sorts.

The National Gay & Lesbian Journalist Association says it depends on who is saying it.

Tranny: Often a pejorative term for a transgender person, it is now being reclaimed by some transgender people. Caution: still extremely offensive when used as an epithet and should be avoided except in quotes or as someone’s self-identified term.

RuPaul may have kick-started the current flap with this:

"Okay, Let me put on my Judge Judy robe,” RuPaul says. “People really need to get a life. And quit taking every opportunity to be offended by the world. Years ago, political correctness made it unbearable for anyone to have a laugh or be free. You can’t make the whole world ‘baby safe.’ That’s really the uneducated approach to dealing with issues. There are more things to do in this life than to try to correct people with how they should refer to you. That’s your problem. That’s not their problem.

“We are obsessed with trying find areas where we get offended,” RuPaul says. “And people who identify as being victims have a hard time accepting a new identity. They hold their ‘victim identity’ in place. And they continue to look for people or organizations where they can point their finger at and, in essence, confirm their victimhood.”

Pam's House Blend blogger Autumn Sandeen responds with a two-part series on this issue.

Most in the LGBT media understand that reclaiming the term queer doesn't make the terms LGBT and queer interchangeable, yet some LGBT media professionals have begun using tranny and transgender -- and even transsexual -- interchangeably, using the reclaiming justification for their use of the term tranny.

And, just as legacy and new LGBT media publications -- as well as individual new and legacy LGBT media reporters -- are for the most part nuanced in their use of the word queer, they need to be equally nuanced in their use of the word tranny. And, just as legacy and new LGBT media publications -- as well as individual new and legacy LGBT media reporters -- should be held to account for misusing the term queer, they should be held to the same account with they misuse of the term tranny.

I would prefer that LGBT media use alternatives to tranny (for example: transgender people, trans people or transpeople) when describing groups of trans people, but there are times when the term tranny may be the most appropriate term because of the self-identification of an individual or a particular group.

Trans activist Lena Dahlstrom disagrees with RuPaul:

I do agree with RuPaul that one does need to take intent into account. I've got gay friends who've thrown around "tranny" -- but when I've gently mentioned that it's a term that a lot of trans people find problematic when used by people who aren't trans (or friends and allies), guess what, they stopped using it. But no, you had to go pissily justify your right to use the term and accusing people who complain of "Nazi-like" rigidity. That's hardly "coming from a place of love and respect" now is it? The place that comes to mind is: asshat-ism. Because bottom line, if you have to have to ask yourself whether a term you're using is offensive, that's a pretty good clue that it's not a good idea to use it. Words may never hurt me, but they can piss me off -- and I think RuPaul might also have something to say about the folly of getting on the wrong side of an angry drag queen.

I actually agree with RuPaul AND Dalhstrom. I think we look for offense sometimes where none is intended AND I think it doesn't make sense to use a word knowing that somebody else doesn't like it. That said, it seems that "tranny" is inevitably destined to be as defanged as "queer" now is for most people.