MAGNET Boycotts RuPaul's Ongoing Bullying & Misgendering of Transsexual Women; 'Drag Race' October 29th Episode Mocks Transsexualism; (memo: Gay Men Don't Get Free Pass On Transphobia, Hypocrisy & Sexism)

Last night, October 29^th 2012, on RuPaul’s All Star’s Drag Race, gay male entertainer RuPaul once again used his show as a bully pulpit to mock and misrepresent what the medical condition transsexualism actually is, despite the last few years of transsexual and transgender advocates protesting his use of offensive pejoratives such as “tra**y” and “she-male” .

Comedienne Vicki Lawrence asked, “Hey Ru, what’s the difference between a drag queen and a transsexual?” 

RuPaul laughingly replies, “About twenty-five thousand dollars and a good surgeon.”

RuPaul should realize there’s nothing funny about misinforming millions of people about an oppressed community in urgent need of public understanding, acceptance and lifesaving resources. Transsexualism is actually a legitimate medical condition recognized by the American Medical Association where a woman or man is born in the wrong body and undergoes medical treatment to better align their anatomy with their mind and true gender, whereas a drag queen is a gay male dressing up as a woman for entertainment and/or professional purposes.

Ashley Love, an organizer with Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Transsexual & Transgender People (MAGNET), is not surprised, “RuPaul’s unapologetic transsexual-phobia reaches millions who feel if gay men can attack women born with transsexualism, then they can too, which further marginalizes and endangers our well-being and healthcare needs. Many gay male celebrities are very big on calling themselves “anti-bullying” advocates, yet very light on understanding that misgendering women born with transsexualism by making dehumanizing ‘trans-face’ comments equates to bullying as well. Will the ongoing hypocrisy, sexism, transphobia and bullying by RuPaul and other gay male public figures ever stop? ”

RuPaul’s unchecked mistreatment and public humiliation of women who happen to be born different must be addressed as his comments mislead society to think it’s acceptable to bully little girls, teens and women born with transsexualiusm. MAGNET calls on the mainstream and LGBT media, human rights non-profits and community members to not give gay men a free pass on bullying transsexual and transgender people. Until RuPaul and his show’s production company, World of Wonder Productions, take responsibility for their ongoing public assaults on the dignity, accurate narratives and well-being of women of transsexual medical history, we ask all allies to join our boycott against RuPaul’s misgendering and bullying of our community.   

TAKE ACTION In 3 Steps:

1: BOYCOTT RuPaul’s Drag Race:

- Urge your friends and family to stop watching this show

- Post MAGNET’s boycott announcment in your social networking sites and email to ally groups:
http://themagnetsource.blogspot.com/2012/10/magnet-boycotts-rupauls-ongoing.html

2: JOIN COVERSATION:

-  Join Facebook Group: ‘Boycott RuPaul’s Bullying, Transsexual-phobia & Misgendering’ :
LINK: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/427114894015880/?fref=ts

Let’s talk about it, together! United we can end the misgendering and bullying that harms transsexual and trandgender people!

3: WRITE & CALL RuPaul & His Production Company, World of Wonder Productions:

-          EMAIL World of Wonder Productions CEOs Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey: 
        Barbato:  rbarbato@worldofwonder.net   Bailey: fbailey@worldofwonder.net  

-          ADDRESS (World of Wonder): 6650 Hollywood Blvd # 400. Hollywood, CA, 90028.

      -          TELEPHONE (World of Wonder): 323-603-6300

 For more information/press inquiries:

Contact MAGNET: MAGNET.Advocacy@gmail.com

Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Transsexual & Transgender People (MAGNET) is an anti-defamation organization dedicated to educating the media about transsexual, transgender & intersex issues, as well as pushing for more authentic and positive portrayals of transsexual, transgender & intersex people in the media.

MAGNET Organizers Attend UNITY Journalists Convention 2012; Give Presentation @ Las Vegas LGBT Center; Will NLGJA Choose an Inclusive Name?

MAGNET Organizers Attend UNITY Journalists Convention 2012; Give Presentation @ Las Vegas LGBT Center; Will NLGJA Choose an Inclusive Name?

MAGNET, or Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Transsexual & Transgender People, organizers attended the UNITY Journalists Convention 2012 in Las Vegas last week from August 1st to August 5th. Many workshops, panels, seminars, presentations and receptions were held where MAGNET organizers were able to educate about accurate coverage of transsexual, transgender and intersex (TTI) issues.

On August 4th MAGNET organizers Lauren Nichols and Ashley Love gave a presentation at The Las Vegas LGBT Center focusing on how journalists and screen images portray transsexual, transgender and intersex stories. After MAGNET’s presentation they moderated an audience discussion on TTI representation and their effects on the different TTI communities.

UNITY, formerly UNITY: Journalist of Color, is an alliance of people of color journalist associations. This was the first UNITY convention where UNITY expanded their membership to include NLGJA, or National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. UNITY included sexual orientation and gender identity in their mission statement. Shortly after NLGJA joined UNITY, NLGJA's leaders and board members pressured UNITY to additionally change its name, arguing it was “exclusionary and inaccurate” (although NLGJA’s own name remains exclusionary and inaccurate by omitting the 'B' and the 'T' from their acronym).

Attendees at MAGNET’s presentation at the Las Vegas LGBT Center last Friday, as well as attendees at NLGJA’s own membership meeting last Thursday, overwhelmingly agreed that NLGJA needs to be consistent in promoting inclusive titles by changing their own acronym. NLGJA leaders said they plan to discuss the issue.

“It was a really inspiring convention to be with many other people of color journalists and media professionals", said MAGNET's Ashley, "UNITY's welcoming of the LGBT coalition brings together greater diversity which creates s a stronger partnership. It was a good gesture that UNITY also changed their name to be more inclusive, and we hope NLGJA will follow UNITY’s progressive step forward by including the 'B' and the 'T'' to NLGLA’s acronym to be inclusive as well. Preach, practice. You can't spell the word UNITY without the letter 'T'.”

MAGNET Boycotts GLAAD’s & American Apparel’s 'Transsexual Erasure' & Misgendering Campaign

Boycott GLAAD’s & American Apparel’s Non-Affirming and Misgendering Campaign



GLAAD and American Apparel are partnering on a ‘Pride Month’ campaign with Isis King (Tyra Bank's America's Next Top Model’s first contestant born with transsexualism) modeling T-shirts that read “Legalize Gay”; however, Isis is a heterosexual woman, not a “gay” man. Gender identity or a transsexual medical condition is not the same thing as sexual orientation. The word “gay” is not interchangeable with the word transsexual. The advertisements, perhaps unintentionally, send misleading and nonaffirming messaging about transsexual and transgender realities. All we ask for is accuracy, which includes reforming GLAAD’s media guide section on transsexual related representation.

TAKE ACTION in 3 steps:

1) BOYCOTT-- MAGNET and other transsexual, transgender, intersex, feminist and ally groups are boycotting GLAAD’s and American Apparel’s pride month t-shirts due to their problematic messaging. We call our campaign: 'Transsexual' Will Not Be Censored

2) REPRESENT-- We ask those who support our educational campaign against misrepresentation to go online to purhcase  environmentally safe t-shirts (or design and create your own) which read one of three slogans:

• Legalize Transsexualism 
• We Will Not Be Erased
• 'Transsexual' Will Not Be Censored

3) JOIN CAMPAIGN-- You're Invited to Join Our Online Discussion / Get Updated Info:

'Transsexual' Will Not Be Censored Facebook Group page:  https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/242017769243699

Ashley Love, a MAGNET organizer, explains, “GLAAD fights the good fight for us many times, yet this time they’ve irresponsibly made a decision that appeared to not consider the confusing messaging that the ad could send to the public. They inadvertently went against their mission statement by validating the transphobic misconception that Isis and other women like her are “gay” males, instead of who they really are - women, period. The constant misgendering of women of transsexual experience by GLAAD and other ‘LGBT’ groups derails accurate education on transsexualism and must stop.”

Professor Joelle Ruby, PHD. of New Hampshire University, a transsexual advocate, was recently on two panels about feminism in the transsexual and transgender communities during the Philadelphia Trans* Health Conference and made a public statement on Facebook about this story:

“[GLAAD] hire TRANSSEXUAL model Isis King to model…t-shirts that say "Legalize Gay" and "Gay is OK". They erase King's transsexualism (AND TRANS RIGHTS in general) to forward their gay-centric agenda. And then they wonder why we critique Gay, Inc.???"

Chanel Jessica Lopez, transsexual and transgender communities based counselor at New York City’s Anti-Violence Project, personally objects to GLAAD’s and American Apparel’s campaign and stands with the boycott:

“As my past and present experience working with the community has taught me, those of us who are straight don't like to be considered anything other than a heterosexual woman. Just as damaging as physical violence could be mental violence, like erasing one’s accurate identity, such as misgendering, causing psychological abuse. I support equality for all; however, Isis should respectfully be recognized as a woman, not a commodity to be co-opted for a gay and lesbian only demographic.”

Messaging and images that promote (whether intentional or not) ideas of segregation and sex discrimination are serious matters which must be addressed. GLAAD's messaging in their advertisements feed invalidating and inaccurate misperceptions. We hope our campaign will foster affirming and forward messaging.

For media inquiries or information:

Contact Ashley Love, MAGNET Communications Organizer, Email: Magnet.Advocacy@gmail.com

Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Transsexual & Transgender People (MAGNET) is an anti-defamation organization dedicated to educating the media about transsexual, transgender and intersex issues.
MAGNET’s website: http://www.themagnetsource.blogspot.com/  

MAGNET To Hold Education Rally Outside GLAAD Media Awards on Saturday, April 21st in Los Angeles To Counter GLAAD Misrepresenting Transsexualism

MAGNET- Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Transsexual & Transgender People- is holding an education rally on April 21st outside GLAAD’s Los Angeles Media Awards to draw attention to GLAAD’s ongoing campaign to blur the lines between transsexualism, gender deconstructionism, lifestyle choices and transvestite fetishism as well as GLAAD’s unethical refusal to address the national dissent of the transsexual community that is being co-opted into GLAAD’s “transgender umbrella ideology” agenda against their will.

Date/Time: Saturday, April 21st. 4:30pm to 7:30pm
Address: The Westin Bonaventure Hotel- 404 South Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Contact: Email Ashley Love, MAGNET organizer- MAGNET.Advocacy@gmail.com

Ashley Love, an organizer with MAGNET, explains, “Though GLAAD does some good work, primarily for gays and those who support transgender socio-politics, we hold this education rally to inform attendees that the medical condition transsexualism is actually not about third gender politics or homosexuality. Our legitimate birth challenge stems from being born with chromosomal and/or anatomy diversity, and is treated by affirming doctors who aide us is ensuring our body is aligned with our mind. GLAAD has concocted and is militantly pushing an opinion based framework that unravels public understanding, promotes transsexual-phobia and even impedes and erodes our legislative advancements and medical rights. We ask involved parties to take a deeper look at GLAAD’s social engineering that seeks to erase transsexualism from classrooms and public discourse in favor of their gay and gender deconstructionism only politics, and examine the science, data and literature that supports our transsexual medical condition’s accurate narrative. Be aware of the unrest and resistance in the transsexual community against this blatant revisionism and co-opting of our lives by non-transsexual entities that has lasted almost twenty years. This colonialism of transsexualism by gay and transgender ideology groups is irresponsible, psychologically abusive, sexist, and detrimental to the mental and physical health of people born with transsexualism. We’ve had enough.“


Dr. Mary Donata, MD, who attended the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference with her teenage daughter last year, wants people to respect her daughter’s reality. She writes:

"I’m a family doctor and the mother of a 17 year old daughter who has a transsexual medical history. It’s imperative that GLAAD understands that my daughter, and other girls and women with similar medical histories, shouldn’t be inaccurately categorized with others not at all like her under the umbrella term "transgender". PLEASE UNDERSTAND: My daughter is a young woman, not impersonating one as a hobby or lifestyle. She’s not gender queer, a cross dresser, a transvestite, a fetishist, or a drag queen. It’s time to reform GLAAD’s problematic media guide concerning transsexualism"

MAGNET's Panel on 'Accurate Coverage of Transsexual, Transgender & Intersex Issues' at the NLGJA Convention Sparked Dialogue about Misrepresentation

Last Friday MAGNET gave an education presentation at the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) Convention entitled ‘Transforming the Dialogue: Accurate Coverage of Transsexual, Transgender & Intersex Issues’. Following the presentation MAGNET organizer Ashley Love moderated a panel which included Eden Lane (hosts programs for PBS, was ‘outed’ as transsexual when she was covering the Democratic convention), Kimberlain O’Driscoll (expert on the transsexual medical condition) and Sarah Blazucki (editor of Philadelphia Gay News).

Session description:

Transforming the Dialogue: Accurate Coverage of Transsexual, Transgender & Intersex Issues

Transsexual, transgender and intersex (TTI) communities are finally coming into the media full time. As the last five years have shown, a steady bombardment of images, regular TV characters, frequent news stories and mainstream transsexual celebrities have made their way on to prime time. This revolution of visibility is an exciting crossroads for these communities. However, many mistakes in reporting are still made. A major concern is the misrepresentation and undermining of the transsexual medical condition by transgender sociopolitical ideology. This session will celebrate our growth and then address concerns.

The first half of the session Ashley gave an overview of the terms transsexual, transgender, intersex, gender queer, cross dresser, transvestite and drag queen and explained why grouping all these extremely diverse groups into one label “transgender” is problematic and intellectually dishonest. She explained why this reservation ideology ignores and endangers the unique social, political and medical needs of transsexual and intersex people. The topic of ‘misgendering’ was discussed, as well as the unethical trend of many media outlets (both LGB'T' and mainstream) of using transsexual people’s ‘pre-transition’ name, which is a form of misgendering and invasion of medical history privacy.

The second part of the session Ashley invited the panelists up. Eden Lane discussed how she was ‘outed’ during the Democratic Convention years back, how her agent dropped her and how she sometimes “becomes the story”, when she is actually just trying to “cover the story”. She talked about how GLAAD’s media guide could be fairer to transsexual people. Eden discussed why it’s important to not mislabel people who are transsexual “transgender”.

Kimberlain O’ Driscoll, an expert on the medical condition transsexualism and who has been a nurse for over thirty years, said in her presentation:

“…Although the portrayal of transsexuals in the media has improved, there is still confusion over the difference between a transsexual who is an individual with an identified chromosomal medical condition and someone who enjoys cross-dressing or performing on stage…… Cross-dressers, transvestites, stage performers and those who refer to themselves as gender queer have been placed under one collective group known as the transgender umbrella. Those with the transsexual medical condition do not belong in this group, yet their portrayal in the media rarely makes note of this. Men and women with the transsexual medical condition are struggling to survive. Insurance companies and lawmakers refuse to assist them because they do not understand the difference between someone who has this particular chromosomal anomaly and someone who perhaps cross-dresses for an evening and returns to their regular life the following day. Accurate and compassionate media portrayal can help correct this.”

Sarah Blazucki was asked about a recent quote given in Curve Magazine concerning Mark Segal, the owner and publisher of the magazine that Sarah is editor at, Philadelphia Gay News. A Philadelphia based trans activist was quoted in Curve saying,

“Last year, at the Pride parade, the out-of-touch owner of the Philadelphia Gay News stood up in front of hundreds of people and asked how many ‘gay and lesbian’ people were in the crowd, but failed to mention the B or the T. I stood there, annoyed and shocked. To be honest, carving out a place for the T in LGB space continues to be a struggle, and Pride month is no different.”

Sarah’s reply to that was that the Segal “was just not thinking”. However, the issue is the problematic practice of ‘T’ erasure in LGBT settings, and the use of “gay community” by many gay and lesbian people as the umbrella term for the LGBT coalition.

Ashley then discussed with Sarah about why transsexual women are feeling slighted in the newer transgender ideology movement, and explained why NLGJA’s current revision of the definition of transsexual is inaccurate, and a subtle attempt to co-opt transsexualism into the transgender ideology agenda.

Justin Tanis, a former employee of NCTE, kept on heckling the entire session. He was upset that the moderator pointed out the inaccuracies and anti-transsexual sentiment in the alleged survey “Injustice at Every Turn”, which Lisa McDonald, a transsexual activist, calls “Inaccurate at Every Turn”. The survey seeks to appropriate and misgender people with transsexualism, and erase their medical legitimacy. Since Tanis was one of the writers of the “survey”, he had personal interests in attempting to discredit anyone or organization that unveiled the intellectually dishonest and manipulated data that was concocted into this survey. Whereas Tanis believes in the “gender deconstructionism umbrella” theory, transsexual people do not.

At the end MAGNET asked people to remember that whenever a colony seeks to emancipate themselves from those who misrepresent and oppress them, that there is sure to be a push back from those who want to keep them co-opted and silenced, which is why some transgender and LGBT opinion leaders and bloggers have been so militant in trying to vilify and discredit those in the transsexual community who are resisting the erasure and misrepresentation of their medical condition's narrative and legitimacy.

The good news is that the toothpaste is already out of the tube....and there is no going back. Now all the transsexual community has to do is organize, educate and correct the misinformation that is currently being distributed by non-transsexual people.

MAGNET is grateful that the NLGJA allowed a session in their programming that went against the grain, and we hope we can aid them in clearing up a lot of the misinformation about the transsexual medical condition in journalism, TV news shows and in both GLAAD's and NLGJA’s media guide defintions of transsexual.

MAGNET Protests Adam Carolla’s Transphobic Comments; Rejects His "Apology”

Adam Carolla adds to his long resume of offensive and prejudice/fear based outbursts with a new podcast where he went on a rant against people who are transsexual and transgender. He asked "When did we start giving a sh-- about these people?" He adds that the LGBT community should "shut up" about speaking out for equality because they are "ruining his life", when in reality, his fear and hate mongering is what is “ruining people’s lives”. He advised the LGBT community to exchange the acronym LGBT ("Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender") for "YUCK.", again, the only thing “yuck” is Carolla’s transphobia, homophobia and sexism.

Carolla recently made his defintion of an apology: “I’m sorry my comments were hurtful. I’m a comedian, not a politician.”


Ashley Love, an organizer with Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Transsexual & Transgender People (MAGNET), comments on Carolla’s comments:

“We reject Adam Carolla’s excuse of “being a comedian” as to why he was promoting transphobia, sexism and hate speech. We know many successful comedians who don’t use fear mongering and transphobia in their material. This propaganda endangers the well-being, understanding, lives and rights of people born with a transsexual medical condition. Carolla should know there is an epidemic of unemployment, violence and marginalization in the transsexual and transgender communities due to the ignorance and fear he is promoting. The networks, advertisers and listeners associated with Carolla now or in the future should know that transphobia and hate is not funny or acceptable.”

Eden Lane, known as “the first transsexual broadcast journalist” on mainstream television, and host of 'In Focus TV' (program on PBS affiliate KBDI),responded to Carolla's defamatory remarks about her community. She tells MAGNET:

“I was deeply disappointed to hear the degrading anti- transsexual remarks Mr. Carolla made on his recent podcast. Mr. Carolla might benefit from some kind of training so he understands the injury he can do to young people not only of a transsexual or transgender experience, but to his young fans who now may think Carolla’s “comedy” is an acceptable reaction to people who are born different.“

Eden Lane speaks out against Carolla's transphobic comments

After the Public Outcry against GLAAD Mislabeling Janet Mock’s Medical Condition, GLAAD Edits Their Inaccurate Term “Transgender” to “Transsexual”

May 21, 2011

Shortly following MAGNET’s outreach to GLAAD and MAGNET organizer Ashley Love’s open letter to Marie Claire magazine, GLAAD concedes and edits their inaccurate labeling of Janet Mock as “transgender” and replaces it with “transsexual”.


Janet Mock, an editor for People.com, opened up this week about her transsexul history
In a public comment made yesterday by Janet Mock on her fan page that she addressed to Ashley Love, Janet writes:

"Hi Ashley - I read your open letter and was so so intrigued. GLAAD graciously contacted me this morning to ask how I wanted to be identified and amended their headline to Transsexual."

This week Janet Mock, an editor for People.com, disclosed her transsexual medical condition in an op-ed in Marie Claire magazine. Both in her article and on her website, JanetMock.com, Janet only uses the term transsexual to refer to her condition. However, in a blatant disregard for Janet’s testimony, GLAAD mislabeled her as “transgender” in their coverage, which provoked numerous LGBT news sources to follow the inaccurate labeling as well. The appropriation of Janet’s transsexual condition by gay and transgender politics sparked a public outcry by many transsexual advocates and organizations, who demanded that GLAAD cease and desist from rewriting the transsexual narrative into a gender queer and cross dresser agenda. Transsexual advocates explained that trangenderism is about deconstructing gender, activities, behaviors, lifestyles, fetishes, drag queen stage acts and or/ dismantling the gender binary. Janet is absolutly none of these identities or lifestyles. She is a heterosexual woman who was simply born with a medical condition in which she had corrected and treated ten years ago. She is not a “3rd gender” or gay male drag queen. She is a woman. Period. We ask GLAAD, the gay establishment, transgender ideology and the far right to respect this.

On Thursday, May 19th MAGNET reached out to GLAAD asking them to retract their inaccurate labeling of Janet because the transgender term misgenders and objectifies women born transsexual, jeopardizes their medical legitimacy, impinges on their civil rights, confuses the public, gay appropriates them and invalidates their womanhood. GLAAD continued on with their misrepresentation.

On May 20th, with GLAAD still choosing to enforce transgender ideology onto Janet, MAGNET organizer Ashley Love wrote an open letter to Marie Claire thanking them for doing right by Janet and other Americans born with transsexualism, which she posted on Marie Claire’s website under Janet’s article and on Love’s blog Trans Forming Media.

Later that morning GLAAD contacted Janet to ask her the name of her condition, although she had already said in multiple media outlets that she was of transsexual experience. Janet again told them she was of transsexual experience, after which GLAAD edited their website to accurately refer to her as such.

Ashley Love responds to GLAAD’s edit,

“MAGNET applauds GLAAD for admitting their mistake by editing their coverage to respect the reality of Janet Mock’s medical condition transsexualism. We hope this development leads to GLAAD reforming their media guide to accurately represent Americans with transsexualism, for as it stands now, the guide co-opts, misgenders, de-medicalizes, offends and invalidates their reality. We acknowledge GLAAD’s small step forward, though much work needs to be done changing the problematic way the gay and transgender establishments depict transsexualism. We ask people to keep their sociopolitical agenda out of the doctor’s offices and narratives of human beings with transsexualism. “

MAGNET asks people with transsexualism to please contact GLAAD executive director Jarrett Barrios to thank GLAAD for finally making an effort to satisfy the thousands of Americans with transsexualism who protest being called transgender. Contact Jarrett Barrios: barrios@glaad.org

We are confident that this new development will lead to more discussions which will bring about the authentic and non-sociopolitical representation of the transsexual medical condition by the LGBT establishment.