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By Rebecca, February 18, 2011 7:06 pm

As a – hopefully cathartic – writing exercise, this is the letter I’d like to send to the administrators at the school which fired me for being trans. I’m talking with my lawyer about whether actually sending it would be productive.

To whom it may concern,

In the Fall of 2010, I was hired by the Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston to teach an 8-week session of after school theatre classes to the students at Neal Math and Science Academy. After having taught the first class, on Tuesday, September 28, I was asked not to return. One or more of your school administrators felt my presence would bring up “uncomfortable conversations,” specifically due to my status as a transgender woman. As a result of your actions, I lost income from the workshops, and your students lost the opportunity to learn the world-class theatre techniques of the Piven Theatre Workshop.  But beyond that, you damaged my sense of safety, and the integrity of your school community.

Bald-faced bigotry is something no one should face, but that was what happened here. You asked me not to return not because I had done a poor job teaching, not because the students hadn’t enjoyed the workshop, not because of space or budget issues, but because of who I am. You don’t know me. You’ve never met me. And yet you felt comfortable firing me for reasons that were irrelevant to my skills as an educator. I hope you never have to experience the self-doubt, the feelings of worthlessness, that you inflicted on me.

More importantly, your actions damaged the integrity of your school community. My understanding is that, within the last twelve months, a student at Neal Math and Science Academy committed suicide following teasing relating to gender identity or expression. Bullying targeted at the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is a very real issue, as the rash of student suicides around the country this past year has shown. But by sweeping the issue under the rug, by avoiding potential “uncomfortable questions,” you ensure that no student is safe. Four out of every five students who are teased for reasons relating to sexuality or gender expression are not gay. (I need to find this citation.) By ignoring issue sof gender and sexuality, you leave your entire student population at risk.

I have no doubt your actions stemmed from a desire to protect your student population. But bringing up difficult issues – like how to deal with a transgender student or teacher – is infinitely preferable to pretending those issues don’t exist. Had you asked, I would have assured you that my status as a transgender woman would have no place in my Piven classroom, because it’s irrelevant to teaching youth acting skills. You, not I, have made this an issue.

My motivation for sending you this letter stems from two desires: First, for you to understand the harm your actions caused, both to myself and your larger school community. Second, to offer the opportunity to move forward and strengthen that same community. The Illinois Safe School Alliance offers training to create safe spaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, and I myself offer ‘Trans 101′ workshops to cover the basics of transgender-related issues and terminology.

Instead of using my presence as a teaching opportunity, you furthered the very problems you were no doubt trying to avoid.

I hope to hear from you, so that this matter may be resolved in an adult and professional fashion, instead of simply sticking your head in the sand and pretending such issues are not worthy of your time.

-Rebecca

Comments (19)

By Rebecca, January 5, 2011 5:08 pm

That title is pretty sensationalist. It’s intended to be. That said, I want to clarify up front that A) I wasn’t fired from a job that I needed as a primary source of income (though it still sucks to have lost that money) and B) I wasn’t fired from any of organizations I’m super-close with, or have long-term relationships with, and C) yes, this is the transphobia I briefly mentioned back in October.

So what happened?

I teach with the Piven Theatre Workshop, an absolutely fabulous organization founded thirty-plus years ago by the parents of Jeremy Piven (of Entourage fame). I’ve taken classes there since I was about ten years old, and have been teaching with them – first as an assistant and now as a lead teacher – for almost eight years. Piven does most of its teaching at its facility in Evanston, but is sometimes hired by outside organizations to do on-site workshops, usually at schools.

This is where the Neal Math and Science Academy comes in. They had a longstanding contract with the Boys and Girls Club of Lake County, where the BGCLC provided after school services. The BGCLC decided to hire Piven to provide an after school theatre program. Piven, in turn, hired me to teach the actual workshop. So I was hired by Piven, who was hired by BGCLC, who was hired by Neal.

Confused yet?

Continue reading 'I was fired for being trans'»

Comments (1)

By Rebecca, December 8, 2009 4:00 pm

The first night of tech for Trans Form was last night, and I’m kind of a mess.

(For those of you who aren’t theatre people, tech refers to technical rehearsals, where lights/sound/etc are set. It comes before dress rehearsals and/or previews, the final rehearsals before a show opens.)

The show is going fine, although I’m planning to head out of work early tonight and finish up some sound and video work. And yet, I’m really scared about it opening on Friday. Not simply stressing out, but scared. And, after thinking about what parts of the show terrify me, I realized I’m not just dealing with stage fright (although there’s some of that) but with some deeper internalized transphobia.

Continue reading 'Internalized transphobia'»

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By Rebecca, November 20, 2009 11:40 am

Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day “set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice.” There’s an expectation that The Trans Community is supposed to come together and mourn our dead, celebrate our living. (Indeed, I’ll be performing tomorrow night at Center on Halsted’s Night of Fallen Stars, set up to do just that.)

I mentioned last year that I felt really disconnected from the TDOR, and I’m not sure my feelings have changed.

QueenEmily at Questioning Transphobia wrote a post, the drowned and the saved, today in which she said

There was an Italian atheist Jewish writer called Primo Levi who wrote about his experience of Auschwitz, over and over.  In his last book The Drowned and the Saved, he drew up a distinction between “the drowned” (those who died) and “the saved” (those who lived).  He argued that only the drowned could give true and full witness to the horror of the Shoah.

I’m not comparing the murders of trans people to the Shoah directly – the murder of trans people, which horrific, is not institutionally organised towards genocide in quite the same way.  But what I want to point out is the structure of witnessing.  Even Levi, a man who lived through the camp, at the end of his life felt inadequate to witnessing, unable to have fully experienced the violence he wrote about.  Even his proximity was not enough.

She goes on to say that, even with her own experiences of transphobic hatred, it is impossible to properly give witness to those murdered, particularly across cultural or racial lines (most of those murdered this past year where latino or black, and in Central or South America). But that we should try, anyway, because it is our duty and responsibility to the dead.

Continue reading 'Transgender day of what?'»

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By Rebecca, May 31, 2009 11:17 am

I’m just stirring up trouble lately! A friend of mine has  a blog that I follow, as he often posts amusing or interesting videos and links. Earlier this weekend he posted the clip from Ace Ventura which parodies The Crying Game, after ace discovers the woman he’s been involved with is “really” a man.

I called him out on it, and now he’s calling me sanctimonious.

Continue reading 'The transphobic, cissexist people in our lives'»

Comments (2)

By Rebecca, April 22, 2009 11:29 pm

I’m currently working my way through Angel and, inevitably, they’ve arrived at ‘The Body Swap Episode.’ That’s the episode in every sci-fi and fantasy show where at least one of the main characters has a body swap with either another main character, or an incidental one-episode guest character. Specifically, Angel‘s episode is a ‘Grand Theft Me,’ as was the similar episode in Buffy. (As usual, TV Tropes can explain it better than I can, and gives so many delightful examples, so you should just check out the above links if you want a better explanation.)

I really hate the body snatch episode. Really really really. I hate it when it’s used for humor, I hate it when it’s used for drama, I hate it when it’s used to teach the good guy a lesson, I hate it when it’s used to teach the bad guy a lesson. I just hate it. And I think I’m starting to realize why. It’s a mishmosh of reasons, but I’ll try to make them coherent…

Continue reading 'I Hate ‘The Body Swap Episode’'»

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By Rebecca, April 13, 2009 8:32 pm

The tongue-in-cheeck website Deraililng for Dummies promises to help “[derail] awkward conversations by dismissing and trivialising your opposition’s perspective and experience.” The site promises that its instructions applies to “sexism, whorephobia, racism, transphobia, classism, homophobia, ableism, kinkphobia, and fatphobia!” It’s rather amazing.

The simple guide includes such adversarial approaches as

• If You Won’t Educate Me How Can I Learn?
• If You Cared About These Matters You’d Be Willing To Educate Me
• You’re Being Hostile
• You’re Being Overemotional
• And more!

The “book”s intro after the break.

Continue reading 'Enhance your bigotry with Derailing for Dummies!'»

Comments (2)

By Rebecca, March 21, 2009 11:09 pm

How I Met Your Mother is a funny show. I’m not going to lie and say it’s not. I really like the cast, I really like the characters, I really like the writing, and I consistently laugh when I’m watching it.

I’m getting more and more upset by the transphobia. That is, by jokes told at the expense of transgender women. Two big examples spring to mind:

• When discussing how relationships work until the ‘oh’ moment, one of the examples is Robin saying “I used to be a dude.”
• When trying to figure out why his girlfriend, Cathy, should be dumped, the third scenario has her saying “I used to have a penis.”

But I know there are more out there. In both examples, a potentially attractive female partner is rendered unattractive by being trans. I realize the show makes fun of a lot of different minority groups, but there seems to be a difference between having a positive gay character on the show and laughing with him, than simply making fun of how no one in their right mind would want to have a relationship with a trans woman.

As a trans woman, it really sucks to hear characters I thought I liked casually dropping things that would be incredibly hurtful if directed at me as a joke. I can’t imagine my little blog is going to have a huge effect on the show’s viewing audience (though I am also posting this to the show’s forum) but the very least I can do is speak up in the face of what is, in all likelihood, ignorance.

-R