There isn’t just a single LGBT bus, it’s more like a convoy…

I had a reminder of the ‘bus‘ analogy recently, late on a Saturday night. I should have been in bed, but I went onto Facebook to check something or other and my eye was caught by a comment a friend had made on a thread. The thread had begun with a post from a sometime prominent member of the trans community. She is one of those who cling on to certain elements of the past, including the position that the term tranny holds some form of legitimacy and that is a position that ignores the clear evidence that now, here in the reality of the present, the term exists solely as a term of abuse and as such any public endorsement of it can only give succour to those who weaponise it against trans women. That particular debate is not the point of this article however. Instead, I want to discuss something that arose in the course of the ensuing skirmish.

It’s interesting to note that those trans women who are invested in denying that tranny is harmful, tend to have particularly strong links to the gay male and/or drag communities and those communities, or at least parts of them, seem to think they have some stake in the term. It’s not at all the purpose of this article to explore the reasons for this; which lie in habituation to forms of vocabulary that have evolved very different meanings outside of the restricted in-group usage to which group members have become attached. That some members of the trans community developed close ties to that group, mainly for reasons of perceived comparative safety, explains why those same trans people have become vested in group values and lexicon and are thus largely oblivious to the bigger picture. It seems to me that there’s a form of dependency taking place here.

On those occasions when I’ve been drawn into such debates, there hasn’t been a single one in which both sides have been represented exclusively by trans people. On most of those occasions, the side requesting that respect and restraint should be applied in view of the demonstrable fact that by far the most common use of the term is as a slur, has enjoyed exclusively trans support. There have been one or two occasions when an ally has spoken in support, most usually to ask their peers why they choose to ignore the realities. On the other side, it seems most commonly the case that the argument is led and most vigorously defended, by people who are by no stretch of the imagination trans and who one would have thought had no place in a debate that is of relevance only to members of the trans community; unless of course, that place is about maintaining cis privilege.

And so it was on this occasion. There were two particularly vociferous apologists who were very clearly cis male and who appeared to be trying out some sort of double act. This mainly took the form of attacking those asking for restraint in the use of the term with personal insults, coupled with repeated denials that tranny is a slur. One illustrated this by calling me bitch, slut and whore and insisting that these weren’t intended as slurs either. When I pointed out the misogyny inherent in this, his sidekick made the comment “oh, I bet it’s a fucking butch dyke”.

I asked, politely, just what an issue specifically affecting trans women had to do with cis males and why they felt they had any place in the discussion. This drew out the position that “we get to be involved because we’re all the same community” and that those of us who dare to stand up for ourselves are “destroying our community”. This shows a clear intent to apply pressure to toe the line. But whose line, exactly, is it that we’re expected to toe? It’s certainly not a trans women’s line, because it’s not one that we drew, or as far as I can recollect, were ever consulted about.

This is where the line analogy morphed into the bus analogy, as I was told quite firmly “You are on the bus but do not own the bus, do not drive the bus and are not the bus” I didn’t ask who he thought was doing the driving, but I don’t think I needed to.

Then it hit me. We’re not actually all on the same bus! A much better metaphor, if we’re going with buses, would be that it’s not just a single bus; it’s a convoy! Or at least, part of the time it’s a convoy, because sometimes it makes sense to travel reasonably closely together, providing that we happen to be heading in the same direction. There’s not just one bus, with the legend LGBT on the side; there are various buses – a Gay male bus, a Lesbian bus, Bi and Pansexual buses… and not just one Trans bus either, but a selection… and there’s an Intersex bus as well. Some of us get to choose to travel on more than one bus at different times. For example I get to ride the Trans Women’s bus, the Pan bus and sometimes the Lesbian bus (though I’m technically pansexual, I lean predominantly toward female attraction).

For most of LGBT recorded history, it’s no secret that it’s been the Gay Male bus pounding away in front, brightly polished sleek and sparkling and much, much bigger and more powerful than any of the others. At one time, even the Lesbian bus had to travel on a parallel bumpy dirt road… and a respectful distance behind. The other buses were so far behind and poorly maintained that they were rarely within view. Until the guys found themselves faced with a road block of course, as at Stonewall. Then, the Trans Women’s bus was called up from the rear and used as a battering ram to clear the road, so that the boys didn’t get any scratches on the paintwork.

Although the buses are heading in a similar direction most of the time, they don’t always have to be doing that. They may have similar destinations, but not necessarily the same destination. And here’s an idea; discussions that are pertinent to any one particular group only, take place on that group’s bus and those outside that group don’t get to define anything about the debate. If their voices are to be heard at all, it is only ever with the express permission of the core group and any member of that group must have the right of veto.

Wider discussions are easy on this model. Where it is relevant to have them… or to touch base in order to share information about the decisions already taken by the members of each autonomous bus among the general population… the various buses can simply pull over and we all get out and sit around a campfire together and share our information and decisions and request the support of other buses. So when Trans Women reach a consensus on the standing of the term tranny and decide on appropriate rules for it’s use, we share that decision with the population of the whole convoy and they can decide whether to be allies and support that decision, or to act like privileged gits and dispute our right to self-determine matters of sole relevance to ourselves. If the latter happens, we’re fully entitled to get back on our bus and drive away… and be conspicuously absent when the next road block comes up!