i dream of being possible

misdirected history

soooo glaad is at it again. now. this little paragraph seems good on the surface:

Marsha “Pay it No Mind” Johnson was a Greenwich Village artists from the 1960s to 1990s. Her legacy is grounded in her compassion for the trans community and her dedication to LGBT visibility and equality. Marsha worked alongside Sylvia Rivera, co-founding the organization Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries (STAR) and the STAR House to provide resources to and advocate for disadvantaged young trans women and drag queens. Marsha was one of numerous trans advocates involved in the Stonewall riots of 1969. Despite such contribution to the historic events, many gay groups of the era excluded the trans community from their efforts, which left Marsha both frustrated with the state of the movement and further determined to work on behalf of her trans peers.

it seems good until one realizes (remembers) that glaad itseslf is one of the many gay groups that has (and still does in a few ways) excludes trans women of colour from ‘their efforts.”

don”t be fooled: glaad doesn”t care about us. never has and probably never will.

i also like (sarcastic face) the subtle degendering of everything here. Marsha was dedicated to “LGBT visibility and equality”. the “trans community” was excluded. her “trans peers”. the use of ~lgbt community~ is super fascinating after my post talking about legacies and anachronisms. glaad is able to colonize the past by using an illusion created in the present (ie, the notion that ~lgbt community~ is coherent and something that exists).

that said, i do think that Masha P. Johnson”s legacy is vast and further reaching that many give it credit (including glaad in this paragraph).

the unfortunate thing is that these anachronisms, this sanitization, this colonization of history, this erasure of context, this generalization, prevent many people from actually understanding the real impact and legacy of Marsha P. Johnson.</p>