Transsexuals in Politics and Transsexual Politics

After the election of Amanda Simpson as Senior Technical Advisor by the Obama government many talk about the newest invention in this world: transsexual politicians. Maybe it reminds you a bit of the election of the first black president of the USA – the first of a certain kind in a certain position, to simplify the statements in the press. Well – neither Obama nor Simpson were the first of a kind – although it seems with Obama that he’s the first reasonable president when we look back to the last eight years. But hey, there were black presidents in many countries before and there were transsexuals working for the government in even more countries (the second one is an educated guess because we don’t appear that easily in the statistics, considering the fact that many might live stealth).

But besides minority cards, there is something way more important we shouldn’t forget: Is the person qualified for the job? Well, to stay with our examples, I’d say both of them are overqualified – just look at the last two decades and what kind of presidents and technical consultants the US had in this time. So let’s say (and hope) that they were chosen by ability and not just to fulfill a minority quota.

Now, what can we do with a transsexual in the American government? The religious right – not all to righteous though – already speaks of infiltration by minorities that shouldn’t exist. But hey, they always complain when someone more intelligent than them gets a better job than them an when this person is even not an average boring jackass it gets really ugly. The problem with this is that it stirs up the climate for hate crimes, witch-hunts and the holy inquisition. And of course this is the case because there are more (normally also not all too intelligent) contemporaries that rely on what other people say without questioning it.
On the other hand, for the whole transgender community, this appears to be a victory after what happened to the last trans-woman who was supposed to work for the US government. Diane Schroer had a job offer as analyst in terrorism prevention but never got the job when her employer figured out that she was a transsexual. This was 2004 – and it took some time for the courts to acknowledge that she actually was discriminated based on her gender identity.

Now we have a transsexual consultant in Washington, a former rocket scientist that can be named in the same breath as Lynn Conway. This proves one thing: Yes, we can have success. And also: Yes, we can actually be smart, although many people are scared to death of this fact.
And still we’re stuck with politics; but there are a lot more transgender in politics than one might think – especially in Europe. Italy has a trans-woman in the parliament but she is or was harassed quite often by that annoying right-wing Mussolini-Woman (yes, that Mussolini clan) and even Switzerland nearly got a transsexual in the parliament. Of course she had also to fight for her rights in court and won, but long after the election was over so she couldn’t get a seat anymore. And my city Zurich which also has a lesbian mayor has a trans-man in the parliament. So if we recapitulate and look at it from the world of simple phrases: Yes, we can – and probably we won’t give up until we are normal citizens.

But of course there are two things that remain to be said. First of all, we don’t seem to be normal citizens at all when the average newspapers write of the “First transsexual woman in US government” and when her former name is mentioned more often than her qualification for the job. Seriously we are still at the point where the (boulevard) media finds it very exotic and trilling to talk about a transsexual’s transition rather than about her success.
And the second thing goes to all of us: Keep in mind that there is a difference between a transsexual in politics and transsexual politics. An out transsexual politician already has it hard to do her job and be judged based on what she can instead of what she is. And trust me, this small difference is enormous. But also keep in mind that not every transsexual doing something new or great has to do this as a transsexual activist. I’m the first one to support transgender politics but we can’t expect anyone transgendered in politics to do this just for us; they also might have other goals and priorities in life. The worst thing that can happen is when the expectations from the public are mirrored in the expectations from our community – we should know better than them. First of all, we should judge a transsexual in politics like anyone else – based on what she does. If she does activism, great! And if not, fine – it’s her decision and not ours to make.
Just so you really don’t misunderstand me: A person is a person and someone working for the state is also more than just a transsexual. Let’s just celebrate our moral victory and raise our expectations – but towards the world and not towards the few transsexuals who made it in public as successful persons: They have to do their job, not ours. And I’m sure they’ll do it very well.

Your political Liz

~ by Liz on January 7, 2010.