Dr. Weiss,

A very well written article indeed, which touches on what I believe is an extremely important issue facing our community today. My compliments to your insight.

My sentiments, however, are not based solely on the fact that my original opinions were included in your article (which truly was the first time that I felt that my voice was actually HEARD in the media and in the community, in which case I sincerely say thank you.....), but rather that a dialogue was opened up, touching on a subject that few in the community circles dare to address head-on. Also, I believe that it opened up a platform in which other transgender people can share their stories of their workplaces (many of them horrible stories) and their similar experiences of corporate HR and consultant elitism......

While I agree with most of what you had expressed in your article, I am afraid that I must continue to disagree that working with the elitist circles is not the ONLY option in which to secure funds, organize, establish networks and to gain power for the transgender community......

Community organizations are only as successful and reflective of their leadership and thus people are not very inclined to become involved if they continually see their leadership as not having credibility and expressing views that they themselves do not follow....... Additionally, people are tired of putting forth all of this work only to turn around to find leadership corruption, that they were exploited so that the leaders could obtain fame and glory or that they were horribly disenfranchised by a leader who had his or her own personal agenda, which didn't include the needs of the greater community. And I'm only speaking of the working people who were lucky enough to be included in the effort in the first place. There are many who truly want to be involved, but they continually get the opportunity door slammed in their faces just because their views may differ from the elitist status quo.

So is it any surprise really that people are reluctant to support new leaders and their organizations who may do the same to them that their predecessors have done ??? And what kind of message does that send to the greater community, that it is OK to support community leaders who have no qualms about stepping on us while they get ahead themselves ?? (The traditional corporate straight white male approach). Why do we have to follow the very same elitist capitalistic model that we forever denounce straight corporate America from undertaking ?? Quite frankly, if working with elitists will continue to be the status quo, then perhaps we as a transgender community should ask for a federal bailout like everyone else is doing...........

So Dr. Weiss, I feel that their is much more to grassroots community building than a select few "leaders" greasing palms with powerful elitists. Community empowerment means including EVERYONE, putting them to work, recognizing them for their efforts, having sound ethical leadership which puts its money where its mouth is and holding those corrupt community hot shots fully accountable for their actions. Of course there is much more to it, but I feel that these are the essential fundamentals to effective community building, not the "business as usual" corporate / political elitist roundtable that says with a smile, if you are not a "consultant" or an HRC or Out and Equal "Best Practices" advocate, KEEP OUT !!

Again, great article. I look forward to future dialogue on this issue, especially one which will go further to address how this issue ties in with the powerful community non-profit organizations and how the everyday transgender community is getting increasingly pushed aside in our workplaces and in our community organizations.

Thank you for your time.

Mr. Browning,

Just to let you know that there wouldn't have been such a "conversation" for this article had their not been TWO such viewpoints present, those of myself and those of Dr. Weiss.

How sad that you only chose to recognize ONE of those viewpoints, who just happened to be an esteemed author on this blog, thus proving my original argument that the only people recognized and praised in the community these days are those in the elitist circle while those everyday people who contributed equally get overshadowed.

Thank you for your time.

I couldn't agree more Dr. Weiss.....

I suppose that the next question then is how do we as a GLBT community begin to educate our own folks as to the dangers of monolithic, polarized, elitist and in-the- box ideology ?? Especially the elitist "leaders" of our community organizations...........

In my opinion, the answer lies in credible research supported by fact, as Dr. Weiss touched upon. Unfortunately, we still live in a world which is largely concerned with cold hard facts (or as the corporate elitists would say, the "bottom line"). Sadly, in our communities, we know so little about each other that how on earth could say a transgender person educate someone straight about the lesbian or bisexual experience etc... and vice versa ?? I mean, how many books in the bookstore actually give a researched or historical account of terms or events that we tend to only learn about on the streets of the community ?? And even so, each of us is a unique human being with a unique perspective and experience which may be different from say Jane or John......

Well, over the years a new educational system developed to solve this problem, which seemed to work for corporate and political elitists. All of a sudden anybody who was anybody in the community who knew the right corporate and political connections, who could deliver a good sales pitch and who could hang a "consultant" or "board member" shingle on their door all of a sudden became overnight be-all-tell-all figures for the community, thus contributing greatly to the monolithic, polarization of the community in the eyes of the very people who we were supposed to educate about diversity...... To them, the "one size fits all" approached worked.

And thus here we are today. The community elitists are getting ahead, straight corporate and political America is getting ahead and where is the rest of the greater community ?? Still dealing with the same issues that we have been experiencing for years with little hope for change...........

So yes, I feel that monolithic ideology is a dangerous thing and it doesn't really mean much because it is only based on individual opinions. I realize that elitist opinions are the new fad these days and are looked upon as gospel, but let's look at the tangible results that this ideology has brought about......

In my opinion, diversity begins with the realization that people in our own community are diverse, with diverse experiences and who have diverse perspectives. Everyone has something to bring to the table and should be invited to do so to truly satisfy the concept of true diversity. Under this current model, I see elitist polarization continuing at the expense of alienating the greater diverse community.....

Again, I look forward to more articles on this issue.

A few observations here if I may...........

First, I never said or alluded to the fact that diversity of thought and the dangers of elitism equated to the ideology of "anarchistic individuality". Again, a point well proven here in that what I actually stated was given a new profound spin by someone (or anyone for that matter, in this case the author) with a statement based on THEIR "expert" opinion.....

Mr. Blaze, you raise an excellent point when you mentioned the challenges of being "out" in the workplace. Having experienced this issue firsthand at my former company, I can definitely relate.

From my experience, I found out through the corporate grapevine that being openly "out" in the workplace was a newly formulated "Best Practice" adopted from "experts" at very influential GLBT organizations like Out and Equal and HRC. Apparently, the ideology that was being taught to companies (which they equated HRC and OUT and EQUAL to be the "second coming" of the GLBT community) was that being out in the workplace was the "BEST WAY" to bring about change in organizations. Any employee who didn't follow this "status quo" ideology was quickly labled as having some sort of psychological problems, again thought up by some "expert" therapist who wanted to "diagose" those who didn't go along with the HRC /Out and Equal way of thinking....... Of course, as most of us know, coming out is an individual personal issue and many of our workplaces aren't this safe Utopia, despite the fact that many in the GLBT corporate elitist circle think it is. After all, for many of them who work in a corporate office, with powerful positions and high incomes, sure they will be more apt to be accepted.

Once again, you have an ideology formulated by corporate elitists (which seems to work for THEM) being forced upon others from different perspectives through their corporate policies and "training" programs. The sentiment became, if it works for us, it will work for you too........... WRONG !!!

Dr. Weiss, you mention Judith Butler's work as being a "12,000-volt lightning bolt to the head" and that this theorist is the "most loved and reviled". Well maybe, in YOUR opinion and in the opinions of others from the academia world, but the fact is that her view is a THEORY and your feelings of her work are OPINIONS based on YOUR perspective........Again, not everyone in the community shares the same opinions or perspectives as you all.

Now, I do not know Ms. Butler, nor do I know of her work, but I do know that a diversity training class filled with people who may be first encountering a transgender (or any GLBT person for that matter) will be highly apt to be influenced by your academia credibility as a speaker and thus willing to adopt the very "theories" and "opinions" which quite frankly do not speak for all GLBT people's experience in the workplace.....

I have a question in that how many GLBT or transgender people will be invited to speak at future universities or invited to post articles in future editions of GLBT publications and blogs like you "consultants" are invited to do ??? I didn't think so......... thus again illustrating my original point. The cottage industry appears to remain in full effect these days with little chance of change, unless of course a person is a professor, PhD., MBA, corporate consultant or political activist, in which case the opportunities are abundant..........

Thank you for your time.