Sadly, this happens all too often, but what's telling, truly, is that those who don't see the problem are part of it.

And happy birthday, Alex :D

I think the only thing for TransLondon to do is plan a counter-demonstration right along the parade route and pass out fliers to completely explain their position. Then plan an action blocking usage of all available public toilets at the end rally site. "Nobody gets to pee until our rights are respected!"

Queer people who are not gay or lesbian get this sort of treatment all of the time. The thing that is the most bothersome is that these transpeople are being treated this way by those who should theoretically know better.

Wow, that's pretty... pathetic on the part of the London Pride organizers. The infighting in LGBTQ apparently came to a head here, in a not so nice way, when it certainly didn't have to (and clearly didn't the year before) - what kind of messages are being sent to trans folks when their self-representation committee is scuttled in favor of some appointed representative? The comments from London Pride indicate that either they really aren't seeing this, or perhaps I miscapitalized PRide since it sounds like empty PR speak.

On the other end of things, I was at the Out for Work conference in DC last fall, and they made EVERY bathroom (in the conference area of a large hotel!) a gender neutral bathroom. As I have the privilege of identifying with (a variety of) my assigned sex/gender, I had never really had to deal with bathroom issues, and the way that the LGBTQ (primarily) and Ally attendees handled a remarkably equitable bathroom situation was really admirable. Not that being civil is anything beyond expected, but rather that the actual logistics went smoothly, people noticed and appreciated the (for me) gesture (for trans-folks, nod to dignity), and it was really one of the most positive and enduring learning experiences of the trip.

Oy.
This kind of stuff has been on my mind a lot lately. That the organizers thought that putting the trans float last and having us wearing heels and sequins shows almost mind-boggling insensitivity. This of course brings us back to the circular argument of "We're invisible to you" vs. "You are all too sensitive" both, sadly, containing a kernel of truth.Many of our Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters do get us(Like Bil and Alex, for example), but it's really time to have open and frank conversations about the disconnect between trans and the old line community.
Here In L.A., a community organizer named Hanna Howard received a very nice award from the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center for her activism and then had the cheek to ask during her acceptance speech why it wasn't the "L.A. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender center". Well, why indeed? Sometimes the only way to get heard is to give the hand that's petting you a little nip, or at least show some teeth.
The boycott may do some good; we'll see.

I thought that the security cordon around this float, and this float alone, to prevent any contamination was a nice touch. That really puts them in their place.

Of course a lot of Trans people wouldn't mind being identified as stereotyped Drag Queens, just as many Gays would be fine with being represented as stereotyped leather BDSM fetishists. But that shouldn't be the only way all Gays are represented, especially if there's only a token crew-cut ultra-butch lesbian or two for political correctness.

There are lots of laws on the books protecting transgender people, yet we are being discriminated against by the G,L and B community in that country.

There is way too much animosity out there in our own GLBT community, and as long as it continues it will make all of our lives more difficult than they should be.

From prior Bilerico articles and comments to them, there continues to be a wide divergence of opinion, and even open animosity amoung transgender people. Many gays and lesbians have no understanding of us, and the divisions continue unabated.

I applaud Bilerico for its efforts to educate the GLBT community about our issues, but much work remains to be done.

To quote Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?"

I hope so, for as long as we remain a fractured community, we will continue to lose important battles for basic civil rights, like California and ENDA.

Screw the Pride Parades and Conserva-Queer, Mattachine run HRCs and Pride London type groups.

It's past time lesbian and women of transsexual history joined the International Women's Movement and leave the patriarchal gay male dominated organizations to rot.

There, I said it...throw your rocks now.

To the organizers of Pride London:

I am a professor of forensics and of addiction medicine. I am a Supreme Court Forensic Psychiatrist.

Exactly what does your misogynistic and stereotypically hackneyed portrayal of trans-people have to do with me or with the thousands like me?

We are women, strong, diverse, not some pathethetically inaccurate caricature. Rest assured that the accomplished women of operative history will resolutely and evoutly avoid any association with your event and your group.

And it will be a frightfully cold day in hell before I ever submit to the kind of gender policing in the line for the restroom that you subjected women to last year at Pride.