“Work It” Doesn’t Work

“On January 3, 2012, ABC is set to premiere Work It, a sitcom about two men who dress as women to secure employment.  At a time when the transgender community routinely finds itself in the cultural crosshairs, a show like this could put the transgender community in an even more dangerous position.”

Today, “GLAAD [Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation] and HRC [Human Rights Campaign], two national LGBT advocacy organizations, placed a full-page ad [above] in media industry publication Daily Variety as part of a campaign to educate the media industry and the general public around the show. The organizations also confirmed a meeting with ABC executives will take place to discuss the sitcom.”

“ABC should not air this show – plain and simple.  At the very least, Work It is offensive and insulting.  At worst, the show is downright dangerous and sends a message that transgender people are to be laughed at, or are somehow less-than. This show would be a setback for transgender Americans, and for everyone who believes that all people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.”

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Those are excerpts from the GLAAD Work It webpage. To view the entire webpage, please follow this link.

Also, there is an excellent new posting concerning Work It on the front page of The Huffington Post this morning written by Joe Solmonese and Mike Thompson, the president of the HRC and acting president of GLAAD, respectively. To read that post, please follow this link.

Still Stopping “Work It”

Last Thursday, I wrote here about complaining to the ABC television network that their new sitcom Work It, "belittles and mocks those who do not adhere to society's gender norms," and as a result, should not see the light of day.

My concerns were only based on the short snippets of the show that appeared in the ads ABC has been airing. But from what little I had seen, I thought that it did not bode well transgenders, so I signed the Human Rights Campaign's petition to stop the show.

After reading this on The Huffington Post today, I believe that my concerns were justified. The Huffington Post article was written by Cathy Renna, who saw a complete episode of the show. After reading her article, all I can say is that the show is worse than I imagined and I urge you to sign the petition.

Stop “Work It”

Please go here to tell ABC that their programming (for example, “Work It”) should not mock transgender people! Let them know we can't support programming that belittles and mocks those who do not adhere to society's gender norms.

the pot calling the kettle black

In this story about a trans being booted off a Bi personal Web site for being trans, "Daryl Herrschaft, director of Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Workforce Equality Project, said that HRC works to educate gay-owned businesses about the transgender community, but he could not recall an instance of a gay-owned business being so blatant in discriminating against transgender people."

That is amusing since HRC is the group responsible for getting trans booted off the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)! Maybe the gay-owned business is just following HRC's lead.