I get asked this question a lot: “Will you be attending TDoR this year?” I get asked if I’m going to march, or if I want to attend a service or vigil.
My answer is, “absolutely not.”
As a transwoman, I’m all too familiar with the culture of fear. I transitioned by hook & by crook, borderline homeless or totally homeless, squatting, sometimes putting hormones over food & shelter. I’ve been stalked, attacked, beaten, fired for being trans, discriminated against at work, watched my friends get beaten nearly to death in front of me, and am a survivor of abuse & rape.
I hate what TDoR has come to represent: a queer ‘holiday’ for embracing the narrative of fear; fear of violence, fear of death, self-stigmatization. The co-opting of POC trans women of a very-particular-background’s experiences as those of the ENTIRE trans community, regardless of race, class, or whatever. It’s a day to remind us all why we need to be afraid all the time and I think it’s a bunch of bullshit.
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AIDS activists have historically been a cohesive movement: able to work together on similar goals, through a variety of tactics, despite varying socio-economic, sexuality, race and gender backgrounds. Granted, there have been some explosive differences; particularly in San Francisco. One of the more volatile situations that comes to mind involves ACT UP SF throwing the contents of a cat litter box at Larry Kramer. However; when it comes down to it, we have been supportive of each other because we need to be. Being HIV+ is still criminalized and vilified, and poz people are still outlaws in our society.
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On Wednesday, November 23, 2011 I published an op-ed in the NY Times,(Israel and ‘Pinkwashing’). This 900 word piece attempted to contextualize Pinkwashing. Here is a more detailed documentary history of Brand Israel, Israel’s campaign to re-brand itself in the minds of the world, as well as the development of pinkwashing as a funded, explicit and deliberate marketing project within Brand Israel.
2005
According to the Jewish Daily Forward, in 2005 The Israeli Foreign Ministry, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Finance Ministry concluded three years of consultation with American marketing executives and launched “Brand Israel,” a campaign to “re-brand” the country’s image to appear “relevant and modern” instead of militaristic and religious.
“Americans don’t see Israel as being like the US,” explained David Sable, CEA and vice president of Wunderman, a division of Young and Rubicam that conducted extensive and costly branding research for Israel at no charge. His conclusion was that while Israel, as a brand, is strong in America, it is “better known than liked, and constrained by lack of relevance.” Sable elaborated, Americans “find Israel to be totally irrelevant to their lives and they are tuning out…particularly 18-34 year old males, the most significant target.” Brand Israel intended to change this by selecting aspects of Israeli society to highlight and bringing Americans directly to them. They started off with a free trip for architectural writers, and then another for food and wine writers. The goal of these “and numerous other efforts” was to convey an image of Israel “as a productive, vibrant and cutting-edge culture.”
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