Hypoxia, or altitude sickness, reduces the amount of oxygen in the brain causing a variety of symptoms including mental confusion. Many in the LGBT community suffer from advocacy hypoxia, a condition that I define as one who has reached a certain level within the advocacy community that causes altitude sickness, creating mental confusion.
Let me start with me. In 2003, when I was the head of the finance committee for the Human Rights Campaign, while the organization was building the headquarters in Washington, on a parallel track HRC was pursuing putting the T in LGB rights.
Though I voted to include transgender rights in the overall LGB struggle, I did not think it made sense and felt that it would slow down LGB progress toward full equality.
I listened to many people who said “their struggle is a different struggle.” “Many of them post-op lead straight lives.” “They cannot raise any money so it will be diverting needed resources to the transgender struggle that we need for LGB rights.”
While you may think that all or some of these statements are true, in the end the transgender struggle is our struggle; the simple need to be recognized equally by our government and society. In 2003 when I was not in agreement but voted for adding transgender to LGB, I suffered from advocacy hypoxia. I was mentally confused.
While I was correct about slowing the progress of overall LGB equality, I was incorrect about what was right, to bring transgender people along with the rest of us at any cost.
After recently reading a disgusting piece in the National Review about transgender people written by Kevin Williamson, I felt I needed to come clean about my previous thoughts. I did the right thing by voting to add the T to LGBT but at the time in my heart I did not believe it. It is possible to do the right thing with reservations. I wish many of the politicians could do that with respect to LGBT rights. I did not evolve, I was enlightened.
So for those of you at the top of the LGBT advocacy food chain, who think you know the answer to all of our struggles, stop. There is a chance you are suffering from advocacy hypoxia and only the passage of time will tell. After all you are setting the priorities, unlike me who simply exposes truth.
STAMPP CORBIN
PUBLISHER
San Diego LGBT Weekly
