Is 'Work It' An Insult To Transgendered Community, Or Viewers?

Last month, a gay rights organization here in my state that I admire and respect asked me to start writing blog posts from time to time addressing gay issues.

I really was just getting started, and had what I (and others that I talked to) felt was a great piece about gay rights internationally, and was planning for more.

To be honest, I was a bit surprised they would even approach me. I mean, someone reading my rants against the larger organizations like the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and Human Rights Campaign may almost think I don't support the cause. I do. I just don't support their way of doing it -- especially when they pull a Parents Television Council and create some bandwagon just to get publicity.

Right before the holiday break, GLAAD and HRC publicly denounced the new ABC series "Work It." Since this was an entertainment story, I probably should have just went with my gut and wrote about it here. But instead, I wanted to fulfill the commitment I made to Equality Florida and provide them with content that would help advance their name -- equality.

I mean, that's what gay rights are about, right? It's not special rights, it's the same rights as everyone else. Yet, I can understand why opponents sometimes feel like it's special rights -- because that's what some of these gay rights organizations are demanding, whether they realize it or not.

"Work It" premiered to crappy ratings, so its life on ABC may not be very long. And I'm waiting until now to share this with you because I was finally informed, almost two weeks later, that Equality Florida is not interested in rocking the boat with GLAAD and HRC. I don't blame them, they have to work with them. But to me, nothing will get accomplished if we don't call our partners out on the crap they do.

Don't get me wrong, I think the essence of what GLAAD and HRC are trying to accomplish is solid, and something we should support. But I just take issue when they go off on these tangents, which I feel are nothing more than to simply get attention. That might be good for fundraising, but it's not good for our cause.

But I do have a message for groups like GLAAD and HRC. Believe it or not, there is not a mission in Hollywood to attack the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. Maybe in the past, but I honestly don't see that right now. At least not in network primetime. That doesn't mean there aren't issues in Hollywood to address. But "Work It" certainly isn't one of them.

"Work It," by the way, is something I still haven't watched. Not because GLAAD and HRC thinks its degrading the transgendered community, but because I didn't think it really looked all that good (and critics seem to agree). The comedy centers on two straight car salesmen who lose their jobs, and realize that the job they want -- to sell pharmaceuticals -- is only being offered to women. What do they do? They dress up as women, and do whatever they can to sell the idea that they are of the female persuasion, not the male.

Yet, both GLAAD and HRC decried this as a jab at transgendered people, who can't seem to get any respect in Hollywood while gays, lesbians and bisexuals are moving up the acceptance chain.

I'm not saying that the transgendered community is getting great representation in Hollywood. It's really not. But I also don't think that every time a man decides to dress up as a woman (or a woman decides to dress up like a man), we're going to assume it has to be about the transgendered community.

And come on, "Work It" is not the first Hollywood production to feature gender-bending roles. When I was young, I remember watching a movie on HBO (that would air over and over again) that featured a man going on 40 who decided to put on a dress and heels to get a job. The guy was Dustin Hoffman, and the film was "Tootsie." A decade later, Robin Williams took a similar path to dress up like an old British nanny in "Mrs. Doubtfire."

Do I even have to bring up "Bosom Buddies"? Or Col. Maxwell Q. Klinger in "M*A*S*H"? Why are those productions OK, but "Work It" isn't?

When I first expressed these unpublished thoughts to Equality Florida, I had not seen "Work It," and still haven't. But I'm betting some good money here that neither GLAAD or HRC had when they stared complaining earlier. Why don't we actually watch it first and see how the show handles it, if we can make it through. If they are attacking or ridiculing the transgendered community, or creating stereotypes that are not needed, then let's create a ruckus. Otherwise, these joke we see over the horizon might just be coming from a nice, toasty fire from ABC burning the remaining scripts of this show, and the movement itself will look stupid for calling in all the fire brigades it can find.

Of course, that doesn't mean that transgendered issues aren't under attack. They are. But then again, real-life issues that actually affect real-life people aren't always as sexy (and publicity heavy) as what goes up on our television screens or in movie theaters.

The case against U.S. Army Pvt. Bradley Manning -- you remember him, the guy who supposedly leaked intelligence reports to groups like Wikileaks -- took a strange turn right before the holidays. Testimony in that case is questioning the state of Manning's mind, because he sometimes posted online using a female name, and had read articles about gender identity disorder.

Gasp!

Oh, and this isn't the prosecution going out and trying to slam Manning or try to make him look bad. This is actually coming from Manning's defense team. They are selling the idea that Manning was dealing with gender identity issues, thus he should be able to plead a basic insanity defense to leaking classified documents. Insanity for being transgendered. Insanity, transgendered, both in the same sentence. Used together. Interchangeable.

Maybe Manning should have a reality show or something that will get millions of viewers and get the attention of the television trade publications and other entertainment sites. That might get HRC's and GLAAD's attention.

The biggest obstacle to the equality debate is the notion that everyone has to tip-toe around everyone else, because it seems just about anything and everything is offensive. The message these groups are sending to the world is that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community are the only groups allowed to deal with issues that might be associated with the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community.

And that's wrong. Very wrong.

The LGBT community doesn't own everything, and it can't control everything. If it goes out and screams and yells over everything, the population in general will start to tune them out. Just because a man dresses as a woman doesn't necessarily give him gender identity issues. Tootsie was a woman to get a job, not because Hoffman's character felt he was a woman trapped in a man's body. Mrs. Doubtfire was a woman to get a job, not because Williams' character felt he was a woman trapped in a man's body. Klinger was just trying to get out of Korea, not expressing a desire to break the woman inside free.

And from everything I've heard about "Work It," these are just two guys who want to dress as women so that they can get a good-paying job. If anyone should be angry about this, it's feminist groups. And even they probably have better things to do than worry about this show.

The focus for these groups need to be on real issues -- issues like criminal cases trying to use gender identity concerns as an insanity defense, not on two guys who think they might get more money if they enter the job market as women instead of men. It's hard to build sympathy when everyone has to tip-toe around you.

People are going to joke. That's part of life, and everything is a target. Hell, Wednesday night on "The Daily Show," Wyatt Cenac called the city I lived in a "shithole." Does he really think that? I'm sure not. Are people turning off their television sets believing such a bad thing about a good city? I'm sure not. But we are hosting the Republican Convention, and that is going to make our city a target for comedians and others. We just have to shrug and move on.

When it really crosses a line, however, we should be there. We should speak out against it. But let's leave the machine gun at home, and not use it to deal with every single jaywalker.