Stonewall have decided to shortlist (not name) Julie Bindel Journalist of the Year 2008. Over the weekend I received two messages on Facebook from the Say No To Stonewall Syndrome group. The first informing me of this decision and pointing me to a lovely article by "Our" Julie - Gender benders, beware. This was pure, unfiltered transphobia I may have expected from fundamentalists - not people receiving awards from Stonewall.
The second was pointing me to a postcard petition against this decision. I decided to hold off on signing this to see if any other articles have come along apologising for this or cementing it further. The good news is that Pam's House Blend have done the hard work for me. Turns out she apologised for the tone but not the content and has since gone on to be just the same.
Since then though I've decided not to do the petition. Not because I agree with Stonewall honouring this person, but because Stonewall makes no pretense at representing Transphobia. It is for "gay men and lesbians" as Ben Summerskill keeps saying (although it's own description does at least mention bisexual people). So, it lays claim to me but I renounced them. Will this petition change Stonewall? No. They're entrenched in their current thinking. If we do change their attitude do we want Stonewall representing us? No. They're undemocratic, unrepresentative, commercial and entrenched in the system. We need something new.
As a community we have at our hands perhaps the best communication system ever produced. We can publish our thoughts and beliefs for free. We can point people to wherever we find interesting. We can converse at any time of the day and night.
But we're not.
The pockets out here are isolated. Gay sites on the net tend towards the profile and dating side. Out - the closest to a community we have - is centralised, horrible to use and still focused on profiles. Where's our Digg? Where is our Queer Blogging community? Where is a message board like Queer Youth Alliance has (or certainly used to have)? Where is our conversation? How can we kick start it?
That's what I want. We've got to leave the old world behind. Stonewall doesn't represent us - we do. Each and every one of us. We have the technology - how should we be talking, planning, making ourselves heard?
Alex
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