Woke and the Alphabet Miracle
A friend recently shared a provocative tweet with me, though I am not entirely sure he interpreted it as such. The tweet, from Florida Rising – an organization “working to increase the voting and political power of Florida's black and brown communities” – is a celebration of Black History Month. With a nice picture, it honors White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Ms. Jean-Pierre, the tweet notes, is “the first Black person and the first openly LGBTQ+/SGL person to be White House Press Secretary.”
I read that and panicked. Until that very moment, I had never heard of “SGL.”
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I am too flawed a human, too skeptical to be much of a disciple of anyone or anything. But I am a fan of the marketing, business, and teaching guru, Seth Godin. Seth had a recent post on his blog entitled Fidelity, compression and culture.
It begins: “The alphabet is a miracle, one that is compounded by books. And the lessons we learn from this cornerstone of modern culture apply to organizations, meetings, tech, politics and almost everything we do together.”
Think about that.
When we can agree on nothing else – not one single thing – we (English speaking people) agree on those 26 letters in the alphabet. We agree that “B” sounds a certain way, that “A” can make a few different sounds. That we form our mouth to create the sound of the letter “Z”. That my name has a “B,” an “E,” and an “N.”
That when the Newsmax guy asks the White House Press Secretary if the president is “woke,” we all know what he asked. We all understand what he means. We all see the dividing line in the raging culture war he’s trying to draw.
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SGL, according to the Urban Dictionary, means Same Gender Loving, and is more often “used in communities of color to describe people with same sex attractions since gay, homosexual, bisexual or lesbian can carry negative connotations.”
Because I was raised by well-educated, Southern liberals – in Arkansas, a place where calling Black people a hateful, derogatory word was just a part of life – I learned that if someone finds a label offensive, or a name offensive, then they should be able to pick their own. And that we should celebrate it.
Imagine the courage it takes for a trans person to change their name – the thing most personal to us all – as they transition. I’ve always found this to be an act of courage, anyway, something to admire.
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Unfortunately, we have a political problem. Too many Americans are hung up on that initial feeling I had when I first saw the letters “SGL.” It is panic, it’s discomfort.
And politicians like Ron DeSantis have done a nearly perfect job in exploiting that fear.
We need to get over our nervousness. And let’s be clear – when I say “we,” I mean people who look like me. White, cis-gendered, middle-aged people, a lot of us men.
But the flip side of that is understanding that as we evolve and mature and grow and develop new names, new labels – as we utilize the miracle of the alphabet – that it may come with a cost. A very high cost.
Because unfortunately, names and letters are only the beginning. Ron DeSantis has declared open war on trans people, particularly youth:
“Last November, both medical boards voted to approve a new set of regulations, which would ban the treatment of gender dysphoria with puberty blockers and hormones for anyone under 18. The rule changes, based on spurious claims, cherry-picked data, and widely discredited pseudoscience, run counter to the recommendations of every major medical association, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, and the Endocrine Society.”
This isn’t a game. It is about life and death medical care. And Ron DeSantis doesn’t want people to have it.
Donald Trump is doing his best to out flank him on the right, saying in a video this week he would “protect children from left-wing gender insanity.” His radical policy proposals – if you can call this madness “policy” – would make transgender people illegal. He would push a federal law recognizing only two genders, and that’s just to start.
These disturbing, frightening ideas are based in ignorance and idiocy, which was on full display in the Arkansas Legislature earlier this week when a State Senator asked a transgender woman and a doctor – there to testify on the necessity of treatment for children – if she had a penis.
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As a brief aside, does anyone else remember when Republicans were the party of small government? Their logic doesn’t hold up. We don’t need any regulation whatsoever for safety mechanisms and brakes on trains, apparently. But be careful — next time you’re in the doctor’s office with your kid, you might fight a Republican politician standing there with you.
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What we call ourselves – the letters of our alphabet we use to better define who we are – is a fluid thing, constantly changing. That’s a good thing.
But too many of us are scared. Too many of us don’t like change, or the idea of change. We need to overcome it. We have to stop letting politicians use fear to manipulate us, to hurt the most vulnerable of us in society.
If we don’t protect trans people — if we don’t protect the rights and dignity of those who belong to a community with letters we may not fully understand — then who’s next?
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Further reading:
New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie had a wonderful piece the other day on dignity in politics and in America, particularly as it relates to the trans community. Well worth your time.