News Item

JAY LENO, NBC FUEL 'DEHUMANIZING' OF TRANSGENDERS

April 2, 2003

The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) issued a statement today, criticizing the National Broadcast Corporation (NBC) and Tonight Show host Jay Leno today for highly insensitive remarks disguised as humor in his nightly monologue.

Calling it "Prime time dehumanizing of transgenders," the chair of NTAC, Vanessa Edwards Foster, admitted that Leno might not write all of his material for the monologues. "However, he does have final decision over material that he feels is inexcusable," she added. "In this instance, Jay Leno felt it was okay to belittle transsexuals."

Last month, MSNBC hired blatantly homophobic and transphobic talk show host Michael Savage. Savage is a radical conservative who fires potshots at anyone not straight, white male and staunchly conservative. But the recent comments from Leno indicate a mainstream trend of acceptance of insensitivity toward the transgender community.

In his March 31 monologue, Leno, arguably the country's best-known late night talk show host noted a male-to-female transsexual honored in as Woman of the Year in California Assembly District 13 by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). The talk show host is no relation to the openly gay assemblyman.

In his monologue Jay Leno commented that the California Assembly "awarded a man who had a sex change as its Woman of the Year. When 'he' accepted the award, 'he' said there was a part of 'him' that didn't want to accept it ... but that's gone now."

In a statement, NTAC board chair, Vanessa Edwards Foster said, "In a country where no positive accomplishments of transgenders are ever reported for fear of promoting a "transgendered lifestyle," it's curious that belittling humor of these same people is openly welcomed. Jay Leno's remarks took what was a historic recognition for an accomplished transgender community leader and summarily diminished them with insensitive humor.

"We're a community that's afforded few heroes, and little hope. Destroying what little positive impact our community makes, simply for the purpose of gratuitous laughter, serves to objectify transgenders and crushes individuals' hope.

"Coupled with the bombastic blasts from the Michael Savage show on MSNBC, it is easy to denote a trend of dehumanization being broadcast to the nation from this network. It speaks to transgenders that we're deemed 'different' enough to be fair game for any cheap shots fired at will. For others who take umbrage with such 'different' groups as transgenders, it also leads to a ready detachment of humanity.

"Some of this detachment of humanity was evident at a house party last October in the murder of a transgendered California teenager, Gwen Araujo. Pre-trial testimony of the case showed that 17-year old Araujo was brutally beaten and bludgeoned by four young men. At one point, as she sat battered and bleeding on the murderer's couch, she was ordered to get off of it because she was dirtying it with her blood.

"Even though the teen, a male-to-female transsexual, pleaded to have her life spared, she was beaten with a frying pan, choked, strangled with a rope, and had her head smashed with a shovel. Her killers then drove to a remote area near Lake Tahoe, buried her body in a shallow grave, and then stopped at a fast food restaurant for breakfast. None of the partygoers alerted authorities.

"As Gwen's mother Sylvia Guerrero lamented, they treated Gwen as if she wasn't human. Indeed this was inhuman violence, but it is only the end effect. The cause begins when one is allowed to detach humanity from transgenders and other minority groups. NBC with their choice of programming, and Jay Leno's choice of seemingly harmless humor, implicitly perpetuate this lack of any human quality allowed transgenders.

"We implore NBC, and its parent corporation General Electric, to exhibit more responsible concern in their choice of programming. We also request Jay Leno and his writers on the Tonight Show to practice more responsible awareness in their choice of material, and more sensitivity to the impact that has on the targets of such humor. As one wouldn't make tasteless public commentary about other political, ethnic, religious or even sexual groups with blithe disregard, we simply ask to be provided the same consideration."