11.28am: The now-pulled controversial tampon ad which appears to put down trans-women could have been a strong test case for anti-discrimination legislation, says ex-MP and trans-woman Georgina Beyer. During her time as an MP Beyer tabled her Gender Identity bill in 2004 which sought to address the issue of discrimination against transgender people. "This ad would definitely have breached the provisions of my bill," she says. As the then-Attorney General found that anti-discrimination provisions of the existing Human Rights Act 1993 already covered gender identity the bill did not proceed. However, Beyer believes the tampon ad would be a strong test case of whether the 1993 Act is effective. "An action against the makers of this ad would be credible and have legs to stand on." Georgina Beyer Beyer, who interprets the character in the ad as more a trans-woman than a drag queen, agrees with Genderbridge that there is confusion and uninformed comment around terms such as 'drag queen' and 'transsexual' and 'transvestite.' "When Carmen died I even had a newsroom ask me whether she should be referred to as a transsexual or a transvestite!" exclaims Beyer. "Well, every waking moment of her day she was Carmen. She hadn't been butch since she was Trevor decades ago!" She muses that when Carmen first appeared on the scene in the 1960s "the term 'transgender' was probably not even invented, and 'transsexual' was more a medical or clinical term. In the terminology of the day Carmen would have been considered either a drag queen or a female impersonator." "There needs to be more education around gender identity," says Beyer. "If there is an up-side to this tampon ad controversy it is that it has got people thinking about this subject. I'm so glad that trans organisations have come out strongly voicing their opinions." Beyer is also pleased that the ad has been roundly crisicised for the way it puts down non-menstruating women. You can discuss this New Zealand gay community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News
First published: Wednesday, 4th January 2012 - 11:28am