»» Columnists

David Letterman’s Amanda Simpson Transgender Joke Sparks Outrage

video

by Tommy Christopher | 2:53 pm, January 7th, 2010

» 11 comments

After his jokes about the Palin women spawned a movement to get him fired, you’d think David Letterman would have developed a teensy bit of sensitivity about sex and gender issues. Apparently not. A bit from his Tuesday night show, in which a stagehand flees the set in horrified disgust at transgender Obama appointee Amanda Simpson, has Human Rights Campaign calling Dave out and calling for an apology.

Here’s the clip:

The clip is offensive on a number of levels, not the least of which is that, as HRC’s letter states, “the punch line in your skit has been used as a defense in nearly every hate crime perpetrated against transgender people that has come to trial.”

The Advocate notes a defense of Letterman:

Some argue his skit was actually making fun of the narrow-minded, stereotypical response to learning a friend or colleague is trans.

Maybe so, but in a world where transphobia is still much more acceptable than other forms of discrimination (try Googling “Mann Coulter”), where gags about guys being “duped” by “trannies” are still a comedy staple, you’d really have to hang a lantern on that kind of satire.

The Letterman bit is part of a larger problem, though, one that is neatly symbolized by the fact that my computer’s spellcheck function doesn’t recognize the word “transgender.” It’s a complicated issue. Transpeople are routinely thrown under the bus when it comes to legislation, having to fight extra-hard to be included with the LGB part of LGBT.

Last year, I wrote a story that detailed some of those efforts. The stories of the people I met are compelling, and underscore the importance of calling out this kind of ignorance. Transpanic very often leads to violence, and jokes like these contribute to that.

Most critics of Letterman’s joke also miss the next layer of subtext, the implication that Amanda Simpson is promiscuous. Surely, such a joke would have raised eyebrows had it been directed at some other female public servant, like Sarah Palin, for instance.

Amanda Simpson, Comedy News, David Letterman, David Letterman Amanda Simpson, HRC, Human Rights Campaign, Late Show, Letterman Amanda Simpson, Letterman Trannie Joke, Letterman Transgender Joke, Poll, Sarah Palin, Tommy Christopher, Trannie Joke, Transgender Joke, video

m

I thought it was really funny!
http://www.uselessbeauty.com Vidiot

*makes popcorn, sits back to watch the comments section explode*
http://www.sailrabbits.com Magister

I didn’t get “promiscuous” from the joke. It is sort of a cliche and last season (?) It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, when Mac started dating a transgender, they really just sat around and remembered when he was a dude. They also employed something similar, maybe three of four seasons ago on Two and a Half Men, but I can’t recall whether it was Sheen’s or Cryer’s character’s childhood friend.

And, though I might be mistaken because there may have been an Alec Baldwin storyline on 30 Rock, but for reason, I seem to recall a “you mean the woman I’m dating used to be man” conversation on Boston Legal and though I may be totally projecting, but it seems that Shatner couldn’t deal with it, but Spader had no problem.
http://www.sailrabbits.com Magister

OK – Maybe my previous comment wasn’t directly on point, but though I’ve lived in both Key West and Provincetown, I can’t say that I’ve ever knowingly met a transgendered person, so it’s a little hard for me to imagine things from their point of view.

Though with that said, if my wide were to come home one day and announce that she’s a secret Republican, I’d definitely be surprised, perhaps a little perturbed and until I had time to think, I wouldn’t know how to react.
SWWT

Soo… who can you make fun of nowadays?
Kathleen1106

Magister, your comment about your wife admitting being republican is THE best comment I’ve read on a blog in a VERY long time. A horrifying thought…if my husband admitted that. OMG!
Moderate

“Soo… who can you make fun of nowadays?”

Southern White males are the only ones not protected.
m

>Southern White males are the only ones not protected.

So you belong to the same category as those who called out Letterman, then? Funny how some people *hate* political correctness until they want to use it for themselves.
ImNotBlue

…one that is neatly symbolized by the fact that my computer’s spellcheck function doesn’t recognize the word “transgender.”

It doesn’t? Mine does. What version of Office are you running… or better yet, what software are you running? I got Office ’07… and “transgender” isn’t flagged… although “spellcheck” is, oddly enough.
stewbaby1986

It is okay to make fun of nut jobs like “Amanda.” They obviously have something wrong with them because who in their right state of mind does something as having a sex change. I can’t stand Letterman but this bit was hilarious. I have always wanted to be an eagle so I am going to have wings put on and have better eyes put in my head.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Zoe-Ellen-Brain/1036085884 Zoe Ellen Brain

They’re in their right mind – but until surgery, not in their right body.

Think about it – here’s a woman with qualifications in Engineering, Physics, Business Administration…. headed an advanced missile project… a Test Pilot for goodness’ sake, with 20 years experience in that, and 30 years in Defence and Aerospace… and you say she’s some kind of “nut job”?

Here’s a clue. Because most people get taught very simplistic notions about biological sex at grade school.

Male–to–female transsexuals have female neuron numbers in a limbic nucleus. Kruiver et al J Clin Endocrinol Metab (2000) 85:2034–2041

Sexual differentiation of the human brain: relevance for gender identity, transsexualism and sexual orientation. Swaab Gynecol Endocrinol (2004) 19:301–312.

A sex difference in the human brain and its relation to transsexuality. by Zhou et al Nature (1995) 378:68–70.

A sex difference in the hypothalamic uncinate nucleus: relationship to gender identity by Garcia-Falgueras et al Brain. 2008 Dec;131(Pt 12):3132-46.

It’s an anatomical Intersex condition. Feminised brain, masculinised body. Just as if you woke up one day with a body mostly like the opposite sex’s. OK, after the initial “hmm… always disd wonder what it would feel like”, you’d start feeling a terrible wrongness. Even your instinctive body language that’s hard-wired in the brain would be wrong. Then. as the cross-sexed hormones start causing neurological dysfunction, your mind would start to rot, you’d become terminally depressed. Suicide’s likely.

Only a few with unusually stable minds can take it for long. They move heaven and earth to get the hormones right, and then, in time, the rest.