U. Chicago Students Go Ballistic After Dan Savage Says ‘Tranny’

Well known gay author and advice columnist
Dan Savage recently spoke at a University of Chicago Institute of
Politics seminar. Some students who attended the event denounced
him for repeatedly using the word “tranny,” which made one
transgender person in the audience feel uncomfortable and “unsafe.”
According to
The Chicago Maroon:

The incident occurred when, according to several sources, Savage
and [IOP fellow Ana Marie Cox] began discussing his personal
history as a gay man. According to a first-year student and member
of the LGBTQ community who asked to be identified as Hex, Savage
used the slur t—– as an example in an anecdote about reclaiming
words. Cox then added, “I used to make jokes about t—-ies,”
audience members recounted.

“That was one of the most hurtful parts,” Hex said, explaining
the perceived insult was that Cox used the slur to refer to the
group of people she joked about. “In that context, it was like
being applied to all transgender people,” it said. (“It” is Hex’s
chosen pronoun.)

In a statement, the IOP said, “A guest used language that
provoked a spirited debate. The speaker was discussing how hurtful
words can be repurposed and used to empower; at no point did he
direct any slurs at anyone.”

Hex saw matters differently:

Hex asked Savage and Cox to use the term “T-slur” instead of the
actual word. According to second-year Sara Rubinstein, an executive
director of QUIP (Queers United in Power), and Hex, Savage then
named other slurs, asking if they were suitable to use instead.
“Obviously [he attempted] to threaten me and make me feel
uncomfortable in that space, which was pretty successful,” Hex
said.

By all accounts, Savage made no deliberate effort to threaten or
perturb the student. Maroon columnist Anastasia
Golovashkina investigated
the accusation and determined that what transpired was nothing more
than a dialogue over the acceptable uses of words like “tranny.”
And though Hex claimed that Savage and Cox repeatedly interrupted
it, multiple students told Golovashkina that Hex was the one doing
most of the interrupting.

Nevertheless, an activist
started a Change.org petition to pressure IOP to issue some
sort of condemnation of Savage. The petition also demanded that the
University of Chicago vigorously police usage of “hate speech” in
the future.

Ironically, Savage’s entire purpose for bringing up the word was
to discuss strategies for overcoming its negative and hurtful
associations.

There is of course no better way to reaffirm a word’s evil power
than by making it unsayable. Many students,
unfortunately, have committed themselves to the mindset that
everything that bothers them should be banned—or at the very least,

should come with a warning label so that they may avoid ever
encountering a troubling word or concept.

I would say that people who feel existentially threatened
by language itself need to get over themselves, but I would
probably be accused of hate speech.