by: Autumn Sandeen
Fri Jun 19, 2009 at 04:00:00 AM EDT
From Pam's House Blend
Y'know, the trans panic strategy used in the Angie Zapata Hate Crime Murder Trial is way to fresh in my mind, where the defense implied (as defense attorneys always do when the trans panic defense is used) that the victim was deceptive in their presentation (usually male-bodied trans women presenting as women), and therefore is a mitigating factor in the commission of a violent "crime of passion."
There is a commercial from a Los Angeles group of auto dealerships that is literally showing a trans gender woman as being incredibly deceptive -- not telling her husband that she was male-bodied, and he discovering the surprise on a desert road to what we're left presuming would have been the honeymoon. (Really!)
There is an uncut version of the commercial here, and there is no question what the driver is seeing in his mirror before he drives off, leaving the bride alone in the desert without anyway to get home.
No violence there, eh?
The slogan that ends the commercial is:
Getting what you want isn't always easy. Finding the car you want should be.
So trans people are unwanted people, in LA Car Guy's eyes. Swell! And add that commentary to the lyrics of the song playing in the commercial's background, which begin:
Changing,
Not for better,
Feeling tired,
looking wetter.
Broken
Like a promise...
No commentary saying trans people are horrible, deceptive people there, whose transitions are "not for better," eh?
Nice.
I get tired of constantly having to defend my humanity to people who don't perceive me as fully human. Well guess what? I am fully human, and this commercial angers me.
If you, like me, want to comment to the LA Car Guy dealerships about their commercial, the contact information for these nine dealerships are below the fold.
Autumn Sandeen :: Trans People Are Not Deceptive -- Like This Ad From LA Car Guy Implies We Are
LA Car Guy Dealerships:
• Lexus Santa Monica
Contact page
1501 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90404
Sales: Sales 800-859-4081
• Volkswagen Santa Monica
Contact page
2440 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404
New Car Sales: (888) 394-4903
• Pacific Audi
Contact page
20550 Hawthorne Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503
New Car Sales: (888) 212-1009
• Pacific Volkswagen
Contact page
14900 Hindry Ave., Hawthorne, CA 90250
New Car Sales: (888) 267-0056
• Pacific Porsche
Contact page
2900 Pacific Coast Highway, Torrance, CA 90505
New Car Sales: (888) 214-7874
• Toyota Santa Monica
Contact page
801 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401
New Car Sales: (888) 565-1166
• Scion Santa Monica
Contact page
888 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Contact Telephone: (888) 873-0431
• Toyota of Hollywood
Contact page
6000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028
New Car Sales: (888) 245-2815
• Scion of Hollywood
Contact page
6000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California 90028
New Car Sales: (888) 627-3449
The Contact page links are to pages where you can send the dealerships' emails.
3 comments:
I agree, it's a shame. But babes, I know you personally, and I know what a good, decent human being you are. Your gender, sexual preference has no bearing on the person that I care for. Maybe one day the rest of the world will wake up and open their eyes and see that we have FAR bigger problems than worrying about penis's and vagina's and what not.
LAcarGUY response (reposted)
Hello everyone,
My name is Mike Sullivan, owner of LAcarGUY. Wow, what a horrible, surprising day. we never meant to offend, talk down to or sound hurtful to anyone. I am terribly sorry that we did all of the above. Being naive is no excuse, nor is it absolving because we did not mean to do it.
Our intent in both spots was to have fun with the kinda clueless guy, and guys in general, not either of the women he encountered. Obviously the "joke" did not come off that way to the transgender community and for that i sincerely apologize. After reading comments here and on youtube, we now see the ad from a different point of view and have decided to take it off the air.
I'm very involved in my community. i would never, do anything intentional to hurt, prejudice or defame anyone. It is the opposite of my personality.
Pease accept my sincere apology,
Mike
lacarguy
Sometimes you have to let people know when you're unhappy about something, and if they have any kind of conscience and/or decency at all, they will recognize that they need to do something to rectify the damage they've done. I think Mr. Sullivan did the right thing; whether he knew ahead of time that he shouldn't have done it (as I've heard people say) doesn't matter. He pulled the ad, and for that I'm grateful. Thank you Mike Sullivan, owner of LAcarGUY!!
And Lori, thanks to you for recognizing what more folks need to see, that LGBT are just like anyone else, regardless of what swings (or doesn't swing) between our legs or who we to sleep with at night.
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