So I was planning to ignore Annual as much as possible because, while I am not officially done, I am done.

But then this statement came out and every trans lib I know is mad.

ALA statement affirming the rights of transgender people
https://connect.ala.org/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?MessageKey=169a2db8-9993-4cb0-8281-2a8eee15519e&CommunityKey=c235def7-8884-4b09-96f6-9c7a2e516789&tab=digestviewer#bm169a2db8-9993-4cb0-8281-2a8eee15519e

So let's do a live read! With gifs! I haven't done one with gifs for a while.

"The American Library Association (ALA), and particularly its Rainbow Round Table, unequivocally and emphatically stands in solidarity with its transgender [community]"

Why particularly the RRT? Why not particularly Core with its focus on metadata or ACRL with its instruction?

"As an organization committed to social justice, ALA seeks to support all transgender people, and in particular, those who are vulnerable or at risk of discrimination"

I mean, one, how is ALA committed to social justice in anything but performance? And two, crickets about SLP??

Sorry, SPL not SLP.

Seattle Public Library called cops on trans members of the community for protesting the invitation of an anti-trans hate speaker. Not even six months ago. And ALA has said nothing. RRT has said nothing. WTF man?

I mean, I did spend most of spring feeling overwhelmed so maybe missed an email or statement from ALA or RRT about this. If so, please post a link so I can make a correction. I would love to be wrong about this.

oh dog, that was just the first paragraph.

Well, onward.

"ALA celebrates the recent Supreme Court decision recognizing the workplace equality of all people ..."

Side-eye in disabled. Also unless your workplace mandates that insurance companies and health care providers treat trans people, this is just factually untrue.

"Equity, diversity, and inclusion are embedded within the work of ALA."

Unless it conflicts with inviting hate groups to libraries, apparently based on both ongoing silence and this morning's Free Speech session.

"ALA condemns violence against transgender people and honors the lives of transgender people killed due to their identity."

Cool. This is where I personally would like to see mention of how most of these murders are against racialized (esp Black) trans women.

"ALA urges all library workers and library stakeholders to refer to transgender individuals by their stated pronouns and names."

I just... I don't know even how to respond to this one.

"ALA encourages ... safe environments for gender diverse, transgender, and intersex library users, allowing everyone access to facilities, activities, and programs that are consistent with their gender identity"

Gender diverse? And also it's gender, not gender identity.

"and where possible providing gender-neutral restroom options"

We should have a drinking game whenever bathrooms come up in these discussions. They are important, but so is healthcare and access to supportive information and...

"safe spaces for dialog that allow for intellectual freedom as well as the safety for all members of the community, including trans, non-binary, and gender diverse people"

JFC can't you even put out the most milquetoast of statements without pandering to the OIF ilk?

"ALA also encourages library workers to serve as allies and advocates for gender and sexual orientation diverse children and adolescents in schools,... "

What? This sentence is a nightmare of nominal phrases. And also, some trans people are straight so why orientation here?

"ALA urges all members + member organizations, members of the wider LIS community and library institutions everywhere to incorporate the rights of transgender people within their intersectional social justice frameworks"

In a field where libs can't even put up BLM book displays?

This whole thing reminded me of when I started reading that book about the Dakota conflict and the author, on the first page, talked about how he was taking a both sides approach to ethnic cleansing, and felt he was being bold and possibly controversial for doing so.

So this is done and out but if anyone is looking for ways of making a better statement, here are some ideas off the top of my head. But note, I am one person, and a middle class white person at that. So make sure you're looking at what others have shared elsewhere!

1) Think about what material impacts libraries have on workers and users. So things like salary equity, access to public transportation, environmental pollution in low-income neighborhoods (a lot of trans folks are poor), Not inviting police into libraries

2) Think about what's in your collections. Are you promoting Rowling/Galbraith's transphobic mysteries? Do you know they're transphobic? You should, trans people have been talking about it for years. Even if you're an OIF person, you should be thinking about providing balance.

3) Think about your metadata. Looking at you Overdrive and also you LCSH. What can your library do to make it better? What demands or expectations can you make? What about your state library association? What about ALA? -- they do respond to nudging if they get enough of it.

(Also Overdrive somehow has Zondervan titles listed as multicultural which is straight up nonsense so if you're looking for a group to start nagging in this time of covid ebook lending, that's probably a good one.)

4) Think about your archives and your outreach. Are you building relationships with trans communities? LGBTQ+ communities more broadly? Are you making sure that these communities include BIPOC members? Disabled members?

If not, why not? (This is for you to answer elsewhere)

5) Think about your instruction program. Trans issues are "hot topic" issues. Are you providing transmisic example searches? Are you aware of what transmisic means? (Basically the same as transphobic but without the ableist undertones, I tend to be sloppy and go back and forth.)

6) Think about why I started this thread saying that every trans lib I know is mad, but afaik I'm the one complaining most loudly right now. I'm NB but I'm not an expert on these issues.

What I have is tenure, seniority, and a union. This matters.