On Wednesday’s Full Frontal, host Samantha Bee delivered a monologue focusing on the epidemic of “harassment and prejudice at home, school, and work” faced by transgender people. Throughout the segment, Bee trashed J.K. Rowling for daring to express a divergent view on the debate about transgenderism and accused the Trump administration of declaring “full-on war” on transgender people while Bee herself declared “full-on war” against biology.
The monologue began with Bee praising the Supreme Court’s recent decision “outlawing job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or sexual identity.” While the left-wing comedian was definitely encouraged by this decision, she maintained that it was still not enough.
Eventually, Bee complained that “even in some women's movements, trans women are left out by trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or TERFS, who hatefully argue that trans women aren’t real women.” Bee specifically singled out Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, whom she referred to as a “cruel, rich d***.”
Rowling attracted the ire of the far left earlier this month when she took issue with an article titled “Creating a more equal post COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.” Taking to Twitter, Rowling sarcastically recalled that “there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” The word she was looking for was obviously “women.”
Bee also expressed disappointment that “J.K. Rowling’s stance is deeply disappointing; especially because of her impact on children. It’s like if Beverly Cleary released a book titled The Mouse and the Motorcycle and the Blue Lives Matter.” In other words, children’s book authors are free to talk about politics all they want; but only if they have fashionable opinions.
Failing to acknowledge Rowling’s Twitter statement, which is rooted in biological fact, Bee proclaimed that “trans women are women. And if you disagree, you’re not a feminist.” Bee also trashed bathroom bills, which require people to use bathrooms that correspond to their biological genders, as “stupid and offensive and unnecessary.”
The TBS host began the second half of her monologue by accusing the Trump administration of “waging a full-on war” on transgender people, citing a “new rule” that “recently removed protections for the Affordable Care Act that insured health care providers can’t discriminate against trans people.” Bee proceeded to trash an “upcoming Department of Housing and Urban Development proposal” that “will allow single sex shelters to refuse to accommodate trans people.”
A transcript of the relevant portion of Wednesday’s edition of Full Frontal is below. Click “expand” to read more.
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee
06/24/20
10:31 PM
SAMANTHA BEE: Hi, welcome to Full Frontal, I’m Samantha Bee. As we continue to live through the NyQuil nightmare that is 2020, it’s easy to believe that God said he was going out for a pack of cigarettes and then just never came home. Yet, as bad as this year has been, the Supreme Court recently handed down a decision that was a major victory for the LGBTQ community and one that also made my body go “uh, double up, uh, uh!”
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
JUDY WOODRUFF: A historic ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court today outlawing job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender identity.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’ve read the decision and some people were surprised but they’ve ruled and we live with their decision. That’s what it’s all about.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
BEE: The Court’s decision basically means that the sex part of the “prohibiting discrimination because of sex” language in the Civil Rights Act also applies to sexual orientation and gender identity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN YANG: Gorsuch brushed aside the Trump administration’s argument that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was not written with gay and transgender people in mind. “An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what the law forbids.”
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEE: Which is interesting, since Gorsuch is way more familiar with disguisable roles; given all the times that he’s nearly foiled those muddling kids. The Supreme Court’s decision is good news but there’s far more we need to be doing to protect transgender people. It’s still incredibly difficult to be trans in America, particularly if you’re black. And black trans women have it especially bad.
(…)
10:32:22 PM
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AYMAN MOHYELDIN: “Transgender women of color—particularly black transgender women—are disproportionately affected by fatal violence, impacted by the intersections of racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.”
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEE: The only way to make that intersection worse is if there were actual street signs reading Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia; especially if you live there. Even within the larger LGBTQ community, transgender people have faced discrimination and exclusion despite the fact that they’ve been fighting for a gay liberation from the beginning. Black trans women helped build the Black Lives Matter movement and played a pivotal role in the Stonewall riots. But white people are so good at appropriating, we made ourselves the stars of a movie about it. That’s right, white people. If we’re not in it, we’re not seeing it. Trans women of color have been excluded from the stories of the movements they created. And while their fight is just now getting attention, they’ve been doing the work to fight against this larger culture of transphobia for decades.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
DOMINIQUE JACKSON: The transgender community is oftentimes marginalized in America, our stories unheard, dismissed and discarded.
MARIAH RAE: I have been followed home, I have been stalked. I have had guys try to sexually harass me in like, in just disrespectful ways.
RUBY CORRADO: We wake up in a world that is not designed to support transgender people; to welcome us in school, to give us a chance to get an education, employers are not eager to hire us.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
BEE: That is truly horrible. The only reason an employer should ever not be eager to hire you is if you walk back in after the interview and say, “your bathroom’s out of toilet paper, can’t get that resume back?” And that is why I did not get The Daily Show. Trans people experience harassment and prejudice at home, school, and work; and they’re also routinely misgendered and referred to by their given names or dead names by the press and authorities. Even in some women’s movements, trans women are left out by trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or TERFS, who hatefully argue that trans women aren’t real women; to which I say to J.K. Rowling “silencio, you cruel rich dick!” Trans women are women. And if you disagree, you’re not a feminist. J.K. Rowling’s stance is deeply disappointing; especially because of her impact on children. It’s like if Beverly Cleary released a book titled The Mouse and the Motorcycle and the Blue Lives Matter. Transgender people of color face higher rates of poverty, violence, H.I.V. infection and 41 percent of black trans people report that they have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives. Those are the most shocking statistics I’ve heard in recent memory; which is saying a lot, since just last week, my 6-year-old daughter informed me that she is 100 percent that bitch. What’s a mother to do? Well, the Supreme Court’s ruling may have protected transgender people in the workplace, 28 states still haven’t expanded hate crime laws to protect trans people. And there are still bathroom bills on the floor that prevent trans people from using restrooms that match their gender identity. Bathroom bills are stupid and offensive and unnecessary. I mean except for my Bathroom Bill, which is a man named Bill who holds my newspaper for me so I don’t have to touch it. And even in New York, a state that prides itself on being progressive, there’s an anti-sex worker law that, in addition to being terrible on its own, has the awful side effect of profiling trans women. Commonly called the “Walking While Trans” law, trans women are getting arrested just for walking down the street. Walking should never be a crime. And while we’re at it, skateboarding should never be a crime either. Come at me, narcs! And if local governments are making life a living hell for trans people, the Trump administration is waging a full-on war. With a new rule, Trump recently removed protections from the Affordable Care Act that insured health care providers can’t discriminate against trans people. Trans people already have massive barriers to accessing quality healthcare, which added to the racial health disparities exacerbated by coronavirus, means that black trans people have it even harder. And just as terrible, an upcoming Department of Housing and Urban Development proposal will allow single sex shelters to refuse to accommodate trans people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BEN CARSON: When you have a single sex shelter and it’s there specifically for women who are abused and then people come in who do not appear to be women but they say they’re women and you have to accept them, does…does that impinge upon the rights of those women?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEE: No, providing safe homes and shelter for people who need them is literally Ben Carson’s whole job; especially since he hasn’t had an acting gig since the movie “Stuck on You.” We live in a world where violence against trans people and especially black trans women, is commonplace. The American Medical Association has labeled killings of trans women of color an epidemic. There is so much violence happening to black trans women that we actually can’t even measure it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
ANNA WERNER: Last year, the Human Rights Campaign tracked at least 26 deaths due to fatal violence. The majority of victims were black transgender women. Experts say as shocking as the numbers are, the number of victims could be even higher.
CHARLOTTE CLYMER: So often, they will remain silent. And the data we have is based on the folks who have reported. We don’t know about the folks who suffer in silence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEE: People are suffering in silence because they’re afraid for their safety. And one reason black trans people may not report violence is that going to the police could endanger them even more. One survey of black trans people found that more than a third of respondents who interacted with police reported harassment, 15 percent reported physical assault, and 7 percent reported sexual assault.
