Alejandro Morales | | | After a trial run at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Alejandro Morales moved from New York to Philadelphia in 2003 to attend the University of the Arts, where he learned how to write real good. Currently he co-hosts Camp Tabu, a comedy showcase, every second Friday of the month at Tabu Lounge & Sports Bar, as well as the Rant-O-Wheel, an improvised storytelling competition, every first Monday of the month at the Shubin Theatre. He blogs culture, politics, and entertainment for PhillyGayCalendar because he loves you.

Today, The Bilerico Project points us to an incident at a University of California Irvine MTV tour event, in which Dan Savage was covered in glitter to cries of "Transphobe!" after referring to trans women as "Shemales" and "Freaky Tranny" in response to an audience question.

This marks the second time Savage has been glitterbombed for transphobic language but not the first time Savage has been taken to task by trans people and allies. Savage, in a recent interview with David Badash, defended himself from accusations of transphobia, saying, "I certainly have had a journey in the last 20 years — as have we all — on trans issues. When I started writing Savage Love 20 years ago, and you can yank quotes 15, 18 years ago and flat them up today and say, ‘You know, that’s transphobic,’ I’d probably agree with you. 15 years ago I didn’t know as much as I know now — nor did anybody.”

Whatever your opinion on Savage, his column, or his It Gets Better Project [full disclosure: I recorded one of those videos too, because why not.], the dissatisfaction felt by these trans activists towards Savage points to a larger rift between the diverse acronyms in the LGBTQ community. From Barney Frank's  controversies over gender identity protections in the Employee Non-Discrimination Act to Cristian Siriano's catchphrase problem, gays seem to be more inclined to leave trans folk behind rather than take up the fight on their behalf. Straight allies from Sarah Silverman to Fat Joe manage to show their support for a community whose gay identity they don't share; there's no reason why gay men and women can't do the same for trans or differently gendered people.

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