In Response to Stacey Dash’s Recent ET Exclusive Interview on Transgender People
June 6, 2016
Dear Miss Dash,
When I was young, I remember watching the movie CLUELESS and seeing you on the big screen for the first time. I was mesmerized by your beauty and I thought, I wish I could be like that girl some day! I watched that movie over and over, and I always thought you were one of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen. More recently, I watched your ET Exclusive Interview and my childhood view of Stacey Dash changed…and not for the better.
In your interview, you pointed out that people think you are still Dionne, the fashionable and eloquent young black diva you portrayed in CLUELESS. In a better world you would be her, but unfortunately for us, you are not. Thanks to Wikipedia and to your ET Exclusive Interview, we know you were born in the Bronx and that you are black and Mexican—things you should be proud of—and far from being the Beverly Hills fashion queen we gawked at on the big screen. Yet, it appears to me that you have lost your sense of pride and identity in being a double minority. Please let me remind you.
As a half black and half white Dominican trans woman, I am offended and appalled by your ignorant remarks and your attacks on transgender people (the minority you speak of in your ET Exclusive Interview) and the many supporters of the equal rights and anti-bullying movements, such as Lady Gaga and Caitlyn Jenner. As a black and Mexican woman, you should know what it is like to be a minority in this country, or did you forget that approximately 160 years ago blacks were still slaves in this nation? The Black community and anyone of color should be grateful that there were men and women fighting for our freedom and our equality. They fought for people like you and me, Stacey Dash.
You mentioned “tyranny by the minority” when you referred to Caitlyn Jenner identifying as a woman and wanting to use the women’s restroom. But what you were really saying is that you don’t want transgender women in the same bathroom as you and your children. Well, (huff…here we go again!) 160 years back, when slavery was close to being abolished, the white masters might have said the same words you quoted in your ET Exclusive Interview:
“Why do I have to suffer, because you can’t decide what you want to be that day?”
Let me break it down for you, my dear Stacey…Transgender people DO NOT choose to be transgender in a day. We suffer through lifetimes living as the sex we never identified as (our born sex). The “choice” comes if and when we choose to be happy…or not. But I still don’t think you get it. I’ll try again. We choose to go through a physical transition in order to unify our bodies with our minds and be who we feel we are on the inside. The choice I made as a male-to-female transgender person was to become the woman I’ve always felt I was, but I never chose to feel this way. That’s as simple as I can put it. It’s now your CHOICE to understand it or not.
Let’s talk about your politics. You play the victim when you say that Hollywood dropped you because of your political views. As the “Hollywood outcast” you claim to be, you should then understand how it feels to be on the sidelines. But it appears to me that you are delivering to the transgender community the same deadly dose of hatred that Hollywood has given you. Allow me to quote you after Nischelle Turner from ET explained to you that being transgender is not a choice, but rather who we are. You stated:
“OK, then go in the bushes. I don’t know what to tell you, but I’m not gonna put my child’s life at risk because you want to change a law so that you can be comfortable with your beliefs—which means I have to change my beliefs and my rights? No!”
Your ignorance on the issue makes me feel pity for you…and anger. You sound like every other bigot and hatemonger out there that is looking to point a finger at the current scapegoat. Newsflash, Stacey! We are not interested in your child! We want equality in the eyes of the law, and we demand protection under the same law. If you’re concerned about child molesters coming into the women’s restroom, why haven’t you made a big stink about it years ago? Why now?
I’ll tell you why…
I believe that you are GUILTY of the same charges you accuse Lady Gaga of when you called her Anti-Bullying Campaign a farce. You are dramatizing the current events as a way to draw attention to your new, controversial book. Hurray! You learned to use one of Hollywood’s most despicable ploys to your advantage. Wait, didn’t you say that Hollywood had a liberal agenda? Clearly, you have an agenda of your own? So who is the real hypocrite now?
Oh, I almost forgot…
”What’s next for Stacey Dash?” asked Nischelle Turner.
“Umm…the White House,” Stacey responded.
“Come on, Stacey! The only house you’ll be visiting is White House|Black Market—the same place you bought that nasty little top you wore on your ET Exclusive Interview.”
Sincerely,
Daliah Husu
Author of “I Am Woman: Surviving the Past, the Present, & the Future”