An upsetting yet also heartwarming event today in the House:
Fireworks erupted during a House Foreign Relations Subcommittee meeting when Chairman Keith Self (R-TX) deliberately misgendered Representative Sarah McBride (D-DE), the first transgender congresswoman, referring to her as the “Gentleman from Delaware.” In response, McBride shot back, addressing Self as “Madam Chair.” The exchange sparked immediate protests from Democrats, with ranking minority member Bill Keating (D-MA) demanding, “Have you no decency?” Tensions escalated, and after continued objections, Self abruptly adjourned the hearing.
“I recognize the representative from Delaware, Mr. McBride,” said Representative Self.
“Thank you, Madame Chair,” McBride responded before beginning to speak—only to be quickly interrupted by ranking Democrat Bill Keating, who turned to Self in disbelief.
“Mr. Chairman… could you repeat your instruction again, please?” Keating asked.
Self attempted to justify himself. “Yes, we have set the standard on the floor of the House, and I’m simply—”
Keating cut him off. “What is that standard, Mr. Chairman? Could you repeat what you just said? When you introduced a duly elected representative from the United States of America. Please.”
Self doubled down. “I will. The representative from Delaware, Mr. McBride.”
Keating, his voice rising, fired back. “Mr. Chairman, you are out of order. Have you no decency? I’ve come to know you a little bit, but this is not decent.”
“We will continue this hearing,” Self insisted.
Keating stood his ground. “You will not continue it with me unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way!”
Without further discussion, Self abruptly adjourned the hearing.
Here is the video:
It’s really that easy to stand for something and to stand up to fucking bullies. I wish more people understood this.
At any rate, we have in our midst members of the transgender community, and I need everyone to understand just how scared and vulnerable they are.
One of our long time commenters, Sister Golden Bear, has written a piece I would like you to read:
I’ve been trying to put together a post for days about what it’s like being a trans person right now without much success — trying to document one’s ongoing eradication ain’t easy. As you probably know, the Pentagon announced that trans people will be expelled from the military, and to be extra assholeish about it, unless trans people voluntarily resign, they’ll be required to repay the signing bonus they received when they enlisted. I’ll note that historically trans people have served at twice the rate as cis people, and as one trans vet once famously said: “I fought for your right to hate me.”
But there’s far more anti-trans actions both at the federal and state levels that haven’t gotten as much, if any, widespread media attention. Among the many, many things:
- Banning anytrans person — not just trans athletes as was often described — from getting visas to visit the U.S. if their gender marker on their passport doesn’t match their sex assigned at birth. In fact, it’s grounds for a permanent ban on visiting the U.S. It’s yet another instance — along with U.S. trans people’s passports — where they’re asserting that trans people don’t exist legally. Or at all.
- More than 100 intelligence officers were purged after Christopher Rufo (the guy behind the “groomer,” the critical race theory, and other smears) tweeted a lurid and false accusation about trans people at the CIA in an effort to start yet another moral panic about trans people. Of course, Fox News is already screaming about it in the wingnut wurlitzer.
- Home Security quietly eliminated the ban on surveillance based on sexual orientation and gender identity. At least it’s an excuse to dress even more fabulously than ever.
- Iowa Republicans removed gender identity as a protected class from the state’s civil rights act, which has prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity since 2007. During the floor debate, the lawmaker who sponsored the bill was asked whether he would be surprised to hear that more than 80 percent of trans Americans have experienced harassment/discrimination at work, and replied “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.” Not having to think about it is the epitome of privilege.
- A bill just introduced in Texas’ state legislature would outright criminalize being trans as felony fraud, with the threat of jail time if they tell the government or their employer that their gender is different than the sex assigned at birth. While it’s unlikely to pass, it’s part of a new front of attacks on trans people to claim that we don’t exist, and identifying as trans is “fraudulent,” as with the visa ban for trans people.
I could go on, at length, but you get the idea. The point of all of this is to make clear that trans people aren’t equal citizens under the law. That we aren’t worthy of citizenship. That we’re some lesser subgroup. Of citizens. Of human beings.
It’s all a bit much. I don’t say that in a “boo-hoo, woe is me” attempt to gain your sympathy. Rather that I’ve had trouble putting into words what I’ve been feeling, so instead I’m sharing the words from Lex Beatty, who originally posted this publicly on Facebook, who states it far more eloquently than I can at the moment:
For my trans family:
I want to tell you that it will be alright. That we will be unharmed, that we will make it to the other side of what feels like an increasingly chaotic, volatile, and inhumane era of our lives, but truthfully, I can not.
It’s not that I don’t want to tell you that you will be safe — it’s that I can’t. Not in good faith. Not in good conscience. And not because you don’t deserve it.
You absolutely deserve to live in a world that sees you and celebrates you and is begging for you to be in it because you make it so much more fun and sexy and weird and complicated and joyful and deep and beautiful and wild.
But I can not tell you that we’re in that world. This world, this culture, this time, this administration… it may not be quite ready for you but you’re here now and you don’t owe anyone an explanation for who you are — but it may not always be safe. And I’m so deeply, deeply, sorry that that’s true.
None of this is your fault. You don’t deserve any of the ugliness of someone else’s insecurity. You deserve to be free in this lifetime, in exactly the body you’re in. You deserve to decide for yourself what that body means.
Being trans is a gift. It’s a gift to move between worlds, to be unrestrained in our experience of humanity. It’s a gift to see the world in full color, in its complexity, its beauty, it’s pleasure… to be able to hold all of our selves and express it through our bodies — that’s a fucking gift. There’s nothing wrong with you. Nothing to fix. Nothing that you have done that should ever justify degradation, cruelty, violence or isolation based on your gender.
What I can tell you is that, for me, it’s worth it. It’s worth every bit of fear, of longing, of desire to be whole. You can live a full, healthy, happy and meaningful life as a trans person. You can fall in love, be in community, raise kids, inspire people, find your spiritual center, be affirmed and uplifted, and find your chosen families. I know we don’t always have those stories to reference. I know when I was growing up the only two trans stories I knew both ended violently. And I’ve spent my whole life assuming mine will end the same way.
Honestly, It might. That’s the part I can’t tell you. I can’t promise you won’t be harmed — but I do know with every cell in my being that the freedom you attain by loving and accepting yourself NO MATTER what the world says or thinks or does is a freedom that cannot be taken or denied by any living soul on this earth. You cannot be denied. You cannot be restrained. You cannot be confined. You cannot be subject to the opinions or attitudes or laws of a nation because some part of you knows, without question, INSIDE YOUR OWN BODY AND SPIRIT that you are made perfectly, as you are.
I know that to be true. I know it so deeply it’s in every breath I take, every fiber and muscle and tissue of this body. Once you know it — you can’t ever lose it.
No one, truly, no one, can take that from you. But it takes a lot of work to get to that point. For some people it takes seeing a lot of others get there to know it’s possible. It takes deep self love, forgiveness and most likely… generations. We are paving a way. Paving requires digging, hauling, slogging, breaking, endurance, patience, and fortitude. And in that process, I can not, in good faith, assure you that it will be safe, let alone easy. Nor can I say that everyone has the same capacity, ability or proficiency. I know that’s really hard to hear… it’s certainly hard to say.
We need to accept some really hard truths, together.
- Most people do not understand you, many do want to, but some don’t want to and a few will try and hurt you.
- Trans women, trans BIPOC folx, trans immigrants, disabled trans bodies, poor trans folx and non-conforming trans bodies will be disproportionately at risk.
- Almost our entire known and recorded (European/colonized) history as trans bodies, we have been subject to ridicule, violence, fear, and systemic, state sanctioned cruelty or negligence — any notion of “safety” “protection” or legal recognition is a thoroughly modern (last 10 years!) construct. We have always and will continue, forever, to survive and thrive, even while living with the persistent threat of violence.
- This is a controversial one for many: Not everyone can “come out” or “pass” — and people need to be free to choose harm reduction over resistance if it means protecting their current understanding of their well being. I also want to acknowledge the enormous price of not being able to feel free to express yourself. It’s an unimaginable choice, but one that many before us have made. You are not alone.
- Some of us are unable to access resources, be in safe housing, extract ourselves from unsupportive or abusive situations, financially dependent on jobs or families, are suffering from mental illness, addiction, poverty, overwhelm, underemployment, etc. and there are no simple answers. There is no “right way” to be trans or not in these conditions. How people Identify themselves, how they choose to survive, or not, they can and should do so with their dignity upheld and honored by all of us.
- Dignity is created inside of us. Just as no one can take it from you, no one can give it to you. There’s a weird balance between needing affirmation and empowerment and seeking validation. It’s really hard to know which it is sometimes. You have to cultivate your own relationship with yourself. You have to build your resilience to know that you are powerful, purposeful and meaningful. And it’s really hard to do and really hard to remember. Forgive yourself often, love yourself always.
This is a time to make some really honest assessments about your safety. This is a time to lock in with your people. It’s a time to invest deeply in the relationships that are uplifting, supporting and affirming you and divest from those that don’t — where and when you can. For me, that looks like divesting from relationships that don’t have accountability, requires me to do the heavy lifting to generate a sense of comfort and no longer engaging with people that want to “understand” me but don’t actually seem to enjoy me.
I want to acknowledge that at this point in my own life I have access to a great deal of privilege in my journey as a trans man. I have been out and speaking, sharing, writing, creating, teaching, preaching, praying and performing for the last 15 years openly as a trans man — and as a result have a lot of community. In 42 years I have experienced a great deal of violence, abuse, discrimination, fear, disgust, political pressure, being disowned by family, being unable to find housing or work, feeling like I’d never find love or be attractive, and for much of my life thinking that something was wrong with me for being trans. However, at this point in my life, I have transitioned “successfully” and live comfortably with my family and community as a man. I have the skills to work for myself in the trades, the ability to share my story, be out in public as a trans man with little fear of any repercussions in my personal life. I “pass” easily and my transition was fairly binary — I now have the ability to be very comfortable in my own skin and have that affirmed by the world around me. That is not everyone’s story. Because that is my story — I choose to share it. I choose to be open, to be out loud, to advocate, to empower trans folks to find their own voices. And to me — that’s worth it. That’s what works for this body.
And I can tell you, I can even promise you, that as a trans person you can be whole in this lifetime, even in the midst of a far right swing toward fascism. You can experience health, love, purpose, passion, pleasure, meaning, affirmation, family, and peace… You can experience these things in exactly the body you’re in. That’s the story I want to tell. Especially for the 10 year old me that only knew I hated my body and probably deserved to die. You don’t. You deserve to be free — and the world is so much better off for having you in it.
But I cannot tell you that you will be safe. I wish I could. I wish I could put my body between yours and anything that stands in your way or threatens you or intimidates you or makes you cry. But I can’t. And not because you don’t deserve it.
I can tell you that I will be here. I will be sharing, I will be speaking, I will be creating, I will be telling a story that you can hold as your own when yours doesn’t feel hopeful. And together, we’ll be good to these bodies until every body can be safe.
I love you all.
As Eolirin said the other day:
Those of us who are really vulnerable tend to view the world in very different ways, and tend to view our places in communities in different ways, and that bleeds into politics just as much. The reciprocal nature of having the back of the people who have yours tends to be a lot stronger for us because almost no one has ours and we really need that to survive.
Sister Gold Bear speaking again: I hope you’ll have our backs. Us trans people are 1-2% of the population, we do not have the numbers to successfully fight back the onslaught ourselves. Yes, there are so many fights that need to be fought right now, but we need your help. We need allies, and ally isn’t a noun, it’s a verb.
Thanks, Sister Golden Bear, for sharing your thoughts with us.
Baud
I wish I had time right now to read the whole thing, but just wanted to say we’re with you SGB.
Steve LaBonne
Bravo Rep. Keating. More like this please.
Nelle
Damn. Damn them all. (I do love her quick retort to call the R Reptile Madam Chair.)
A Ghost to Most
As Jay Ferrar says, “We all learn that rights aren’t open arms.”
TBone
My local librarian is trans. I love them, always a smart alex. I will make someone spit their Chiclets if anyone fucks with them. Quietly of course, so I don’t get shushed. In the library. Anywhere else it will get very loud.
WaterGirl
@Nelle: I thought the same thing – quick on her feet! And she was.
But she has also been there before, which is why she had that in her back pocket.
I worked at the University vet school for a few years, and one of my favorite vets had long hair. Like to his shoulders.
He got very tired of his fellow vets taking liberties with him, so one day when another vet reached out, touched his hair, and said “Hair’s a little long”, my favorite vet reached out, touched the other guy’s beer belly, and said “stomach’s a little fat”.
I imagine that is what we saw here. She’s been here before with the public humiliation, and she’s gonna give as good as she gets.
sentient ai from the future
thank you, SGB and eolirin and everyone else for helping pave the way for my own child to be exactly who they envision themselves to be. that is no small thing.
TBone
Jeebus, take the wheel for me here …
satby
Well stated Sister Golden Bear, and thanks John, for sharing it with us all.
Eolirin
Thank you for this SGB.
Trollhattan
@TBone:
Judges would also accept Vanna White.
Old School
Thanks for this.
A week or two ago, there was someone who was likely a trans person shopping at the same time. We passed each other a few times in the aisles and I wanted to say something like “You are valued” or “I have your back.” However, I knew if it was me, I’d feel uncomfortable and respond with something like “Um, OK. Now just let me buy groceries.”
So I’ll let people in the comments know that there are people who want you to lead your best life and feel awful about the attacks against your community.
emjayay
None of this is much different from how gay people were treated until recent decades – the result of decades of protest and legal stuff going back forever, particularly in the early 1950s in the US, then really getting going with Gay Liberation then Queer Nation (both really based a lot on 1960s subculture ethos) and so on to marriage equality and gay people being able to be out everywhere (more or less) including in private employment and armed forces and civilian positions in government.
Now that that is settled all they have to rile the rubes (particularly Christianist rubes, which is also most of them) is drag queens and trans people. In all cases this is all about challenging their assumptions about sexual and gender roles and they don’t like it.
Maybe the ignorant fascist(s) at the top of the federal government today will get it all to crash and burn like Carville thinks and we can rejoin the modern world after the smoldering dies down.
LAC
Thank you for this, Sister GB! It is sickening to have reaffirm your basic humanity and right to live and love fully over and over, but that where we are in this messed up country. We who call ourselves allies need to be there to protect and defend and not view this as a something to be shelved so that we can make Ma and Pa Kettle from bumfuckle middle land feel better about voting for us.
zhena gogolia
I notice the third time he does it, he mumbles the “mister.” He knows he’s evil.
WereBear
That was wonderful. And it’s true, experiencing more than one narrow slice of the world makes everyone “who must pass between” know more and understand more.
I’m now reading Passing: When People Can’t Be Who They Are by Brooke Kroeger.
Impressed by the author’s breadth of circumstances. Most famously non-white heritage people who “passed” into the whiter, more dominant, world, and lost their real one. Though this one is not a history, but a variety of experiences, like a boy of bi-racial heritage dealing with looking like one parent but being more at home in the other’s world.
I know about LBTQ+ people pretending to be straight most of their time, Neurodivergents not even realizing they are Masking, and Fundamentalists who deconvert while still immersed in a high control religion. But it does bestow some nasty insight, and who knews when someone might need it, or pass one on.
Daniella Mestyanek Young, who survived childhood in a religious cult and subsequently joined the US Army, tells a story on her channel/Youtube — she now gives “Surviving Cults” advice, so very timely!
She was the only one on patrol who spotted a clue, and saved the squad. She went on to do programs and briefing about what to look for, because the army had apparently never thought of that… but anyhoo, that’s another dissertation. They all punish people for it, even the ones who demand it.
I just saw one of hers where she assured women that we have this power too, because we can see things the way a man does, and we can also see things the way a woman does. At least, we can if our minds are not held back.
Old Man Shadow
I don’t understand what it is like to be trans.
But I do understand that I don’t have to understand.
1. It’s not my fucking business.
2. Everyone has a right to pursue happiness.
3. A lot of doctors who have spent time studying the matter have come to a conclusion based on evidence that supporting people who are trans with proper medical care is the best course of treatment for them.
4. They’re still people. People who have a voice who can clearly tell me what they want. People who deserve my basic respect of listening to their voice. People who have the same rights, wants, needs, desires, feelings that I do.
None of that changes just because I don’t get what it’s like to wear their shoes. This should all be basic shit we learned as in Kindergarten. Treat others nicely. Listen. Treat others with fairness.
It’s really not that fucking hard.
Anyone who doesn’t understand that is just being a fucking asshole because they choose to be.
WereBear
@Old Man Shadow: It’s like they got down to the lowest possible price and the suckiest possible superpower. Being a jerk.
“I want to be the best at something, but not anything hard.”
ArchTeryx
This has been a very, very difficult time for me, a cis-het man, to be an ally. Perhaps the most difficult it has ever been.
On the one hand, my group of friends contain several trans people and they are rightfully terrified. But I live in a rooming house with 4 other people. I have no spare space to offer any more, even for couch crashers. We are literally full. We can’t offer a safe haven, and it’s killing all of us here because everyone in this house is an ally. We can’t even get the most endangered of us out of red states, or convince them they need to get to safety.
On the other hand, the stress is causing increasingly antisocial behavior among my LBGTQ+ friends, that is threatening to destroy the entire group. Our lesbian member left – but not before taking a cheap shot at the trans folks. A transman friend of decades suddenly decides to unload a whole lot of toxicity onto me. I leave the group to try and protect his place in it, and then he takes it out on my fiancee and leaves. This is one of my most loyal friends. The rest of the group, mostly LBGTQ+ folks, were left hurt and confused.
Solidarity is rapidly breaking down, it seems. And I feel utterly and completely helpless to do a damn thing about it. I’ve done my best to support my beloved friends… and they turn on me like this. Regardless of the reasons… it hurts me to the core, and hurts my friends and family, too. I don’t know if there will be anything left by the time the pogrom starts in earnest.
Scout211
Thank you John, Sister Golden Bear, Eolirin and Lex Beatty. You matter and your words matter. I look forward to more threads in the future on what we can do and how we can do it to become better allies for you.
Just a thought: Why can’t they address colleagues as Representative “Smith” and Senator “Smith.” Why are they clinging to an outdated form of addressing colleagues? Change that now, Congress!
sentient ai from the future
so i also want to make a little bit more clear to the jackaltariat here about puberty blockers.
they are being denied to kids now, as a result of the executive order (i just saw someone report that UPMC in pittsburgh, which should fuckin know better, is refusing to administer them) or as a result of these shitty laws.
there is also a lot of bullshit out there about safety. knowing something about the topic, and seeing this audience as fairly receptive, i’m not going to get into the details of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal axis, but i will say that these drugs used as blockers are short peptides that correspond directly to the actual signaling peptides in the brain. they are literally the same thing as the signals the brain uses in this system.
they’ve, of course, also been used safely in children as young as 4 for precocious puberty for nearly 50 years now.
they are hideously expensive and should not be (sticker price i was quoted is $24k for a 6mo dosage), that’s a separate but related issue.
so access to these drugs being even further restricted will force many kids to go through puberty that is disconcordant with their lived and felt gender identity.
some of the more vocal trans voices have called this torture, and i’ve gotten pushback and disbelief even from providers when i bring this up, but i believe this, because i believe the stories of the people who have gone through it.
if i were in retirement, if i did not need to have a workaday bullshit job to keep a roof over my head, i would be trying to build a specialty pharmacy business to offer these drugs (and others) at a more reasonable price point, but it is what it is.
okay, time for me to take a breath.
Trivia Man
My rule of thumb – the only reason someone has a “need to know” another’s gender/genital status/ history is when they are actively pursuing a sexual relationship. And even then the need to know isnt absolute or comprehensive.
Betty Cracker
Thanks, SGB.
@sentient ai from the future: Great comment. It’s huge.
Mousebumples
Keating isn’t my Rep, but if there are any i his district, I hope you’ll call his office and thank him for standing up for Rep. McBride. 👏👏👏
Thanks for the post, John, and for the comments Sister Golden Bear. I’ll reread more closely and sit with this later tonight, after work.
Mousebumples
@sentient ai from the future: can’t fix the larger issue, but there are leuprolide injections available that may be less expensive. Not the long acting depot (approved for prostate cancer, I think, awhile ago), so much less convenient – and the daily use may result in higher costs.
I’m sorry you’re facing issues with getting needed drug therapy.
NotMax
A short topical aside from the 14th century.
Sometimes They’re John, Sometimes They’re Eleanor: A Genderqueer Sex Worker In Medieval London.
Deputinize America
I’m the normiest normie that ever normed. Super utilitarian so nobody prevails on me with a naked plea to my empathy or feelings.
That said – it has always occurred to me that the ultimate, best pathway toward legal respect for transgender people is to invoke the First Amendment – expression of one’s most intimate desires and expectations is a matter of freedom of thought and expression.
sentient ai from the future
@Old Man Shadow: re your #3, there is in fact a lot of literature out there, coming largely from the UK and mostly, from what i’ve seen, in the bioethics literature, that inverts the “evidence based medicine” refrain that is common in medical schools these days to use it as a cudgel against trans folks. because, as a quite small proportion of the population, they’re whining about the sample size of studies and saying these treatments are unproven.
it’s distressing as hell.
so i just want to point that out to say that there is a deeper truth here, that of autonomy over our own bodies. it intersects with discourses about addiction and drug use because of how we as a society have chosen to deal with the farther-downstream effects of those issues. and it touches on the autonomy of children, which is what a lot of controversies over gender-affirming care are more genuinely about than treatment plans.
ArchTeryx
@Trivia Man: There are cases like my (ex-) friend Micki; we were never lovers, but we were close friends, and I was the first to recognize his gender transition. We talked a LOT about intimate things because I was a deeply sympathetic ear, and he was trying to teach me more about the life of a transman. Before it all went wrong, he was one of the best educations I ever got into the LBGTQ+ world. And I needed it.
sentient ai from the future
@Mousebumples: leuprolide injections are available for less than $1k out of pocket from canadian mail order pharmacies retirees use. so the disconnect there is significant. I havent gone so far as to ask for pricing details but there are plenty of providers in india who can sell you that Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient, and then stateside youd compound it somehow.
the various GnRH agonists are peptides that vary from 6-10 in length. they are very short, and thus extremely easy to make. there is absolutely no legitimate reason for them to be as expensive as they are.
feebog
Thanks for the post John and Sister Golden Bear. Meaningful and worthy of reading through.
lochnessmon
My partner is trans. That was a HUGE adjustment to me because they hadn’t come to terms with it or fully realized it until after we had been in a relationship for several years. (We began dating in our forties.)
I had told my children, from the time they were young enough to start to school, that everything on the gender/sex continuum was normal: that a person could be more masculine or feminine or neither or anything in between and it was all cool and should be celebrated. But when it came time to apply that to my own relationship is took a couple years for me to learn about what it meant to be trans and how that affected my perceptions and wants and desires about the person I was with. After a lot of thought, learning, and counseling I realized that it was the person that I wanted to spend my life with.
However, they are not all the way “out” except to me and my children — and not one of the five batted an eye, so at least I did a good job there. But they have withdrawn from being more public just as they were coming to terms with it, and I feel helpless to ease their despair. It just feels so dangerous now that they are really struggling. I am so enraged that I am pretty stabby about it, and if somebody were to say something in my presence I might do something untoward.
Transwomen are women, transmen are men. Period. We should all stand up for transfolk the same as we stand for anyone else, with no quarter. If someone doesn’t believe that, they should educate themselves. If they won’t educate themselves, they should mind their own business and shut the fuck up. /end rant.
snoey
@Mousebumples: He’s mine and I’ve already done that. Had a nice talk with a person at the local office.
sentient ai from the future
@Mousebumples: also, my own kid has blockers onboard now, and their treatment plan predates the executive order, in a blue city in a blue state, so we are good. i had to set a pile of retirement money on fire to open a family court case to put enough pressure on non/less-affirming coparent to get them to go along with the standard of care here, but doing so did get us in under the wire, thank FSM.
but i am deeply fucking concerned for all the kids who will find it even more difficult to access this medication. because part of that is going to be the ever-longer wait times for clinics as people migrate for care, or simply make longer trips to get it. that’s how the UK was able to effectively deny gender affirming care to youth, by limiting access so that the wait times were such that noone got care in a timely manner.
suzanne
i am inherently self-centered and cannot imagine ever feeling like I needed to take such a strong stand about someone else’s life and identity. It’s just deeply weird. Like, why TF does anyone care so much about other people’s personal lives?! It’s a mindset I can’t fathom.
It dawns on me that we don’t have as strong a divide as we need between public and private spheres. I cannot control and honestly don’t have any interest in whether most people genuinely accept trans people (or anything else). I care very much about a code of public behavior in which we speak politely to one another, and that includes referring to people as they choose.
Old Man Shadow
@sentient ai from the future: Good point.
I generally ignore that noise because I know the people behind it and what motivates their supposed “scientific” stuff that contradicts the opinions of doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and scientists who actually practice science (and their motivation usually boils down to fundamentalist bullshit or “eww”) but a lot of folks don’t know those charlatan bigots so yes, bodily autonomy is an important point and a part of that whole human rights thing.
Mart
My daughter’s girlfriend from High School completed a well manged transition. He saved eggs for babies and is now happily married with child. I have no idea how this fine young man and his family are hurting anyone or anything.
pluky
@Mousebumples: Mr. Keating is my representative. Just called his Cape Cod office to express my appreciation. Never done this before, but the circumstances warrant!
LeftCoastYankee
@WereBear:
This! I’ve been trying to get the motivation of the “how can I be a bigger a**hole than yesterday” mindset.
I think you’ve nailed it. Thanks!
Sister Golden Bear
Thanks John. FYI, just to clarify, the final paragraph are my words, not Eolirin’s.
I’m at a doctor’s appointment at the moment (thought this was going to run later today), so I won’t be able read/reply much until I get home. But I will catch up then.
Princess
Trans people deserve protection (in other words: they deserve that everyone else should mind their own damned business)on their own account.
But these attacks are not just about them. Every attack on a Trans person for living their gender the way they understand it, is an attack on every single one of us, and reinforcement of a limited and closeting idea of human experience. Attacking Trans is about supporting the narrowest form of patriarchy. As some said on BlueSky (maybe a jackal); Trans people are the tip of the iceberg. We are the iceberg.
cain
Fighting for trans rights is like Ukraine fighting Russia. If we don’t contain it it will spread to everyone else – this is the Nazi playbook and we must all stand against it.
MazeDancer
Because there are so few trans people, and most trans folks are impossible to identify, most Americans, outside big cities, assume they don’t know any trans folks.
This makes it easy to demonize people who are the farthest thing from demons. And the GOP must have a demon to attack.
Since they, also, don’t believe in science, hearing that everyone is female in utero, and in a sense, males “transition” to female, and, thus, a spectrum of genders is not only possible, but probable, doesn’t matter. Wasn’t it 32 known genders at last count?
“Male and female he made them”. Not sure why that “and” doesn’t mean combination instead of either/or.
But, also, not sure why MAGA doesn’t notice that are two different versions of “creation” in Genesis, no mention of don’t do abortion, and Jesus never spoke against homosexuality. . And how about those giant Nephilim? (Genesis 6:1-6)
My heart breaks for people just trying to live their lives.
NotMax
@LeftCoastYankee
Ever seen the British TV series Misfits?
Until the reveal at the end of the first season would have laid down real folding money one character’s power was being a super prick.
:)
cain
@suzanne:
The conservatives have always been obsessed with controlling people’s bodies. They are obsessed with genitals and those not their skin color.
I mean transgender porn is like #1 with these people. They are obsessed.
But by starting with the most vulnerable of demographics, they can go after the rest of us. Trans->LBG->women->jews->muslims and so on. There will be a new set of people to target every time – we are all deviants to a class of people who I think are likely secretly in the list and are traumatized and are acting on it.
Ohio Mom
@Trivia Man: Well, and their doctor. And if someone doesn’t trust their doctor with this information, they need a different doctor.
suzanne
@cain:
Understood. We draw that sharp, bright line now: no one gets fucked with.
I just….. cannot relate to people who give so much of a fuck about other people’s personal lives. It is literally unfathomable for me.
cain
@MazeDancer:
You know in India, transgender is an actual recognized 3rd gender. India’s conservatism towards LBGTQ+ despite no religious motivation for it was caused by the British. These bhakts and Hindu nationalists are absorbing the British’s conservatism despite their own faith being ok with transgender – they revere the great epics that is filled gender fluidity with no irony.
https://www.hindusforhumanrights.org/gender-sexuality-hinduism
cain
@suzanne:
I feel the same way about anti-Jew hatred. The more learn of history the more outraged, puzzled, and demoralized I am. Trying to understand how you can go against a group of folks who have done nothing to anybody.
Ohio Mom
@MazeDancer: Liberal Judaism recognizes that gender is fluid. This piece from the Reform Movement includes a discussion on the Genesis story recognizing this aspect of humanity: https://rac.org/blog/what-torah-teaches-us-about-gender-fluidity-and-transgender-justice
schrodingers_cat
@cain: Its probably a lot to do with the Roman Empire becoming Christian and finding a convenient scapegoat to wash off their sins. And in recent times Russian disinformation (See for example : Protocols of the Elders of Zion)
Not an expert in this matter or Jewish, just based on my observations.
laura
Love over hate- always and forever. It’s a time for choosing, and if you can’t side with those who are currently facing real threats, you cannot expect support when the threat comes to you.
rebelsdad
No LGB without the T. I will die on this hill.
eclare
@Scout211:
Your entire comment, 1000%.
suzanne
@cain: Not being religious is fucken awesome in that regard. I honestly didn’t learn about any of the “conspiracy theory” aspects of anti-Semitism until I was older, at least my late teens. And I was like, “What?! People believe what?! That’s insane and those people are stupid.”
cain
@Ohio Mom:
There are a lot of similarity between Hindus and Jews. I think we both do the 1 year and a day mourning period.
Ohio Mom
@suzanne: That’s pretty much how I feel. At the very least, mind your own business and your manners. Apparently, that’s too hard for most Republicans.
It is a scary time to be a member of any minority group at the moment, we are all threatened. The attacks look different, they are tailored to each miniority. We all have to be careful to not turn on one another but stand in unity.
cain
@suzanne: Yeah, I grew up in a Hindu home, so I don’t have any idea of anything. But I went to Jewish parties and had a Jewish neighbor in my small college town in Indiana. I couldn’t tell one end of one faith from another. Our Hindu festivals were all celebrated in the basement of a Church and the reverend would come down and join us. :D
cain
@schrodingers_cat: yeah and they all like to say “Jews killed the son of god” – despite the fact that it was preordained. Everybody had a part to play. Also, Jehovah was clearly still an asshole. I mean, I’m supposed to believe a being of infinite power and wisdom came up with this one time trick to heal humanity of sin on something they created to begin with.
After that, how much stupid shit did the Christians do ? What did they learn.. bah.
Religion is such a scam, every religion has a cliffhanger where “someone is coming back for the last time and shut this shitshow down” – it’s literally the “santa claus is coming to town” song.
tam1MI
Not denying your point here, but just pointing out that actually, women were the tip of the iceberg. Once they successfully denied women bodily autonomy will h Dobbs, it was open season on everyone else.
suzanne
@cain: Yeah, I grew up in a very liberal Presbyterian church, and, like…… I don’t think any of my friends or I believed any of the supernatural stuff. And we were certainly never taught anything anti-Semitic. We had interfaith events frequently. Everyone smoked the same weed. You know.
Old Man Shadow
@Ohio Mom: I would hope so.
People tend to forget that Genesis 2 includes the story of God cloning another human from the male Adam and making the clone into the female Eve. :)
cmorenc
Why not take a ju-jitsu approach to using the visceral “ick” that is at bottom of many folks trans/hate to exert leverage, using their sense of disapproval or shame over ridicule or hate of people with physical disabilities? I get why trans folk want normalized acceptance in society rather than being regarded like freaks who are dangerous because of their oddity – but being born with crossed physical sexual identity is a disability that is harmless to anyone not born with this condition, and most people have been trained to regard taunting or mistreating others with disabilities as reprehensible, analogous to taunting someone in a wheelchair who is otherwise a competent, functioning person. Start with the fact that to many folks it’s inarguable that trans folks are somehow disabled from normal condition, and use a Ju-jitsu approach to use that as leverage against their prejudice against the condition.
Citizen Alan
@Old School: I have a recurring dread of encountering someone who I think is trans, saying something intended to be supportive, and then the person becoming offended because they are actually cis and I have inadvertently insinuated that they are not masculine or feminine enough to meet the standards of their assigned and preferred gender.
Just yesterday at the gym, as I was toweling off in front of my locker after a shower, I was startled when a preteen walked up to the locker next to me while I was standing there butt-ass naked. The child had long hair, was barely into puberty and so had neither obvious upper body muscles nor developing breasts, and I genuinely couldn’t tell if he was a boy or a girl. (Other than the obvious fact that we were in a men’s locker room, but the kid looked young enough that wandering into the wrong locker room was not an absurd thought). Until he actually started undressing, I had an instant of panic thinking I was exposing myself to an underage girl.
What is the answer for idiots like me who are so bad at social cues we are borderline autistic and are paralyzed when confronted with someone whose preferred gender is ambiguous for whatever reason? (If I were King of America, not only would “preferred pronouns” be acceptable, they’d be required on mandatory name tags that everyone would have to wear. And if you’re genderfluid, you’re welcome to have multiple name tags and switch them out as you desire. Just tell us all who you want to be that day.)
japa21
One thing that I have come to realize through my multitude of years is that one does not need to have lived a particular life style or really understand it to recognize that people have the right to that lifestyle so long as it doesn’t infringe on others in a material way.
Unfortunately, it took too many years to realize that.
sxjames
Thanks Sister Golden Bear for the thoughtful essay. A while ago you wrote something to the effect of “I hope my comments are not just screaming into the void”. I hope you know now that they are not, and I – for one – look forward to reading what you have to say.
lochnessmon
@cmorenc: what in the chicken-fried fuck? A disability? Respectfully, that’s nonsense.
HopefullyNotcassandra
Perhaps something went horribly awry with repulicon potty training and that is why they are so obsessed with other people’s genitals.
I hate that such cruel stupid hate is consuming so many of us! It is so ugly, destructive and absurd all at the same time.
You are fierce Sister Golden Bear. I am so grateful you exist in this crazy world.
Sister Golden Bear
@cmorenc: WTF?! While I appreciate the intent, being trans isn’t a disability. Nor should trans people be treated like, ya know, people because of an invented disability rather because we’re people.
If you’re not getting how incredibly insulting this is, try substituting gay, lesbian or bisexual into what you wrote.
Professor Bigfoot
@japa21: I like to say, “I don’t understand, but then I don’t need to understand— I just need to accept, and I’m happy to do so.”
Every human has an inherent right to self definition and self determination.
u
These fucking Republican assholes. I remain convinced that the right-wing in this country actually cares one way or the other about transgender people about as much as they care about abortion or drag-queens or brown-skinned immigrants — that is, not at all. These are clown shows to distract the rubes from the real agenda — the massive transfer of wealth from ordinary people to the multi-billionaires. Now they want to destroy the Department of Education because an uneducated population is just what they want.
RevRick
@Baud: These were powerful and eloquent words. I just got off a webinar sponsored by the Environmental Justice Ministry of the United Church of Christ talking about the intersection of environmental degradation and social injustice.
One of the panelists, a black woman and Episcopal priest, said that those of us with racial and gender privileges need to step up our advocacy for those who are on the under side of the world. Those on the under side have always known the truth, and it’s incumbent on us white guys to speak the truth… and not just mumble quietly on the sidelines.
u
@HopefullyNotcassandra: I don’t think that the real leaders of the Republican Party really care about this. They care about stealing from the poor and enriching the rich. Everything else is a smokescreen.
Rachel Bakes
Thank you for all of this. A long-time friend came out to me as trans in October. I was surprised but husband who has known them longer (college roommate) said “huh, that explains a few things.” I’ve known them for more than 25 years, through marriage, 2 kids, divorce, unemployment, and clinical depression.
they came out to me over the phone in the year after both parents passed (had been challenged at best, toxic at worst relationships with them) and they were coming to release this part of themselves to the world. They (really how hard is it to use they? Any pronouns are acceptable for this friend at present but I’m training myself. In the meantime house rule #3: call people what they want to be called) have been buying clothes, showing exquisite taste; undergoing voice training; and slowly going out in public.
its fascinating to observe and hear in her voice how much more comfortable she is in herself. Since job and marriage issues 10 years ago she was always stiff and awkward. Now that she’s (more) free to be herself it’s amazing to behold. And is also terrified because the government is actively trying to erase her.
Sister Golden Bear
@Old School:
This can be a touchy subject even among trans people recognizing other trans people because implies that they’re “visibly trans” — which can be upsetting to many of us, who’d rather just be seen as another woman or man. Of course if they’re “flagging” i.e. wearing a t-shirt, pin, etc. that indicates they’re LGBTQ+ that’s a different story.
@Citizen Alan:
I hear you. Especially since you’re someone who’s bad at social cues.
FWIW, in both cases, one can show support by making a nice comment, in a ways that appropriate with a stranger. E.g. complimenting their shoes, jewelry, outfit, etc. Admittedly this is far easier for cis women to say to trans women without coming off as creepy. It’s not as direct as “we’ve got your back” but it’ll still brighten someone’s day.
suzanne
@Professor Bigfoot:
Bigots don’t even need to accept. They need to behave appropriately in public. Genuine acceptance is better, but courtesy is the minimum.
Sister Golden Bear
@u:
No, they hate us and don’t want us to exist. Ask me how I know. Except to wank off to in porn — trans porn being one of the more popular sub-genres and it’s particularly popular in red states.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Princess: THIS. As an athletic short haired outspoken smart ass girl in the 1960s South, I had to endure gender conforming threats. Fortunately, my parents and my most important empathetic teachers did much to console and support me. What I went through is as nothing to what LQBTQ+ are now going through. I hate those who apply straightjacket standards, and I am appalled by those who don’t think it will eventually come for them.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Princess: this !
Have the moms for stupidity banned “The Lottery” too?
HopefullyNotcassandra
@cain: Gender fluidity is everywhere in ancient myth and in great art too. Whenever the cons ban drag in art, I wonder do they recognize they just nixed the Tempest and the Merchant of Venice?
Baud
Just saw via Reddit
WaterGirl
@Sister Golden Bear: I fixed that for you. Let me know if I didn’t get that right.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@cain: Pontius Pilot killed Jesus probably because he turned over the money changing tables in the Temple. The Romans were ok with religious variance but not if it messed with their money. The Romans used temples, including the Temple in Jerusalem as banks.
Sister Golden Bear
@WaterGirl: Thanks!
Bupalos
@Nelle: I wish the rep had just left it up to her, I think she was going to handle that brilliantly and with strength. The end result feels like mostly what the chairman wanted.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Bupalos:
I mean, he stomped off in a huff and looked like a child. He was butthurt someone stood up to him
Sister Golden Bear
@Cheryl from Maryland:
Yes, much of this is about policing gender conformity regardless whether someone is trans or cis. The British TERFs have been particularly overt about this in the past year, and all of the “transinvestigators” who spin conspiracy theories about powerful and/or famous women being secretly trans cite the supposed “masculine” physical appearances of these women.
Don’t have a link handy, but within the past week someone called the cops on a Black butch lesbian for being in a women’s restroom. This regularly happens every time Republicans push the “scary trans people in bathroom” moral panic. Not just with butches, but also straight women who are deemed not sufficiently feminine looking.
ArchTeryx
@Sister Golden Bear: So the TERFs have finally given the game away. They started out backed by European (UK?) neonazis as a way to sucker in liberals and give a fig leaf to the anti-trans bigots. Now they’ve just thrown the fig leaf of “feminism” away, and just straight out admit they’re just more wannabe Aunts helping men police the patriarchy?
HopefullyNotcassandra
@u: I don’t know about that. They seem obsessed with genitalia. This round started with religious types like Falwell, true, but it goes back years and years. Remember that Congress critter from Texas all concerned that if gay people could get married, people would start having sex with trees and want to marry trees? Odd obsessions these folks have. Remember what Madison Crawford said about gop sex parties? These are closeted people. That is not healthy. Look at hair fuhrer’s sex obsessions.
Anthony Comstock, in our last round of puritanical sex obsessives, thought a woman wearing pants drove a man sexually insane which caused said man to do something improper to that woman. I mean what sort of dysfunctional was he? That’s the guy behind the same Comstock Act (which banned panted ladies and condoms, too) this crop of cons want to reimpose upon us. There is something not right there. They are obsessed with other peoples’ sex and genitalia. I don’t think it is an act.
Baud
@HopefullyNotcassandra:
I also prefer women without pants.
sentient ai from the future
@Baud: the “Men Without Hats” cover band? or are we talking about something else entirely?
Sister Golden Bear
@Baud:
Thanks for the find. It’s a something that I’d definitely encourage people to read.
Although I wish the reporter hadn’t downplayed the extent of impact. Yeah only 4% of young trans and non-binary young people actually moved to another state — but we’re still talking about roughly 266,000 youth (and likely additional family members since the sample included minors). That’s the equivalent of the entire population of either Lubbock, TX or Toledo, OH or St. Petersburg, FL.
Baud
@sentient ai from the future:
The cover of Down Under is something to see.
rikyrah
Jordan Weissmann (@JHWeissmann) posted at 11:54 AM on Wed, Mar 12, 2025:
DOGE is considering no longer allowing senior citizens to file Social Security claims over the phone, and instead requiring them to do it online or in person at a field office, according to WaPo.
This is the kind of thing that seems designed to absolutely maximize political pain for zero to no policy gain.
https://t.co/KHf8OISJJF
(https://x.com/JHWeissmann/status/1899866546547081580?t=EKa9Qul939T-v-f0B2Xw9g&s=03)
WTFGhost
It’s really that simple I would grant – but I wouldn’t ever say it is easy.
Chairman Self(Righteous) fell back on the Milgram experiment, “I was given *instructions!*” and, Speaker (Suck my doc)Johnson might impose penalties for standing up to a fucking bully. “Follow the rules” is easy.
But if you have any moral courage, once you see how simple it is, you must make a choice, oppose the fascists, or don’t.
Darkrose
@Sister Golden Bear: Thanks for speaking truth. I’m so worried for my trans friends, even here in California now that Newsom is showing his true colors.
I saw that video and my first thought was, “Yeah, that tracks.” Cis Black women do not get the presumption of femininity that cis white women do. I’ve mentioned the anecdote Brittney Griner tells about being challenged in bathrooms, but even if you’re not 6’9, it still happens to a lot of us, especially if we’re in any way butch or gender non-confirming. I’m 5’1″ with shall we say, huge tracts of land, but I have a short natural, and I mostly dress in a pretty androgynous style, and I’ve been challenged in bathrooms.
sentient ai from the future
@Baud:
that’s Men At Work
Old School
@Sister Golden Bear: Thanks for the response.
Martin
@HopefullyNotcassandra: It’s just control. The acceptance of pronouns are cultural, and in case you hadn’t notice, they’re waging a culture war. This is all just butter battle stuff. They don’t particularly care about the position they are staking out, this is just exercises in whether they can dictate the cultural rules or not.
Sex/gender is the most foundational of cultural rules – all others are built on top of it, which is why they always return to it as the hill they want to die on.
Baud
@sentient ai from the future:
Oops. Got my men confused.
sentient ai from the future
@Baud: you are Martha Wash and i claim my five pounds.
Sister Golden Bear
@Darkrose: I’m so sorry you’ve encountered it, just like a number of other Black cis women I know. As you said, they definitely do not get the presumption of femininity that cis white women do. In the particular case I mentioned, the Black lesbian being harassed ended up lifting up her top (demeaning in itself obviously) and was still told by the cops that they thought she looked like a man.
dp
These people are pure evil. At least there are some of us who are willing to embrace trans people; seek us out, and we will accept you with love.
WTFGhost
@Bupalos: In my experience, it’s not reasonably possible for the victim to stand up to the bully. First, who, when targeted by hate, can be sure of delivering a non-bad-viral response, once Fox News is done mocking the hell out of every bit of it?
On the floor of congress, there’s more – you have to consider Roberts Rules. The chairman may well have wanted to slap down an uppity Democrat, but was denied the proper target, because the Ms. McBride was not the person who rejected the label. Had Ms. McBride made the correction, the chair (because chairs have limbs but no penises) seemed to have their speech ready, but didn’t get to deliver it.
Oh: did I call rep SelfRighteous a dickless chair and misuse their – its? her? God help me, ‘his’? – pronouns? Well, I have *rules* see.
rikyrah
George Conway (@gtconway3d) posted at 11:41 AM on Tue, Mar 11, 2025:
“Conway opines as to why Biglaw firms aren’t collectively working together to fight what Trump is doing and protect the legal system as we know it, and he chalks a lot of it up to cowardice. Too many firms are keeping their heads down because they don’t want to catch the attention of Trump and wind up in the crosshairs. Conway compares them to Republican Senators that won’t stand up to Trump because they are ‘just a bunch of pussies.’ Which … unfortunately checks out.”
(https://x.com/gtconway3d/status/1899500829280723411?t=LaOWOb1u8ljCHvdaPqgwyg&s=03)
rikyrah
Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) posted at 3:40 PM on Tue, Mar 11, 2025:
HUNT: Do you think you can cut $700b without touching law-abiding American citizens who are entitled to their benefits under Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid? Do you think that’s really possible?
CHIP ROY: *ignores question, rants about other things* https://t.co/4HC3h5zGLx
(https://x.com/atrupar/status/1899561079069397278?t=CkqX19a8kdtdOV-5FronPw&s=03)
Anastasio Beaverhausen
What always amazes me is that calling the Representative from Delaware, or anyone, by their preferred gender affects absolutely no one, and costs nothing, but some jerks won’t do it. In fact it goes a long way to show respect and foster the cooperation that is so sorely needed.
rikyrah
Candidly Tiff (@tify330) posted at 3:35 PM on Tue, Mar 11, 2025:
I truly believe the pandemic broke peoples minds and destroyed common sense. How did so many people become anti-vax and align with white Christian Nationalism. The racism, sexism homophobia, transphobia, anti-semitism, xenophobia and every other bigotry is so damn prevalent.
(https://x.com/tify330/status/1899559781058154751?t=qUTNQ8LhAOXJBZc9JuYKOw&s=03)
Candidly Tiff (@tify330) posted at 3:36 PM on Tue, Mar 11, 2025:
If you don’t see how Trump won then you are blind cause it’s so obvious. The manosphere, bro culture and the patriarchy are out of control. Not to be an alarmist but WTF is happening.
(https://x.com/tify330/status/1899560142644846657?t=Y0z4yWmQBkUJr-y-mteyKA&s=03)
rikyrah
Dr. Allison Wiltz (@queenie4rmnola) posted at 9:28 AM on Tue, Mar 11, 2025:
Angola prison in Louisiana the largest mass security prison in the United States. It’s a former plantation. Today, 74% of those incarcerated there are Black. Those toiling in the fields are paid nothing for the first 3 years. Then they make $0.02 per hour. Slavery by another name https://t.co/Q4ZBootQ70
(https://x.com/queenie4rmnola/status/1899467536938529165?t=jWZZjTQlJUPmb-yhhXk3Rw&s=03)
Sister Golden Bear
@Martin: More than one thing can be true at one.
Yes, some of them don’t particularly care about the specific positions they’re taking as long as it’s about cultural control. But others definitely do hate us and want us eradicated, with extreme prejudice. I nearly escaped being trans bashed twice — long before the Right started using us as a wedge issue — and each time definitely was up close and personal.
And still others hate us in the streets but want to fuck us (or far more commonly want to be fucked by us) in the sheets. Ask me how I know. It’s practically a cliche for man come into my social media feed saying transphobic slurs, and then slide into my DMs to ask how big my cock is. (Sorry buddy, I no longer have the candy you hunger for.)
WTFGhost
@HopefullyNotcassandra: Biblically, they said “a friend of Caesar would do this!” so he agreed.
@u: OMG, you’re right on the perimeter of the abyss, but you’re refusing to look down.
YES, Republicans are using and SUPERCHARGING hatred, because THEY DON’T CARE! You’re right, if every transperson died in a massive wave of genocide, they wouldn’t lift a finger to stop it.
Oh, they’d INVESTIGATE the mass murder, and they’d say “OMG this is horrible and heartless and how can human beings who’ve been taught to hate transfolk, who are taught transfolk are destroying America – yeah, how could people do this horrible thing, common during an act of warfare, to mere transfolk?
You’re right. They do not care. They are totally indifferent, they don’t even see transfolk as human.
That’s why they’re so effing dangerous. I could hate you with the intensity of a thousand suns, but, I care about the human being I’m talking to, and would never harm or kill you – to do so would be to deny your humanity. That the don’t care makes them that much more hateful; eventually, they’re just making lies up to smear transfolk with. Oh, wait, that started in the early 2020s already.
Sister Golden Bear
@Anastasio Beaverhausen:
The fact that it costs nothing and affects absolutely no one is precisely why they do. It’s to deny us even the most basic of human decencies.
Sister Golden Bear
@WTFGhost:
Given the way Republicans laughed and celebrated a generation of gay men being wiped out during the AIDS years, I’m sure they were do the same. Without bothering to investigate nor pretending to shed crocodile tears. Though they’d probably talk about how it was God’s will…
Eduardo
@ArchTeryx: Heart-breaking. And oh so predictable. So sorry.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
thank you.
Is there any way we can have some kind of permanent link to this on the sidebar, which can stay up at least for as long as the current state of danger persists? Under the “keeping track” heading, maybe?
AnthroBabe
As a professor, I MAKE space in my classes to discuss gender identities and the AIDS crisis to my students, as well as history about diversity and identity. Students, at least in Anthropology, are primed to be allies – they surprise me all the time; I get grunts of approval (ha) when I bring up these topics in class. Biology, sex, and gender are FLUID, messy, and on a continuum – I stress that all the time!
I have horrible representatives (Eli Crane, Wendy Rogers), except for my governor and both senators. I do what I can. A relative of mine (a minor) is gender fluid and I want them to grow up in a society that lets them flourish – thank the stars that they live in a solidly blue state.
I cannot trust my fellow Arizonans to do what’s good and right – they flipped for the last presidential election and kept our state Rep. hold on our legislature.
caphilldcne
@rebelsdad: +100
Dan B
@Sister Golden Bear: Do you know Marsha Botzer of The Ingersol Center?
WTFGhost
@Sister Golden Bear: I won’t argue with you, but there is a big difference between hate and indifference, because the latter breaks easily, under the right circumstance, while active hate doesn’t break under obvious, poisonous, cruelty.
RevRick
@suzanne: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred by the Nazis, wrote a brief essay on stupidity. He said that stupidity is more dangerous than evil, since the latter can be opposed with force. He observed that stupid people are convinced that they’re right, will refuse to accept facts to the contrary, and will get belligerent if challenged. He also noted that stupidity is a social problem, because while a single stupid person can be ignored, a group of them arranged around an ideology are an obstacle difficult to overcome.
Sister Golden Bear
@Dan B: Unfortunately, I don’t. But she sounds bad ass.
Sister Golden Bear
@WTFGhost:
I absolutely agree there’s a but there’s important difference between hate and indifference.
As I said previously, multiple things can be true at once. There’s definitely Republicans — like LibsOfTiktok and Christropher Rufo — who likely genuinely don’t care about trans people one way or the other, except as outrage bait. There’s probably a large majority of Republican rank and file who don’t care, either because it’s not a big deal to them, and they think they don’t know anyone affected, or because they don’t see trans people as human. And there’s also definitely “true believer” Republicans who genuinely hate trans people (and a lot of other minority groups as well).
Same thing as well same-sex marriage equality. Much of the opposition against it ended up fading because most people weren’t that invested in opposing it. Unfortunately, the pendulum can, and does, swing the other way, as reflected in the dropping support for marriage equality during the past couple years.
So it is a useful distinction in how to fight bigotry when dealing with different opponents. Unfortunately, as we’re seeing, evil can triumph if enough “good people” are too indifferent to stop it.
RevRick
@schrodingers_cat: Antisemitism predates Christianity by several centuries. There’s an entire book of the Bible devoted to it: Esther. It might stem from the exclusivist monotheistic claims Judaism made in a world of polytheism. Nothing grates more than hearing someone/some group say, “I’m right and you’re wrong,” and that’s what the pagan world heard. But such prejudices were commonplace. The philosopher, Thales, evidently thanked Fortune that he not born a barbarian, nor a brute (slave), nor a woman. Meanwhile, Rabbi Judah said faithful Jewish men should thank God that they weren’t made Gentile, nor a woman, nor uneducated. In the ancient world there were always those who were other, and, in fact, contemptible other. And it revolved around issues of race, class and gender.
The Early Church tried to counter this ideology by creating a baptismal creed which affirmed “there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male and female.”
There is strong evidence that the Early Church took this creed to heart, because Pliny the Younger in a letter to Trajan, says he tortured two Christian slave women who served as deacons (positions of authority), and seeks the Emperor’s advice.
RevRick
@cain: The whole substitutionary atonement theology is incoherent garbage. It asserts that human sin makes God wrathful, so the way to make God less wrathful is for people to lynch Jesus??? Or human sin incurs a huge moral debt, so Jesus’ lynching pays that debt to God??? To the Devil (since forgiveness cheats the Devil of a supply of souls???
As for God intending the whole thing, we’ll absolutely not. God did not send Jesus to get crucified. God sent Jesus to teach people a new way of seeing the world— an anti-imperialist movement— not based in cruel distinctions or domination and submission or violence. Human beings crucified Jesus. Jesus wasn’t sent to be crucified, but like all vulnerable human beings, he was crucifiable.
Dane
@AnthroBabe: I was an anthro major in the ‘90’s and did my graduate work in an urban Appalachian community. So, I was somewhat prepared when my son told us he was trans. Prepared in the sense that I knew him, I knew it was omnipresent, uniquely valued in some societies. Less prepared as a parent for what briefly felt like losing a child, and then felt like finding my child.
Thank you to the OP and everyone sharing. I would have supported trans folk because it’s the right thing to do, unequivocally!, but it’s also particularly personal now. Maybe not because I know someone affected, but because I know so many people who came to their birthday parties for 17 years who would turn their backs while a squad of Uvalde warriors tears them from their home.
Aris Merquoni
(Longtime lurker, only occasional commenter poking nose in at trans issues again)
I’m a cis woman and I’ll say what I always say when trans rights come under attack: I have learned so much about being a woman from my trans friends, no matter their gender. I am a better woman today, better at being a woman and better at being a human being, because of the trans men, trans women, and nonbinary people I have known.
I saw someone make the “argument from immutability” earlier (if trans people are suffering gender dysphoria, the protected disability status argument should protect them.) This has already been pushed back on but I’d also like to point out that this One Logical Trick feels like it should work better than it does. I saw this same argument get tried thirty years ago over homosexuality, and it broke down for the same reason. Conservatives/revanchists who want to take rights away from trans people don’t care about the logic that says “we should help everyone who deserves it, and the best way to do that is to write down a list of traits that people who need help share, and use those to determine who gets the help.” Their preferred way to handle help is for needy people to supplicate themselves to the Proper Authority one at a time, and then that authority makes a case-by-case decision based on whether the needy person is deserving. This may sound minor, but it completely flips the burden of proof. It allows space for The Deserving Ones to get around the system.
Trans people are good, actually. We don’t need to logic these people into acceptance. Though it is funny sometimes when cis men are yelling about people whipping out their penises in women’s rooms to point out that we don’t have urinals in there and if someone has their penis out they’d be peeing into the sink.
Tehanu
I just hope I can be an ally.
Msb
@Sister Golden Bear:
well said.
Msb
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
good. Nobody changes their behavior until they know they need to.
Msb
Sorry to crowd the end of the comment, but wanted to express my deep gratitude for the post and most of the comments. Will share widely.
Eolirin
@Aris Merquoni: I realize it’s unlikely anyone will see this, but it also doesn’t work because they want to kill all the disabled people too.
Strictly speaking though, the way we in the disability community define disability is as having a condition which requires accommodation in order to maintain full functioning in society. We do not inherently view disability as being a fault in ourselves, but instead a fault in our environments; this kind of definition broadly covers all forms of lack of privilege and societial prejudice if you turn your head and squint a little.
So while I get not wanting to look at these things as being disabilities, and by the more common definitions they’re not, by the ones the disability community uses, they still kind of are, even if they’re more like cultural disabilities rather than physical or mental health ones.
Of course, by this logic, it is also a disability to be a woman, or a Jew, or black, or native, or queer, or an atheist etc. And that fits if you substitute disadvantaged by structural and oppressive cultural norms for the word disabled. Which is what is happening for all but the most severe of conditions when we’re talking about things which are more commonly recognized as disabilities.
It does not work if you take disabled to mean unhealthy or lacking in some functional way versus a “normal” person.
I would very much love for disability to be treated in the former fashion, rather than the latter, because it’d represent at least a sizable elimination of the stigma associated with it, but I also realize that it very much is not, and subsequently is not remotely appropriate to use in these broader contexts.
But I do think this highlights the very deep way in which disability advocacy fundamentally underpins all of the other struggles we face; it is most directly rooted in the demand that society conform itself to meeting the needs of the most vulnerable so that they can exist, function with maximal independence, and, hopefully, thrive.
It is not just a desire to be left alone, because it can’t be. It’s a more demanding call than that. And it’s a more demanding call because we are invisible if it’s not made and met. We are forced to the edges and denied particpation if society doesn’t actively make room for us.
And I think there’s something vital there that directly translates when we look at all of the other areas of civil rights; it isn’t enough to just demand a lack of active oppression, society needs to make space for all of us to thrive. It’s not enough to just let trans people be trans in the privacy of their own homes and relationships, though that would be a great start; we need to make it so that trans identities are actively embraced and accepted and supported. In a perfect world everyone should be asking for pronouns instead of assuming for everyone they meet, there shouldn’t be any expectations around gender conformance at all. Similarly, it’s not enough to get men to stop sexually harassing and assaulting women and trying to control their bodies, we need women to be able to fully realize themselves without being held back by prejudice and soft bigotry. And so on.
In other words we shouldn’t settle our sights on a mere absorption into normalcy, when what we need is to actively celebrate our unique, individual, humanity, and for everyone to hold space for everyone else.
And I realize that this is very much a utopian ideal, but we can always start with ourselves.
WaterGirl
@Eolirin: I read it. :-) Thank you.