(Thread) So the Harper letter, one quote stuck out: "The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away."

As trans journalists, who have been monitoring the media's response to trans people...

JK Rowling is literally peddling bad ideas and misinformation and in the UK the press has failed to fact check any of her claims and has focused on the response of the people she is targeting: us, trans people and anyone who supports us.

The whole thing stinks of the privileged wanting to write whatever the hell they like without consequence. But now the internet has given voice to their targets they want freedom of speech for them, and none for us.

Fuck that noise. We won't be shutting up. There is abuse and horror online. We see it most days. We see trans people doing it too sometimes (we got death threats almost certainly from a trans guy once, that was fucking weird) and social media companies need to step up there.

But this letter does not take into account the power these people have. They can ruin lives. They can print lies and almost certainly get away with it (in the UK at least...) and we see shitheads get away with it time and time again. The dystopia they are describing isn't a thing

If it was, Janice Raymond wouldn't have a Times Column, Andrew Gilligan wouldn't be an advisor to the fucking prime minister, Jesse Singal would be working in a Walmart, Helen Lewis wouldn't have landed a job at one of the biggest magazines in the world and half the UK press...

...would have been shut down and sold for scrap.

Make no mistake, these journalists, writers and the rest are talking about how they value their ability to write anti-trans screeds more than the lives of trans people who will be punished by them.

There were some writers who signed it that we really love. Andrew Solomon's work on depression has been life changing to us. Margret Atwood is an ally and a legend. Noam Chomsky is someone we don't always agree with, but we have always respected.

All 3 are allies. And show that even allies can make mistakes based on privilege.

Right, that's enough of that. Here is an adorable child with lots of duck friends.