Substack, like 2 weeks ago: what? how dare anyone suggest that we’re a haven for a bunch of people who’d like to wipe trans people off the face of the earth

Andrew Sullivan today: HEY GUYS CHECK OUT MY SUBSTACK FOR MY IDEA FOR A SOLUTION TO THE TRANS QUESTION

If he said that about literally any other group of people, everyone would lose their minds over it. But

Anyway, I read it. It’s a poorly written, factually-deficient, anecdote-driven, list of utterly absurd that’s honestly not worth engaging with on a point by point basis. It’s just as wrong as can be. He talks about trans people like he’s talking about a pest problem. It’s gross.

Anyway, pro tip: if you refer to the topic as “the [name of a group of people] question,” it’s pretty clear that you don’t actually view those people as, well, people.

Caliper-wielding asshole

If you’re interested in a quick rundown of some of the glaringly obviously issues with his piece, @transscribe has a short thread on it https://twitter.com/transscribe/status/1380909056437710855?s=21

Other analysis of it (as well as a quick highlight of AS’s own hypocrisy when it comes to “separate but equal” nonsense, @GBBranstetter’s timeline is a good read https://twitter.com/gbbranstetter/status/1380904816721924099?s=21

Or @JuliaSerano https://twitter.com/juliaserano/status/1380940333878370304?s=21

It’s the same garbage as always. The same “omg, the trans activists r at it again!” nonsense... it just never makes sense, in part because the role of “trans activist” becomes a stand-in for literally any trans person (or troll pretending to be a trans person on the internet)

3 or 4 years ago, someone asked me for a comment for an article they were working on. One point they made was “trans activists are too much!” I tried to break down why that’s just such a meaningless thing to say.

(That was part of my email back, just sort of addressing the general idea. When people complain about “tRaNS AcTiViStS,” it’d usually be more accurate to say “This Twitter account,” “that Tumblr,” “a YouTuber,” “an anonymous blogger.” But if you do that, you have to acknowledge..

.. that your beef is with a small handful of individuals rather than being able to just take a swing at an entire group of people. It’s intellectually lazy, and it creates a moving target. You can always find another individual that you suddenly decide represents millions)

Like a couple years ago, there was a trans person in Canada who was going to like... waxing salons or something in hopes of getting turned away so they could then sue the salon owners. The whole thing was awful. That person lost their many frivolous lawsuits, and that was good!

I didn’t know a single trans person who thought that person was right. They tried to abuse human rights laws, and failed (as they should!). Didn’t stop every right-wing website from writing a bunch of “hErE’s aLL tHe StUfF TrANS AcTiViStS aRe DoiNg NoW!” articles.

Ah! Here’s a good video from @kat_blaque back then about how screwed up it is that people seem to think it’s fair to chalk up the actions of an individual to the whole group.

Set aside whatever nonsense people are yelling about on Twitter (seriously, an individual or a small group of people can call for something... like... if someone was like “Trans people should all be given $1 million in cash and a pony,” those aren’t community demands or...

...whatever, but just one person saying something). Instead, look at the legislative goals and social goals a broad swath of people are asking for. In the US right now, it’s a push for the Equality Act, which would simply extend the same exact legal ...

...protections everyone else already have and make it explicit that LGBTQ people are also protected in employment, housing, health care, education, etc.

In many instances, it’s illegal to decline to rent apartments to a woman just because she’s a woman. It’s not some sort of absurd demand to say “hey, it should be illegal to decline to rent an apartment to someone just because they’re trans.

In most instances, it’s illegal to put up a “no Muslims allowed” sign at a restaurant. It’s not an absurd demand to say “it should also be illegal to say ‘no trans people allowed.’”

And, well, you get the idea.

When it comes to what sort of actual legislative changes people are pushing for, it’s typically stuff like that!

And I really don’t think this should need to be explained, but people shouldn’t have to out themselves as trans everywhere they go. When Sullivan suggests this sort of separate but equal approach to things like bathrooms (once again, “hey, we made you your own restroom!” doesn’t

have the best track record as far as history goes), that’s exactly what’s being suggested. If you make it so trans women are required to use a men’s room or some special trans-specific room, you’re telling trans people that they need to out themselves to everyone in a restaurant.

One thing that seems to be overlooked in these discussions when guys like Sullivan weigh in is that: privacy.

There are very few people who I think have a legitimate argument to make for knowing if someone is trans (think doctors, romantic partners, etc.).

But... a bartender who is serving you? No. Someone with a table in the eyesight of the restroom? No. Classmates? No. Platonic friends? No. Bus drivers, grocery clerks, co-workers? No, no, no.

In many cases, people may know someone else is trans, but it’d be ridiculous to say...

...people have a right to know whether or not a stranger is trans. That’s medical history. That’s personal. That’s none of anyone’s business.

For instance, Andrew Sullivan may tell someone that he’s gay, or maybe they happen to know based on him mentioning it in his work. Should he have to announce this to everyone in a restaurant, though? Of course not, and anyone who says otherwise would be ridiculously entitled.

So many of these “so here’s how I propose we compromise with trans people” pieces (there have been many, they are all pretty much the same) operate under the assumption that everyone is obviously, visibly trans. Some of us are, sure. But that’s such a flawed assumption.

Anyway, I’m tired. So tired.

I’m tired of the fact that as state after state after state rolls out some new and horrific bill designed to target/punish/harm trans people, that guys like Sullivan are still churning out nonsense takes that treat trans people as abstract ideas

instead of people. Real people. Human beings.

It’s as simple as that.

You don’t need an “answer” to “the trans question” because. we. are. human. beings.

I’m frustrated. I’m tired. And I’m sick of “good” people sitting idly by as trans people get dehumanized.

I didn’t mean to type out a thread, but eh. Maybe I’ll write a blog post or something tomorrow on the topic. It won’t get as many views as his eliminationist post, but

tl;dr can we live? can we just live?