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Part of the reason I worry about the future of the trans communities in the US and UK is based on what history tells us about what happens to marginalized communities when they're demonized culturally and stripped of legal protections. 1/n
First there's what history says about what happens when one side of the political aisle isn't invested in protecting the civil rights of the minority group, and the other destroying them. In the US Northerners basically abandoned Black people after the 1876 Compromise. 2/n
Reconstruction, and civil rights collapsed quickly, resulting in 75+ years of Jim Crow and "separate but equal." The South killed Black people to keep them terrorized and suppressed, but they also needed the labor for their economy. 3/n
When I look at trans people here and in the UK, the situation is grim. There's an extremely dedicated and well funded group of people who think society would be best served by "morally mandating" us out of existence via government action. 4/n
Support for trans people within Labor, and parts of the Democratic party is often tepid, to more or less in agreement with the Tories or GOP. (e.g. Manchin, Gabbard in the US) 5/n
This past week, we watched anti-trans groups that claim to be "feminist" (but work with the religious right via lawyers like Conrathe and ADF International) arguing to the Women's equality commission to repeal the GRA, and create a "separate but equal" policy. 6/n
This is functionally no different from the American Family Research Council's demand to end legal recognition of trans people as a class, deny them ID, and work to make life so awful that we self deport to the closet. 7/n
Thus, what I see emerging is a dangerous combination of several things:
1. A political system in which supporters of trans people are too weak to offer lasting protection
2. Opposition that believes the optimum number of trans people is zero 8/n
1. A political system in which supporters of trans people are too weak to offer lasting protection
2. Opposition that believes the optimum number of trans people is zero 8/n
3. They believe that it not only is it in society's best interest, but it is vital (see Tucker Carlson's comments, Janice Raymond)
4. A media ecosystem in which the voices arguing for point 3 are far more numerous and powerful, than those against (particularly in the UK) 9/n
4. A media ecosystem in which the voices arguing for point 3 are far more numerous and powerful, than those against (particularly in the UK) 9/n
5. One side is deeply invested in going after trans people (GOP, TERFs, religious right, far-right groups), the other would DEARLY love to avoid the topic if they could (Dems, Labor) 10/n
6. Mostly in the US, the GOP has slipped across the line into fascism, in need of magical enemies to be destroyed, democracy to be torn down, and a belief that the only human right is a "freedom" to be a conservative Christian. 11/n
This is why I've kept my affairs in order to blow this popsicle stand for 4.5 years now. History tells us that there's generally a limited window of opportunity to get out between the point of no return politically, and the point where it's impossible to get out. 12/n
For years I've been urging human rights groups to set something aside to start evacuating families with trans kids from deep red states that decide to go all in on the anti-trans laws.
Now, the day has come, and they're begging for help on gofundme's. 13/n
Now, the day has come, and they're begging for help on gofundme's. 13/n
