"and they decided to hate us more."
February 4, 2025 6:42 AM Subscribe
I picture my twenty-three-year-old self, back in 2010. What would I say to her? Things aren’t going to get better — they’re going to get worse?
Award-winning author Casey Plett for The Toronto Star: Think this is a rollback of trans rights? No, this is something entirely new, and much more regressive (archive)
The article talks about how being visible has earned us more hate. Sadly true. tigrrrlily always warned me that, despite what accepting members of society were telling me (‘Why be stealth? Things are getting better,’ etc.), visibility was actively dangerous. Turns out she was right.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 7:17 AM on February 4 [23 favorites]
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 7:17 AM on February 4 [23 favorites]
I have passing privilege, as long as I don't talk too much. And it's mostly because I'm short, fat and middle-aged, so people don't scrutinize me as much as they would someone who met more of society's beauty standards. And of course, being white helps. I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I had a conversation with another trans woman the other day who said that we can't resort to violent resistance against the regime; we have to focus our efforts on community-building and mutual aid. That sounds like a lovely idea, but frankly I think it's too late now. Either we remove them from power by any means necessary, or we die.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:27 AM on February 4 [22 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:27 AM on February 4 [22 favorites]
can't resort to violent resistance against the regime
At least where direct action (a wider term that includes nonviolent but illegal activities, I believe) is concerned, the issue I see is that we as trans people (particularly trans women) are particularly vulnerable to police and judicial responses. Yes, someone needs to be on the street confronting the cops. But we are perhaps the most vulnerable if we do that. This was pointed out to be when I was about to participate in BLM protests in 2020. I was convinced the danger was too great.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 7:34 AM on February 4 [21 favorites]
At least where direct action (a wider term that includes nonviolent but illegal activities, I believe) is concerned, the issue I see is that we as trans people (particularly trans women) are particularly vulnerable to police and judicial responses. Yes, someone needs to be on the street confronting the cops. But we are perhaps the most vulnerable if we do that. This was pointed out to be when I was about to participate in BLM protests in 2020. I was convinced the danger was too great.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 7:34 AM on February 4 [21 favorites]
an executive order decreeing ... that sex is “immutable”
you keep using that word... [tenor]
"Immutable: Data that can only be written" [nist]
posted by HearHere at 8:58 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
you keep using that word... [tenor]
"Immutable: Data that can only be written" [nist]
posted by HearHere at 8:58 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
Obsessing about visibility is the first step toward becoming Brianna Wu, where you're screaming at trans people for not passing and for demanding to be treated like people because you fundamentally don't believe that anybody will accept you if they know you're trans and trans people being visible makes it harder to pass. If society was ever going to get better, cis people were always going to have to, at some point, come to terms with us, with our existence, our reality. The current situation is awful, but the solution to that can't be trying to put us back in the bottle.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:07 AM on February 4 [29 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:07 AM on February 4 [29 favorites]
Which is I think to say that this is cis people's problem to solve! We are not responsible for their attitudes toward us and no amount of invisibility or respectability can fix anything. Do whatever you need to to stay as safe as you can, don't get mad at other trans people for being themselves, and make whatever case you can for us, but ultimately we are a tiny minority with little power and attitudes and behaviors toward us are always, always going to be driven more by cis people than by anything we do.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:18 AM on February 4 [32 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:18 AM on February 4 [32 favorites]
What really worries me is how popular hating trans people is with conservatives. Appealing to this hatred worked in the U.S, and sadly I think Canadian conservatives are not above trading lives for votes either. Polievre is a snivelling coward but it won't take much to embolden him, there are already a lot of Canadians saying the quiet part loud.
posted by signsofrain at 9:47 AM on February 4 [9 favorites]
posted by signsofrain at 9:47 AM on February 4 [9 favorites]
Transphobia is the real mind-virus. It's actually incredible how once it takes root, it totally destroys the hosts capacity to think rationally about....well anything really.
My late father was a total lefty all his life. And even him, as his illness started to erode his intellect, started falling down transphobic rabbit holes, and reading books by disgraced pseudointellectual Jordan Peterson. It's a problem that cuts across traditional partisan lines, like anti-vaxx bullshit.
And there are so many rich, high-profile transphobes like Musk and Rowling etc, there must just be a staggering amount of money being spent to advance global transphobia.
It sucks. I don't know what to do about it. But I absolutely agree that it's a problem for us cis folks to solve. Trans people are not responsible for transphobia; Fascism is.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 10:16 AM on February 4 [34 favorites]
My late father was a total lefty all his life. And even him, as his illness started to erode his intellect, started falling down transphobic rabbit holes, and reading books by disgraced pseudointellectual Jordan Peterson. It's a problem that cuts across traditional partisan lines, like anti-vaxx bullshit.
And there are so many rich, high-profile transphobes like Musk and Rowling etc, there must just be a staggering amount of money being spent to advance global transphobia.
It sucks. I don't know what to do about it. But I absolutely agree that it's a problem for us cis folks to solve. Trans people are not responsible for transphobia; Fascism is.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 10:16 AM on February 4 [34 favorites]
This intersects with other things I've been thinking about lately, as a trans person in the wake of this election and the onslaught of the last few weeks. The conclusion that I've come to is that visibility only works on people that have empathy. In the absence of empathy, visibility makes us a target.
posted by Thysania at 11:44 AM on February 4 [17 favorites]
posted by Thysania at 11:44 AM on February 4 [17 favorites]
Obsessing about visibility is the first step toward becoming Brianna Wu
This is a different sense of visibility. The article is talking about the change in the last ten years or so where progressive cis people decided they liked trans people and were allies or whatever. There are piles of trans people who came out in the last ten years or so who are extremely naive, because they never got the memo that systems are never to be trusted. On the one hand, good! more trans people figuring it out! They event get to bypass some of the trauma! On the other hand, oh god they're unprepared.
posted by hoyland at 12:40 PM on February 4 [8 favorites]
This is a different sense of visibility. The article is talking about the change in the last ten years or so where progressive cis people decided they liked trans people and were allies or whatever. There are piles of trans people who came out in the last ten years or so who are extremely naive, because they never got the memo that systems are never to be trusted. On the one hand, good! more trans people figuring it out! They event get to bypass some of the trauma! On the other hand, oh god they're unprepared.
posted by hoyland at 12:40 PM on February 4 [8 favorites]
For example, I've had to break the news to more than one person that the fact their doctor says they needn't worry about losing access to hormones doesn't mean they should stop worrying. (It's maybe not productive to worry, so if one can set it aside, that's good.) The vast majority of doctors know nothing more than anyone else and a lot of them don't remember a time without insurance coverage for transition-related care, which tends to make them exceptionally naive.
posted by hoyland at 12:48 PM on February 4 [10 favorites]
posted by hoyland at 12:48 PM on February 4 [10 favorites]
I think it all--not just trans, gay, PoC, all of the ways to be different-- is a case of "You're WEIRD" and "You're not like ME" and "it makes me UNCOMFORTABLE," followed by DESTROY DESTROY!!!! because if they destroy the weird or at least scare it into submission, they feel good, safe, relieved, superior, whatever it is.
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:57 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:57 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]
I think it is more the othering, and of all the people they try to other, there are far fewer trans people than gay people, or Black people, or Jewish people, or asian people, or...
But agree that "You're WEIRD" is the entry point.
posted by Windopaene at 1:00 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]
But agree that "You're WEIRD" is the entry point.
posted by Windopaene at 1:00 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]
Yes, unfortunately I think trans is The Most Statistically Weird in this day and age, and it being a relatively rare, not understood medical condition that requires a lot of acceptance and medical intervention is a lot of why the targeting is going after them first. :(
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:07 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:07 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
Pronoun options have just been removed from Teams for NASA. I could go back to putting them in my Teams photo, but as an example of visibility, I worry a lot about that, so I probably won't.
These fascists don't realize that there a lot of cis-identifying, straight women out there who had started putting she/they on their signatures, do they? (Or, more likely, they do, but this is protection of the patriarchy).
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 1:08 PM on February 4 [8 favorites]
These fascists don't realize that there a lot of cis-identifying, straight women out there who had started putting she/they on their signatures, do they? (Or, more likely, they do, but this is protection of the patriarchy).
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 1:08 PM on February 4 [8 favorites]
My trans younger sibling works in a public facing position, and I am increasingly concerned for their safety. The SWATting and threats have increased since the election, and one of the harrassers has gotten more terrifying than usual -- now specifically threatening to kill my sibling at an event later this month. They and the company they work for have been trying for some time to get a law enforcement agency to care (local pd finally stopped showing up for SWATtings, so thats good), and they finally have a meeting with the fbi. Hopefully they don't get a raging transphobe.
Im not really cis, but I'm generally assumed to be, so while my sibling has way more resources than I do (financially), they're still in much greater danger. They finally just got the X on their license and passport last year, and they travel a lot for work.
I dont know that I'm adding anything to this conversation beyond that I'm scared for my sibling and trans people everywhere right now.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 1:12 PM on February 4 [18 favorites]
Im not really cis, but I'm generally assumed to be, so while my sibling has way more resources than I do (financially), they're still in much greater danger. They finally just got the X on their license and passport last year, and they travel a lot for work.
I dont know that I'm adding anything to this conversation beyond that I'm scared for my sibling and trans people everywhere right now.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 1:12 PM on February 4 [18 favorites]
Pronoun options have just been removed from Teams for NASA
Well, that's craptastic.
posted by inexorably_forward at 1:18 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
Well, that's craptastic.
posted by inexorably_forward at 1:18 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
Pronoun options have just been removed from Teams for NASA
Report it to IT as a bug, and stress that the hiding of this information makes it more difficult to address people with respect.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:46 PM on February 4 [5 favorites]
Report it to IT as a bug, and stress that the hiding of this information makes it more difficult to address people with respect.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:46 PM on February 4 [5 favorites]
Report it to IT as a bug, and stress that the hiding of this information makes it more difficult to address people with respect.
Reducing respect is literally the stated goal of this change.
posted by Tomorrowful at 2:23 PM on February 4 [12 favorites]
Reducing respect is literally the stated goal of this change.
posted by Tomorrowful at 2:23 PM on February 4 [12 favorites]
It all f’ing sucks. I set my work chat status to a trans flag because name and nickname options aren’t configurable. I’m not even sure what I’ll do if I have to go to the office and navigate bathrooms. Maybe I can get a squad of cis allies and they can occupy the guys bathroom while I legally pee.
posted by objectfox at 4:08 PM on February 4 [6 favorites]
posted by objectfox at 4:08 PM on February 4 [6 favorites]
Someone called into the VA today about a claim. They added, "I'm not looking forward to the answer, but can I update the gender identity in my profile?"
I told them, "I can try looking it up in our documentation, but I honestly don't know if whatever it says will even still be in effect given the current... uncertainty."
"I hear what you're saying," they said.
I wanted to say more. But I knew the call might be randomly selected for quality review. I don't know if being caught expressing solidarity would mark me for destruction. But the fear was enough to keep me silent.
Mission accomplished.
posted by Lemkin at 4:41 PM on February 4 [13 favorites]
I told them, "I can try looking it up in our documentation, but I honestly don't know if whatever it says will even still be in effect given the current... uncertainty."
"I hear what you're saying," they said.
I wanted to say more. But I knew the call might be randomly selected for quality review. I don't know if being caught expressing solidarity would mark me for destruction. But the fear was enough to keep me silent.
Mission accomplished.
posted by Lemkin at 4:41 PM on February 4 [13 favorites]
I think it's guaranteed to be "randomly" selected, unfortunately. They probably listen in for buzz words.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:22 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:22 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
DOGE just entered the NOAA building. That’s got personnel records for me. I transitioned on the job years ago.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 6:02 AM on February 5 [5 favorites]
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 6:02 AM on February 5 [5 favorites]
DOGE just entered the NOAA building.
Speaking as a Floridian, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!
posted by Don Pepino at 12:18 PM on February 5 [3 favorites]
Speaking as a Floridian, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!
posted by Don Pepino at 12:18 PM on February 5 [3 favorites]
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I mean, I get that this is probably standard editorial boilerplate. But it feels so much like "hey oppressive overlords of the near future, we don't really believe this, don't punish us".
posted by NotAYakk at 7:14 AM on February 4 [4 favorites]