Not long ago people attacked gay and lesbian people for being sexual predators. These days the same arguments are used against trans people.
Right wing extremists and left wing “trans-exclusionary radical feminists” (TERFs) are arguing that trans women are a threat to cis women and children. The tactic is to sexualize transgender people, reducing their gender identity to some kind of perversion.
This is not in any way a new tactic, historically. It has been used against feminists, people of color and gay men and lesbian women.
So, you might ask why lesbian are using the same tactics against trans people, as straight, cis, people used against their kind. They have clearly learned nothing from history.
Over at twitter The Implausible Girl has collected a wide variety of newspaper clippings documenting the arguments used against gay men and lesbian women. I will present some of them here.
One typical argument used about trans people is that they are part of a cult that uses propaganda to harm cis people. The same argument was used against gay people.
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD) 1997-07-20
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD) 1997-07-20
The Signal (Santa Clarita, California). 1999-01-15