It irks me a bit when people are like "ugh these young trans people dont respect trans elders/know the community's history" because while I love my community, the definition of community we're using here is extremely broad. Many people are closeted, in unsafe environments and unable to access information, especially information about trans and queer history, which has always been erased and hidden, Especially from children and younger people.
We call ourselves a community and we are, that's important, but it is not like being a group that routinely meets irl or it's not even like being in a group chat where you routinely talk to the same people and can learn from each other. We are so many, we are so far away, there are so many barriers between us, and especially for people who cant risk coming out, I believe we do need to recognise that the online queer community isn't comparable to other types of communities.
In a community, the community's history and knowledge from elders would be taught to the younger members. We dont have a reliable connection like that, partially because of the danger transphobia poses and partially Because we're so spread out (i mean around the world). I think it's unfair to expect young people who are trying to put words to their experiences and find their own labels to have a degree in queer history. Im not saying it's unimportant to learn that history, of course it is important, but I think some folks apply expectations to the queer community that it simply cant meet.
Anyway, this is brought to you by me being annoyed with someone saying that 'enby' is a pejorative word that infantilizes non binary people and that young trans people are ignorant/disrespectful to trans elders for using that word in discussions of oppression (enbyphobia specifically) because we didnt have a session with every single non binary person to choose one word for everyone.
