I hate going back onto this topicāit's old, expired, and how can we expect to move forward when we keep pushing ourselves back? We can't take a step forward because we keep tripping over this. However, certain recent circumstances inspire me to touch the topic again, and make another announcement, in case others might not be up-to-date.
Ā I know I was an asshole three to four years ago. I was ignorant, transphobic as hell, and self-righteous about it. I couldn't see it then, but at least I see it now. It tickles me when I interact with others of the same conviction, and seeing that reflection of myself is discomfiting.
I'm sorry that I was an ignorant jerk, but I was incapable of seeing it, and no amount of people yelling at me and attacking me was going to make me see it. It made me hide in my comfortable ignorance, and I ended up digging myself deeper into my phobia. It isn't a cop-out; I honestly wish people could understand how their hateful reactions to my ignorance just intensified it. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I also know there was a better way to treat it. How can you learn when people keep yelling at you? Every time I tried to improve, I felt like I just kept getting pushed back. I ended up closeting my improvements and, later, my own transgender identity. I ended up suppressing a lot and stumbling a lot more.
Ā Admittedly, I apologised technically only once, but I know I could say āI'm sorryā until I'm blue in the face, and certain people will still pretend I didn't say anything, or don't even know I said anything because they rely on secondhand accounts instead of reading my blogs for themselves.
Regardless, I'm sorry I was an asshole. I'm sorry if I accidentally hurt people. I'm sorry I was stubborn about it. I wish it had never happened.
But I'm not sorry for who I am today, which is vastly different than certain people will lead you to believe. I've learned. I've grown. I've found my identity (pronouns: shey/sheir/shem, correct name: Sinclair). You can see for yourself. Check out any of my blogs. I even have a secret ātrans educationā blog. It's been a long time since I was that person you read about in a cis person's accounts.
I may have been transphobic, but I was still never a TERF. I'm not a radical feminist, and I never made any distinction between cis- and transwomen. I was just plain transphobicānothing more, nothing less, and nothing political. I cherish and honour women of all kinds.
Ā I don't know what more I can say. I do know that nothing will ever be enough. You said you wanted apologies, so I gave them. You said you wanted improvements, so I made them. But what good are they when you prefer to cast me out completely, when you ignore everything good that I've said and done and keep your head in the sand? You can't ask for something, but then ignore it when it comes. Can't ask for someone to get better, and then turn them away when they doāthat isn't fair.
(And you certainly can't use their past to justify invalidation of their identityālike, say, ignoring their correct pronouns and preferred name, instead referring to them by their pre-transition information. Just a little heads-up. I was downright transphobic, and even I didn't intentionally deadname and/or misgender a trans person no matter how much I disliked them.)
Ā What more do you want? What more can I say or do? I'm not being sarcastic, I'm genuinely askingāmy ask box is open, if you have anything beneficial to say. How many more times can I apologise? How many more years of proof do you need before you realise your accusations have long been invalid? Seriously, go look at my main blog, or any of my pages. Hell, go check out my anti-transphobia campaign. You'll realise you're promoting a fallacy. If you're still not āconvincedā and still prefer to live in the past, then there's nothing I can do. Honestly, if you can't see change and can't see what you asked for, you can't act like I owe you anything. I did my part. I'm sorry I was an asshole. There's nothing I can do but continue forward. You can move forward with me, or stay back there, but I'm not responsible if you choose the latter.
Ā I tag my apology posts and other such things with āarchive,ā so if you want to see the beginning of change (actually, it was the middle of changeāthe beginning was far earlier, but hidden), please go to QueerQuiggle.tumblr.com/tagged/archive. I implore you to see and judge for yourself, rather than running on the secondhand judgment of another.












