take me back
I've been seeing people talk about the setting the trans community back x years thing nonstop on twitter, what even was the original context here?
people say that being open about certain kinks or being cringe or even just demanding basic respect is "losing the support of allies" by "causing them to think twice about supporting us" or whatever.
its a lie about respectability politics, the belief that we need to change who we are to be more appealing and desirable to the oppressive class.
"setting the community back x years" is the common phrase they use, claiming that a few people online are singlehandedly undoing all the progress people have made to helping trans people be more accepted.
but that's untrue. ten years ago, trans people were MORE accepted than we are now. ten years ago was before trump, before the rise of massive sweeping transphobic legislation, before fear mongering and scapegoatting and cries about bathrooms and sports. it was just after gay marriage was legalized, most people didn't care, many were openly supportive. it was far from perfect, believe me. but i can tell you as someone who was openly queer back then, it was a lot easier when people didn't immediately think of the politicians calling for my death when they saw me.
and i cannot stress this enough, the shift towards a more hostile view on trans women is NOT the fault of any individual trans people. no, we didn't slide into fascism because someone on twitter was rude to jkr, or because a tumblr user has a mommy kink. the overwhelming hatred of trans women is due solely to the rise of fascism, and the inaction of the opposing party to do anything about it. every year, both usamerican parties shift closer and closer to the right, and the "trans debate" has been one of many hot topics where the middle ground compromise from ten years ago has become the new "radical left woke dei mind virus infecting your white kids and destroying america"
Not to downplay the severity of the current situation but this is not the first time this and it will not be the last.
If you arent trans then you better fucking be supporting the trans people in your life (especially trans women and trans people of color and disabled trans people) as much as you can because by god we need the support.
And if you are trans, stay calm. The reason we're backsliding is because theres a lot of disinformation about trans people being thrown around right now and when the current government is elected out or crashes and burns off its own backstabbing and infighting and an actual reasonable human being is put back in charge the tides will turn in our favor again. I saw the rise of trans acceptance and ive watched it fall and I can say where we are right now is certainly familiar but its not a point of no return. You can get through this. I promise you.
