surviving transphobia: Preface
Genocide. “They” seem intent on nothing less.
The horrors we expected are now: “they” enact new and more severe bans on healthcare for transgender and gender nonbinary youth and adults, with harsher punishments and threats of removing children from supportive parents. Meanwhile, additional states ban trans participation in sports and politicians make plainly false claims in the media, discrimination based on the disinformation spread by shadowy organizations and intolerant public figures. And all this despite yet more confirmation of what was already unambiguous: disaffirming environments cause harm.
“They” are adults bullying the vulnerable, rejecting science in favor of transparent bigotry, and their strategy is so very plain: incite hate, violence, fear, and despair. Silence our voices, minimize our access to services, limit our ability to exist in the public sphere... to generate votes and to establish precedent to later restrict any form of “otherhood” they choose as part of their extremist coup to create a white supremacist, Christian nationalist, fascist America. Our community is increasingly traumatized.
To “them” I say: Not happening. You forget that we are fierce. We reject your attempts to eliminate us. We refuse to vanish just to make it easier for you to ignore your un-Christlike intolerance. We have confronted the gender binary and transphobia since the earliest moment of recorded history and we will still exist ages after your attempts to exterminate us ultimately fail. Get over it.