somethingnotobscenefunnystuff:
They’re not “anti-LGBT.” They’re not about you. They’re anti-trans woman. They’re all about us. They’re not an LGBT issue, they’re a trans lady issue.
If you want to show that there is actually an LGBT community, stop claiming our pain as your own. Recognize that this is an issue that affects us specifically, and stand beside us in fighting it anyway, because that’s what a community does. That is what we have always done for you, since they came for us all at Stonewall.
And while you’re at it, maybe recognize that certain elements of the lesbian community, in particular, have been pushing policies exactly like this for 40 years now. That these bathroom bills trace their lineage directly back to lesbian radfem politics. That this is a problem with members of the community that you’ve been going out of your way to sheild from those evil tr***ies for decades. And maybe, just maybe, take out your trash.
Because if you don’t? If you keep pretending that this is an “LGBT” issue? If you refuse to confront the problems in your ranks? We see that. We recognize it for what it is. We know that you want tokens, not comrades. And we (or at least I) refuse to keep being a useful tool when you want me, and invisible when you don’t.
I am not your token. Recognize my issues as mine and help me fight against them, or admit you don’t care about me.
Am I allowed to ask for you to elaborate? I will still fight with you even if I don’t understand, but I want to understand so I can tell others if necessary. Can you elaborate on lesbians pushing policies? And why is it specifically anti trans woman?
Of course, and I appreciate the respectful approach.
On the awkward history of trans-exclusionary policies and TWERFs:
First, a disclaimer: TWERFs are a small (albeit extremely vocal and dangerous) subset of the lesbian community. The criticisms I’m about to level and the history I’m about to discuss is about them, not about the lesbian community as a whole. I do think the lesbian community has a problem with providing more protection for TWERFs than trans women, but I do not think that TWERFism is an inherent component of “lesbian” as an identity, personal or political, or as a community.
The entire narrative of “trans women are rapists trying to sneak into women’s spaces to attack them!” – the narrative being used to drive these bills – is not new. It originates with TWERFs – trans woman exclusionary radical feminists, aka “gender critical” feminists. It’s the foundational point of their politics: That recognizing trans women inherently destroys safe spaces for women, because we’re really men trying to sneak in and attack them.
TWERFism itself has an easily traceable history, too – specifically, it’s an offshoot of early lesbian politics and the attempt to legitimize by tying into feminism (which was an established, credible movement). Some early lesbian politics positioned itself as “feminism taken to its logical conclusion;” that is, feminism which is entirely and totally about women to the exclusion of all things masculine.
With that as a starting point and the very binarist thinking of the era, it’s easy to see how “penis” was masculine-coded and thus something to be excluded. These are the same roots that spawned “gold star lesbians.” And from here, you have “radical” lesbian activists such as Janice Raymond, who wrote the seminal TWERF book The Transsexual Empire and was responsible for killing trans health care in 1981. Or the Gorgons, a lesbian-separatist group that was known for carrying guns and threatened to kill Sandy Stone, a major player in early lesbian culture who was doing good for a lot of women, because she was trans. Or Cathy Brennan, who wrote to the UN attacking trans rights and runs a blog that routinely doxxes trans women, exposing them to violence. (I’m not going to link to it or even say its name here, because she tracks IPs and picks fights, but its easy to find). Or their numerous acolytes and advocates and supporters, which I’m not going to waste time linking to or spoons reading any more. TWERF ideology has always been at the Venn intersection of “lesbian,” “feminist,” and “violently hates trans people,” and the direct, legitimizing precedents for modern bathroom bills originate there.
I have direct, personal experience with this, too. I used to identify as lesbian. I stopped because I was tired of being called a rapist, a man, an invader who just wanted to contaminate lesbians with my penis – an organ which instantly and inherently excluded me, as (I was told repeatedly and at length) “lesbian” is defined as “woman who wants vagina.” I left the lesbian commuity because it was very clear that TWERFs and their ideology had more of a place there than I did. This is a major problem if you believe in any sort of solidarity within the wider community – I’m not going to trust you to stand beside me if you defend people who want me dead because of my gender.
On why these bathroom bills are a trans issue, and specifically target transfeminine people:
First, I’m going to make a painful admission here: I screwed up. I was trying to carve out an important position, and I made exactly the mistake I’ve been trying to stand against: I defined too narrowly. Transmasculine and non-binary people have been calling me out about this, and they’re right to. This is a trans issue, not specifically a trans lady issue, and “trans lady” leaves out a lot of transfeminine people who are, in fact, in the target group. Trans men and nonbinary people: I’m sorry. You deserved better. In trying to stand up for the margins of our community, I stepped on you more. I can only apologize and promise to do better about this in the future.
That said, I do think it’s important to recognize that these bills do target transfeminine people (basically anybody not AFAB who, when faced with a compulsory binary such as “men’s and women’s washrooms,” chooses female). Transmasculine people are directly affected but are not the actual targets. (This is why a number of people, myself included, have moved from “TERF” to “TWERF” when talking about the ideology I discussed above: Because it’s always been specifically transmisogynistic in intent.)
In order to see this, you need merely look at the language used by advocates (and in the bills themselves) to justify them. It inevitably, always boils down to “protect women and girls from men in their washrooms.” Always. That’s the totality of the argument, and it’s just the latest specific iteration of the TWERF “men in women’s spaces” discourse.
As a trans guy, I can say these bills absolutely target amab trans people. Yes, they’re an issue for afab people too, but I can promise you when writing these bills and pushing these bills, people had trans women & amab trans people specifically in mind.
So yes, they negatively affect everyone in the trans community. But make no mistake, these bills are always targeted at transfeminine people.
About those bathroom bills.
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