Transfem
A community for transfeminine people and experiences.
This is a supportive community for all transfeminine or questioning people. Anyone is welcome to participate in this community but disrupting the safety of this space for trans feminine people is unacceptable and will result in moderator action.
Debate surrounding transgender rights or acceptance will result in an immediate ban.
- Please follow the rules of the lemmy.blahaj.zone instance.
- Bigotry of any kind will not be tolerated.
- Gatekeeping will not be tolerated.
- Please be kind and respectful to all.
- Please tag NSFW topics.
- No NSFW image posts.
- Please provide content warnings where appropriate.
- Please do not repost bigoted content here.
Posters may express that they are looking for responses and support from groups with certain experiences (eg. trans people, trans people with supportive parents, trans parents.). Please respect those requests and be mindful that your experience may differ from others here.
To make such a request, at the start of the body of your post, not in the title, the first line should look like the this: [Requesting Engagement from _________]
Some helpful links:
- The Gender Dysphoria Bible // In depth explanation of the different types of gender dysphoria.
- Trans Voice Help // A community here on blahaj.zone for voice training.
- LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory // A directory of LGBTQ+ accepting Healthcare providers.
- Trans Resistance Network // A US-based mutual aid organization to help trans people facing state violence and legal discrimination.
- TLDEF's Trans Health Project // Advice about insurance claims for gender affirming healthcare and procedures.
- TransLifeLine's ID change Library // A comprehensive guide to changing your name on any US legal document.
- Gender Spectrum // Resources for youth, parents and family, educators, mental health professionals and faith leaders.
Support Hotlines:
- The Trevor Project // Web chat, phone call, and text message LGBTQ+ support hotline.
- TransLifeLine // A US/Canada LGBTQ+ phone support hotline service. The US line has Spanish support.
- LGBT Youthline.ca // A Canadian LGBT hotline support service with phone call and web chat support. (4pm - 9:30pm EST)
- 988lifeline // A US only Crisis hotline with phone call, text and web chat support. Dedicated staff for LGBTQIA+ youth 24/7 on phone service, 3pm to 2am EST for text and web chat.
view the rest of the comments
I know this is probably a (relatively) unpopular opinion, but at this point, I'll gladly take passive acceptance over flat out, literally express genocide against trans people.
Straight up, it suck not being positively supported, but it's a hell of a lot better than being threatened with prison time-definitely in the wrong one! 😱
Same same. I also really don't care that during an election people are trying to get votes and not discussing the most contentious issues. They can do that when they're in power, thank you very much.
We should never have to accept being a side issue. It should categorically be unacceptable for the political party that is protecting our rights to show passivity in the face of what is happening to us.
I don't believe that being passive on trans issues benefits them whatsoever in terms of votes. Transphobia in the US is closely aligned with American neo fascism. Transphobes are never going to vote Democrat. So what is gained by being silent about us? Like materially, how is that a good political move? All it does is make their support for minority rights seem vacant. Trump and his ilk show up to rallies and rant and rave about us. About how we're demons. How we're vile and repulsive and how we should be ostracized and ridiculed and locked away from society.
And the Democrat response at the DNC is to say nothing? How can that be a good political move? And what does that say to the American people about trans people? Our rights aren't worth any vocal pushback. Obviously, a platform of passive acceptance is better than a platform of hate. But our rights matter, and our suffering matters. Progressive politicians should be actively pushing back as much as possible against the transphobic platform of the republican party.
Be glad you're not in the UK. Here all major parties are worse than US Republicans.
Not really. The current ruling party (Labour) are pretty crap but nothing compared to the openly genocidal US Republicans. And the 3rd largest party (Liberal Democrats) are pretty socially progressive.
Meh, they're really just way more polite about it. Both have the same policy of banning gender affirming care for trans folks.
Not all transphobes are fascists or alt-right, there are many centrists who are transphobic and I would guess a not insignificant portion of the Democratic party are transphobic. The famous anti-trans website 4thwavenow explicitly refuses to collaborate with anti-trans people on the right and are liberals. The Dems in the Senate recently passed anti-trans legislation.
The Dems are aware that the election outcome depends on the way a few swing states vote, namely: Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin (as well as North Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, and Georgia). The voters in these key races are often white, working-class and are exactly of a demographic who might be put off by a party putting trans rights in the center stage (not just due to the common disgust people feel towards trans folks, but there is also an unfortunately common perception that LGBTQ+ support is a sign of cultural and economic elitism, something university-educated people care about but not something rank-and-file workers care about, a bit like climate change and environmentalism).
The Harris v Trump debate and DNC speeches emphasized the strategy the Democrats seem to be taking: to distance themselves from less popular Progressive policies in those Rust Belt states and appeal to neoconservatives by emphasizing Harris's support for fracking, her suddenly hawkish rhetoric about creating a "most lethal fighting force", and so on.
This is just what it means for trans rights to be a political football, when it is politically convenient the Dems will use the issue to rally support, and when it is a political liability they will distance themselves or even back anti-trans positions. This is realpolitik and pragmatism, a "ends-justify-the-means" thinking which neoliberals are inclined towards.
I think it's smart for LGBTQ+ activists to motivate action and support for our rights, but there is a question of how to best do this. Even within LGBTQ+ activist and lobbying organizations, trans people have been snubbed traditionally (even as we played a pivotal role in gay liberation and rights movements):
Eventually the HRC came around, but a similar calculus is happening with the Democrats, they ask themselves whether the risk of alienating certain voters by prioritizing trans rights as a part of their rhetoric right now is worth it. The approach Walz has taken is to act like it's weird to be so obsessed about trans people, and that means prioritizing a message of "let people live their lives" and not harping on the issue the way the Republicans do.
The extreme version of this pragmatic approach is to do what the Labour party did in the UK by flipping on the trans issue (since popular opinion had turned so against trans people) and taking an anti-trans position, which arguably has allowed them to win elections, but certainly at the costs of trans rights.
Trans rights aren't a side issue for trans people, but it's certainly a side issue for most voters, and for the Democrats. Hopefully the combined pressure from LGBTQ+ activism and lobbying will keep up enough pressure that we don't get dropped like in the UK, but it is sometimes hard to tell when to unify and when to withhold support and demand more.