this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2024
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"all we have to do is abandon issue X, and the bigots will finally join forces with us!"
i get the temptation, but if progress on healthcare means throwing trans people under the bus, then it's not actually progress.
(and i do see "keep your intentions to yourself" which isn't the same as "throwing under the bus" -- but there's room for both clear advocacy and quiet agreement, and asking the open advocates to be quiet seems like friendly fire/counterproductive.)
I get that, but we can't let a perfect solution get in the way of a better one. First focus on universal physical healthcare, something that EVERYONE can relate to, then work on mental healthcare (which would include trans healthcare)
I didn't say abandon trans people, I said focus on the common ground you can find instead of insisting every part of every discussion cater to all of your beliefs at once. Healthcare reform helps us all but it has little chance of helping anyone if you insist on reminding the hateful among us that they have someone besides insurance executives to hate.
Hmm. Again, I hear what you're trying to say, but "OP posting a meme to Lemmy about supporting trans rights" isn't "insisting every part of every discussion cater to all of your beliefs at once."
You're tilting at a strawman that isn't happening here, which is part of what makes your comments come across as more than simple face value.
"Pick your battles in conversations" is potentially a valid point. But "don't post supportive memes because bigots don't like the association" is effectively an attempt to silence support for trans entirely. (And trans people need more support than just healthcare.)
This kind of thing has an impact. Most Republican voters cited trans issues as important to them in the last election and you can bet your ass it wasn't because they wanted to support trans people. This is despite the fact that Democrats hardly talked about trans people. It is an effective wedge issue whether you like that or not and they will use it against you as often as you give them the opportunity to do so.
The left loves purity tests and trans rights is one of the popular ones these days. You know we do this shit all the time. We let Republicans control the narrative by letting focused conversations about Healthcare devolve into a debate about testosterone levels in trans boxers as if that's a conversation worth having at the national level. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but grandma is never going to fully accept your trans friend. However, she might help you save your trans friend from a lifetime of crippling medical debt if you stop reminding her that Fox News told her she's supposed to be more mad about trans athletes than she is about her knee surgery costing $20k after insurance.
“This kind of thing (trans people supporting each other with memes) has an impact.”
You are the kind of person who didn’t support MLK and thought he should shut up because sit-ins and marches were “bad optics.” I hope you can mature in your empathy and grasp of historical context because right now you are waaaaay off base.
Have you considered that the issue of healthcare might be big enough to cause bigots to put their hate aside and come together with trans folk despite their disapproval? Why do you see the only way forward being for the marginalized groups to keep quiet?
As somebody else mentioned - what if the issue was abortion - would you say women who want reproductive rights should keep quiet because it just antagonizes the far right Christian base and we don't have time for that - let's get healthcare for them first and then we can have the discussion about abortion?
Nothing is important enough to those people to team up with trans folk and if you don't know that then you haven't been paying attention.
Any rationale for keeping the advocacy to DMs and maintaining an innocent public face of “what are trans people?, no we’re just trying to… erm… MAGA with better healthcare that’s all” until it’s too late and we’ve tricked them into basic decency
^a question that I suppose I should’ve asked privately
Yeah - when bigots are loud in their mockery and attacks, it hurts trans people to NOT hear anyone also vocally supporting them. That isn't too say that quiet support isn't valuable -- but so is loud support, in a different way, and squelching loud support is still a damaging trade.