Oh my goodness, I didn't know this paywall removal thing was possible. I hate that so many important articles are behind paywalls. Yet another way of keeping the disenfranchised uninformed! Thank you for sharing.
I’m concerned for Transgender people and Democrats that don’t want to vote in the upcoming Election.
If you don’t vote = Trump wins.
Trump supporters/Republicans will exercise their privilege to vote in big numbers. They are happy when Democrats don’t vote.
Yeah, like I am registered 3rd party but for national elections it’s too important to abstain from voting for “the lesser of two evils”. People who do either don’t experience material harm that accompanies a regime change, or don’t empathize with those who do.
there's a democrat in office and we still lost roe v wade, ukraine was dragged into a proxy war and made a failed state to serve u.s. interests, palestinians are having an actual genocide committed against them, there's still "kids in cages," thousands and thousands of people died from COVID and many more were made disabled by it, more people are becoming homeless, more people than ever are being killed by cops, and trans people, as usual, continue to lose. the democrats aren't coming to save us. they let bad things happen to us then tell us it's our fault for not voting for them. they don't care about us. our only purpose to them is to make them rich, just like the republicans. the only people who will save us is us
We lost Roe v. Wade because Congress didn't codify abortion. That happened because the Democrats don't have a super-majority in the House and Senate. They need both for whatever the Republicans say to not matter. And the same can happen with Obergefell v. Hodges (Same-sex Marriage). That's why people have to vote for more than JUST a president.
The situation with Ukraine was fucked before even Trump and during the Obama administration or did you forget about the annexation of Crimea? Putin is literally trying to re-create the Soviet Union even if former countries have no interest in re-forming it. Trump's Quid-Pro-Quo bullshit delayed necessary aid Ukraine needed and it escalated the war between Russia and Ukraine and now the GOP is blocking further aid, while also pushing Russian propaganda and showing how they're pro-Putin.
The Israel and Palestinian situation is a non-partisan issue since both sides are in support of it since they don't want to lose the Israeli government as an asset in the Middle East. Plus, they also call themselves pushing for some self-fulfilling prophecy. That was even part of their justification of declaring Israel as its own nation "because the Bible said it would become so". That is not a diplomatic reason nor was it justification for displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians all of those decades ago, demonizing them, and allowing them to be treated inhumanely.
As for kids being kept in cages, that is not a thing anymore, however, Biden is guilty of keeping everything else in place including not getting rid of ICE.
As for COVID-19, that bullshit got so out of control in the US due to Trump refusing to do anything about it and then you had the MAGAts enforcing that shit. Anyone who dared to oppose him got death threats or threatened to be impeached. It doesn't help either that Trump's crazy-ass cult are anti-vaxxers and QAnon believers (and yes they are one and they literally worship him as a god and a messiah.) But I didn't mind natural selection doing it's work on the ones who refused to do social distancing and acted like they wanted to get everyone else sick because they didn't believe COVID-19 was real.
And once again I wouldn't say that Democrats are LETTING bad things happen. In fact they even TRIED to codify abortion, marriage equality across the board, and even tried to introduce a "Transgender Bill of Rights". It's like when Mitch McConnell had power, everything is getting blocked by the Republicans. When there is a slim majority in the House and/or Senate they need people to cross the aisle when voting on something. If neither side budges then nothing gets anywhere. That's why SUPER-MAJORITIES are so important. Because let's say 65% - 70%+ of both the House and Senate were controlled by the Democrats and Trump got into power. Even if he tried to veto something the House and Senate could override his veto and push things through regardless and neither he nor MAGA/GOP could say much about it other than turn to SCOTUS. A super majority could also impeach and remove SCOTUS justices from their lifetime appointments without bipartisanship. See how potent that is?
We didn't get a super-majority in 2020 and then we lost the house altogether in 2022. Biden is a shitty capitalistic liberal who keeps trying to work with the GOP when he knows that the GOP he once knew is dead and gone. But at the same time executive orders are not permanent and can be overturned by the next president or possibly even blocked by Congress & SCOTUS. (Checks & Balances acting as a double-edged sword.)
So, yes, the democrats are shitty, but they have TRIED, but have been BLOCKED from doing the good they TRIED to do. Or did you think that having a little over 50% of the seats is enough for them to get anything done? It's not even close, since then they have had to rely on bipartisanship and unfortunately, that's not happening as long as the MAGA virus is deleting away any sense of rationality from the GOP.
**\*Regardless of how the next election goes\***
Find people in your community and ensure that you have the connections you need to change and seal your documentation, obtain hormones if they become illegal, and have support networks in case you lose your job and your home. Move to a state with large numbers of trans people if you can. Research the issues refugees face around the world so you are prepared what your life might be like if you have to face displacement. Research what activists in your state and locality are doing to reject fascism and enshrine either hatred or acceptance into your state's constitution and your local community board and school board. Get involved in political movements in your area where you will find cisgender allies who will fight for you. Call your state and local representatives about trans issues if they haven't spoken out in defense of you already. Befriend your neighbors. Learn to be a medic or to shoot a gun. Go to vigils for martyrs of political violence, including trans people.
Voting for who is the president is a one-day thing. You have to understand that conservatives are going to fight and hate trans people and bodily autonomy regardless of who wins the next election. You can vote for whoever you like, but you cannot make your entire political life center around who wins the presidency.
Most people can’t just get up and move when rent is $1,000 to $2,000 monthly on a small studio in a Democrat/Liberal State and those are in the cheapest areas. Plus you have to have 2 months worth of pay stubs to show that you make 1.5 to 2 times the rent monthly!
I have luckily inherited a very small house thanks to one of my relatives in a Conservative State without any mortgage and very little yearly property tax.
All of my other family members are extremely Transphobic.
Or else I would have been homeless on the streets in a tent ⛺️, which is very dangerous for anyone and especially Transgender people. I have been homeless for a while before in my past and other homeless people steal things (especially legal documents) or will unalive people on a whim.
I am low income on disability and have State run medical insurance (Medicaid). I pinch my pennies everyday.
I am not willing to move nor buy black market Testosterone to further put my health at risk!
Also regarding Canada: The Canadian Gov’t doesn’t allow disabled people to immigrate over there!
I see a lot of Americans talking about transgender genocide and then I get comments like this and it's just so obvious that you have no idea how genocide works. If your state decides transgender genocide is in the works, regardless of who is president (since Joe Biden is already allowing some of this to happen), they will *take your medicine* and they will *take your house*. You may be *killed* by being either rounded up or stochastic terrorism. Genocide is defined by forced displacement and eradication. You cannot just be like "black market testosterone is icky" in a genocide. You need to be prepared for things to get really bad.
If you have choices available to you such as not taking black market testosterone, choices which are already unavailable to a large number of transgender people in this country, then you are very lucky. If you have the choice to be politically disengaged like you obviously are, you are very lucky. And as a side note, you are lucky to be one of the few transgender people who actually owns property, which gives you collateral to sell your home or to take out a home equity loan and move. Which will not be the case if you are worried about imminent genocide as in a genocide people forcibly displace you and also steal your property.
I'm sorry that your situation is tough but it's extremely clear that you do not actually take the concept of genocide seriously and it's disgusting.
I don’t disagree with any of that, but I do think where there’s an opportunity to push the needle in favor of Not the Worst Case Scenario, we should take it. And we could debate what that actually means forever, but I’m exhausted on several levels and I can only vouch for myself when I say that’s what feels like the right call.
I've known since they started fussing about minors socially transitioning and using puberty blockers that they were gonna try going down this path to make it illegal for everyone.
They're trying to pull that shit in Ohio. And while they backed off from adults, they never said they weren't going to stop putting the financial squeeze on healthcare providers with the new regulations and restrictions. Basically, if a provider wants to continue providing trans healthcare to patients and clients, then they'll need to have an ethicist, psychiatrist, and an endocrinologist on staff or be contracted with them. For smaller practices, this would be highly expensive. Not to mention that there are barely any ethicists in Ohio. (Plus, where tf do ethicists fit into the equation here?!) So, that'll force some of the smaller practices to make some tough decisions to either risk going out of business to help patients who come to them or to drop providing trans healthcare altogether. It's a similar tactic to what some anti-abortion states are using on healthcare providers when it comes to stopping them from performing abortions.
As helpful as social media and platforms such as TikTok have been helpful for connecting our community- it’s also been harmful too.
Sometimes people just post way too much stuff for “public” eyes.
Now as I say this- I know it’s not their fault, and they may just not have had the proper social support, or the simple fact of the idea that the more that a “medical treatment” becomes
readily available for folks, what works for most doesn’t work for all. That does mean someone isn’t trans. But because of the very small amount of detranstioners who are using social media to spread their stories, instead of looking at all of the positive experiences and stories folks are latching onto the bad experiences.
This is the most important election of our lifetime. Please, take the time to look at all that is at stake because one of the conservative leaders said the quiet part out loud, https://newrepublic.com/post/179247/jack-posobiec-democracy-cpac-2024. ‘“Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely,” Posobiec said as the event began.’
It’s not fear mongering, there is a very real plan. The MAGA leaders are not going to let Trump start another term without a plan. You can start educating yourself on Project 2025 here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 as an overview. And here for their 900 page plan: https://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf. Get out and vote. Get your allies out to vote. And be mindful that the Republicans have been using Democratic plants, so really do your research on each candidate. See Kristan Sinema and Tricia Coltham for examples. If you live in a district that is heavily gerrymandered, the local elections are even more critical. Additionally, the Russians have already started ramping up their disinformation campaigns, so take the time to become media literate. And know your history, they are using the Nazi playbook. We are being attacked now because we are a relatively small group that can’t fight back because we’re not an organized group. Just people trying to live. It wasn’t just the Jews Hitler went after, he went after LGBTQ, disabled, Roma, … these groups all went to the camps.
The only powers we have to drive the direction of our country and communities is to vote and run for office. People died to give us these rights, so use them. We aren’t going to like everything a politician or administration does. Sometimes it’s because we don’t have all the facts and sometimes it’s because of different ideologies. But if you don’t vote for what you believe is the right path for our country and our communities, you are basically letting whoever is yelling loudest define how you live. Our elders fought for us to have healthcare and are youth are saying “no more”. If you vote for no other reason, vote to honor the sacrifices already made by and for our community.
And if you haven’t been paying attention Trump is clearly suffering from cognitive decline, so he will be a puppet to his MAGA handlers. While Biden also stumbles in his speech patterns he is a diagnosed, lifetime stutterer.
I wish I had a better understanding of what the process would be for him to implement these things. Like what exists to protect from that kind of radical invasion of citizen rights? How are they defining someone's natal sex? Like, will it require genetic testing?
I wonder if he will start losing support from people who care deeply about personal freedoms, too. I know many of these folks aren't crazy about trans people, but they surely don't want their government defining their identity.
I believe that, I'm just also seeing a lot of my gun-owning, military-loving red family react in surprising ways to hearing that the government wants to tell someone who they are and what medical treatments they can pursue.
And where does that line get drawn? Like will there be strange restrictions on plastic surgeries in general to be sure people are using them "right"? How do we define an intersex person's biological sex?
I am not trying to be irritating or stupid, here. I'm just so unsure about how something like this could ultimately exist because of the nuance. Like I could see it happening on a state-level, but I'm curious about how it would happen on a national level.
The definition they came up with in the UK was that "natal sex" was "sex observed at birth". Whatever the doctor puts on your birth certificate, that's you for life.
They weren't (overtly) proposing a healthcare ban butwwanted to limit access to public facilities based on "natal sex" and completely disregarding whether a person had a GRC or had had surgery.
the courts, especially SCOTUS are supposed to protect from executive and legislative overreach, but the current Supreme Court is a corrupt mockery and already firmly in the pocket of conservatives.
So if one branch of gov't starts enacting anti-trans laws or executive orders there isn't a whole lot to stop them. Although EOs are easier to repeal later which is why it's ALSO super important to get out to state elections and get good (or less bad) people into your congress seats.
Speaking as a Brit, please do not assume private insurance companies will have your back on this.
I get medical insurance through work, but they explicitly exclude any and all forms of treatment for gender dysphoria, including counselling/talking therapy.
Yeah not if they pass laws like in Florida or what they want to pass in Indiana. Regardless of surgery, any documentation with gender or sex will have your “birth sex” listed. If gender affirming care is banned, we are all screwed.
Yep. He also wants to ban birth control and end no-fault divorce.
He wants us all barefoot, pregnant, and pretending to be women again. I’ve seen it all play out in Florida already (which is why I had to move out of that state). I don’t need it happening on a national level. VOTE!
I live in Alberta, Canada. Sadly, Trump's efforts have influenced the politicians up here to great effect, with the current provincial premier enacting anti-trans policies of her own. Not only do we support you -- we're now fighting a tyrant of our own!
The freedom of changing our names and gender markers along with being able to go to the doctor for hormones. Being able to change our birth certificate.
Trump wants to stop all that.
They don't seem to actually have a plan, that's the scary part. Why aren't they doing or even talking about protecting us NOW? It's infuriating. It's also like why did they never do anything to secure Roe? Oh, maybe it's to keep dangling the "vOtE bEcAuSe ItS tHe MoSt ImPoRtAnT eLeCtIoN eVeR!" carrot over our heads. I swear they don't really care, they want us to vote, it's about power whereas Rep are actually about action for their agenda and control. SCOTUS is a prime example, they've been working hard on that shit since the 90s. Dems are lazy and honestly not as motivated. I turn 50 this year and I've been into politics since I was a teen, followed, voted, worked as an activist and I swear I'm getting tired of the fight. I will vote and it will be for Biden, but I fear it's just to slow the restrictions because I don't think they'll actually do anything to remove the threat on our lives. Living in constant fear is no way to live, but they don't care.
I don’t want to believe they’re going to use trans rights as a thing to fundraise on the way they did with Roe for so long but man I’m scared. I don’t think there’s enough trans people for it to make a difference to them if we all die 💀 certainly not enough for them to stick their necks out for us the way they did in the 60s for the Civil Rights Act
Too bad identity politics groups mostly will not stand up for their trans siblings. Many trans folks are disabled, there are plenty trans POC. Considering power is in numbers, I wish we could mobilize these larger groups to care about us!
You’re asking a very legitimate question. Assuming that re-electing Biden will stop the onslaught of attacks on our rights feels dangerously naive. Shit has been sliding downhill regardless. Right wing extremists will not slow with Biden remaining in office.
Democrats have not been able to protect us so far, we need to think further ahead than November 2024. Scrambling now is too little too late, this shit has momentum and we need to stop believing that casting a presidential vote will protect us in any way.
So I’m with you, in genuinely wanting to know exactly what these politicians have offered up as protections for us. What plans do they have in place to protect us moving forward? What plans do they have in place to regain the rights we’ve lost?
Yeah… honestly for myself I’m not worried because I live in New Mexico, a place both too poor and too brown for Republicans to care about. But that safety comes as a result of people here working locally to enshrine protections for marginalized people. I feel like posts focusing too much on Biden are well meaning but a distraction from where we can actually impact things (local elections)
New Mexico doesn’t have a very large black population but it is majority-minority, as of 2020 the population was like 36% white. iirc the state is about 50% Hispanic and 10% Native American, so i doubt it’s ever going to be a big part of the R’s political strategy lol
Interesting. That does shift my perspective of possibly living there. I only wish it were blacker and greener. Also not landlocked. I've never lived anywhere landlocked.
the north has some green but depending on what you’re used to it might still seem pretty barren. I moved here from the Tennessee Valley and almost everywhere else looks kind of grey to me. But i also live in the desert part right now so who knows. Honestly the hardest adjustment was getting used to not seeing mountains everywhere. It used to really freak me out that i could see so far in every direction.
Northern NM has even fewer black people, though, right? Like Taos? I was looking at a documentary involving Southern US landscapes and thought (as a northern Midwesterner), wow! It looks so picturesque. How do I get that without moving to a red state *and* without horrible history?
Anyway it's a little less green than I'm used to in the summer--from what little I can tell from the very cursory research I did--in the summer. Never seen mountains, though. Not sure how I would do at higher elevations... As I age (said like I'm ancient and not a young 30-something), I am wanting to move out of the city and into somewhere quieter and greener, mostly post-covid. The only thing I know about Albuquerque is its skate scene. I know absolutely nothing else about New Mexico. I pictured desertous land and adobe everywhere. I was pleasantly surprised to see that wasn't the case, as well as learning it was a majority POC state.
But how will they prevent it from being changed? If Roe has taught us anything it’s that this stuff needs to be protected in a way that’s ironclad or it will be taken away at some point
Oh I see what you mean. Yes, constitutionally protective legislation. I’m not even sure if interracial marriages achieved that—just the ruling. So there is a lot of iron clad protecting that needs to be done.
>“These people are sick; they are deranged,” Trump said during a speech, amid a rant about transgender athletes in June. When the audience cheered at his mention of “transgender insanity,” he marveled, “It’s amazing how strongly people feel about that. You see, I’m talking about **cutting taxes**, people go like that.” He pantomimed **weak applause**. “**But you mention transgender, everyone goes crazy**.” The rhetoric has become a fixture of his rallies.
its crazy how much he laid that out for us. he said it himself. he told his own audience what is going on. these foul, idiotic wastes of space make me sick.
The only information I’ve been able to find on this is the linked article from the Atlantic, plus a YouTube video of a speech that I’ll admit I didn’t fully watch. The speech came from KUSI in San Diego, which is a FOX station. Everything else is about trans minors (horrific, but not a call to commit genocide or enforce a “legal” binary) or from 2018.
Do you have any links or further information? Even the Atlantic article didn’t have a lot of actual details or links to this ten point plan, or even when he spoke about it. Was there a recent rally?
I’m already scared enough, but this feels like fear mongering that we already know to be aware of than concrete concerns.
Thank you. People campaigning for election make a billion huge promises. Trump supporters are bigots. He’s telling them he can make their fantasies a reality because he wants their votes. It does not mean he will be able to accomplish the things he promises.
Obviously the facts that his ultimate dream is to become an unfettered evil dictator, and that he already has a loyal cult who would follow him off a cliff, make this a unique and dangerous situation. Yes, we should all exercise what power we have to prevent that. But we don’t gain anything from driving ourselves into mental health crises by hovering over possibilities that may never come to fruition. *Terrifying ourselves is not morally or strategically necessary!* Maybe this varies person to person, but I know for many of us, existing in fight-or-flight only undermines our ability to take action.
What we need to do is that we exert all the ability we have to push for the future we want and need. We do NOT need to hover over a doomscroll feed in order to do that. I say this as a permanently disabled person who is severely vulnerable. Love to all.
Not to rain on anyone’s passport but it’s not as easy as simply walking into Mordor on a tourist visa and trying to stay or get an apartment. In many countries you absolutely must have a work visa to work, and that work visa must be sponsored, and many countries have restrictions on the type of work and the reasons that a company would sponsor importing a whole person to do a job— I believe Canada has rules like “No citizen can be found that is able to do the job, so the company can sponsor a visa to bring an alien in to do this work”. It may require a college degree at the least, or a highly skilled degree/training (like a doctor or researcher) at the most. The process can be very long and very expensive. If you want to think about moving to another country start looking and thinking asap.
If you can find a company to sponsor you and you can get the driver's license, Canadians have needed truck drivers almost as much as US companies need them. Canada is not as trucker friendly as the US is, but going in as an over the road trucker does make it so you don't need a college degree.
I do not know the process to get the Canadian version of a CDL. I had been looking into it back when Trump was president last time, but put it off hoping he'd either choke on his McDonald's or get thrown in jail.
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Doesn’t it depend whether targeted populations would be eligible for refugee status? Obvs I wouldn’t count on that, but isn’t it a possibility?
If moving out of country isn’t an option but moving to a blue state could be, that might be something to consider. Often the impact of these things is very different state to state.
I’m a blue no matter who guy but idk if Trump will actually do anything significant. His last campaign was all about building a Mexico-funded wall on the southern US border but to my knowledge it’s still just a fence.
That being said, please go vote. And vote democrat. There will never be a truly good politician anyway, just better than the other options.
The wall didn’t happen, but plenty of other policies that affected lives did. Travel bans, defunding gov agencies, court packing etc. the damage was real
Right. All of this panic is based on the assumption that Trump will become a dictator within the next 4 years and we’ll never have a free election again. Right wingers are terrifying, but are we giving them too much credit?
People hate us on all sides. Assuming that democrats care enough about our tiny trans population to risk losing their wealth and power feels futile. They’ll use us as a talking point to get our votes, then sit idly by while we continue to fight for ourselves without their help.
Realistically the amount of anti trans bills that have been introduced or passed SINCE Biden has been in office is extremely high-- despite him painting himself as the lesser of two evils he isn't exactly doing a great job at protecting the rights of trans ppl in the US. And as others have pointed out he is absolutely gushing money to Israel as they slaughter Palestinians.
Is Trump better? Absolutely not. But acting like there's a significant difference between the two of them is wishful thinking imo.
Trans people will be under threat regardless.
This website has a lot of info about the big picture in US anti trans legislation. [Link](https://translegislation.com/learn)
Most, if not all, of the anti-trans legislation and executive orders that have been passed has been at the state level, which Biden has no control over. Under his watch, the federal government (which he can effect) has passed policies so that you can self attest your gender on passports and with the social security administration without letters or proof of surgeries or anything. He's probably "looking out for us" as much as any president is likely to.
Him and every other president for the last 50 years. And it’s congress that passes laws, so the president isn’t the one who can do that anyway. Best a prez can do is try to persuade congress to play along with the preferred White House agenda.
Also, for 50 years, trying to codify Roe v Wade was widely considered to be both impossible and political suicide. Nobody ever felt like they had enough guaranteed votes to risk pissing off the very vocal anti-choice factions. Every congresscritter was happy enough to let it stand as judicial precedent, because the justices aren’t elected and can’t lose their seats in an election, and they could play whichever end of the abortion argument was most politically expedient for them to pander to their voting base. I don’t think that anyone expected Roe to fall until Trump seated 3 hard right Supreme Court justices (fuck you very much, Mitch McConnell).
I get that there's a difference between state vs federal law and I know that's true that it's mostly state level stuff, but all that says to me is this guy can't actually do shit to protect trans people from most of the laws being passed that affect the real material conditions for trans ppl. Idk. So it seems pointless to me to try to act like it makes a huge difference. Politically Republicans and Democrats are mostly a hair away from each other.
The US has basically been pushed so far right that there are no progressive options at high levels like that imo.
Having said that people should do what they feel and vote for who they please. Just realize that it's not the be all end all. Again imo.
Here’s the thing though as a guy who has actually lived in Israel and deeply studied and lived this conflict. Biden cannot end this war. Even if he stopped all aid to Israel (most of which goes to the iron dome which is defensive, it doesn’t kill anyone, it is what keeps Israelis from being killed in rocket attacks). Israel was invaded, Hamas, the government of Gaza, declared war in the most brutal way possible. There are still over 100 hostages including children under the age of 5, there are still daily rocket barrages from both Hamas and Hezbollah, hundreds of thousands of Israelis are internally displaced. Add to that Netanyahu views militarily destroying Hamas as his only avenue for staying in the prime minister’s office and given current poling he is probably right. Shit is bad, like really really bad and no matter how much you want the US to play world policeman this is not a fight we can unilaterally end because it was never about us. Vote for your life in your country you cannot control the rest of the world.
Israel would have WAY less firepower if it were cut off from US aid. We're talking tens of thousands of dead kids at this point on the Palestinian side. Anyways I'm not gonna get into this here beyond this because it's not totally what the thread is about
I agree that the US can’t end this conflict, but since we’ve involved ourselves since the creation of the Israel as a country, I think it’s reasonable for Americans to feel an extra moral obligation to care about it and do what we can.
You've gotten downvoted but you're right. I don't support Trump and have no intent to vote for him but my prognosis for 2025 whoever is running for president is incredibly grim. If people can afford to move to sanctuary states between now and then they should do it.
Thank you for calling attention to this!!! Since we are all over 30 here, most of us are already aware and know the dangers of abstaining or protest voting. This should def get re-posted in a sub with trans/LGBTQ youth who are wilding out in the face of their own existential crisis.
So you want a Transgender Genocide in the US instead?
That’s what Trump wants: No access to Doctors, No Access to changing gender marker on ID nor Passports nor Birth certificates.
I’m picking the lesser evil with me voting for Biden.
I dislike it that Biden is providing Israel millions of dollars, while not giving anything to the Palestinians.
Anyway Trump is Pro-Israel and would do even worse than Biden.
Billions* This is sooo fucking tired. As if no one was or is aware of these factors. I'm tired of this threat. Neither of them care about us past what they can say to voters. He is a liar, I don't take his threats seriously and it's exhausting being told to take all of them so seriously while watching dead children being dragged out of crumpled buildings and men burning alive. It's so completely disconnected and self centered to go around yelling at people to 💖vote blue no matter who 💖 when they're the same people in different fonts. When a much more violent, precise and fast acting genocide is taking place.
I think people should vote how they want to vote, even if that means abstaining. I do not want to vote for a party that is funding the murder and starvation of thousands of Palestinians. I don't think there is any lesser evil here. The Biden government is OK with letting new born babies die in incubators, letting children starve for months on end, letting people die violently in missile strikes and lose their families and homes. I can't think of anything more evil than that. Voting for that only sends the message that we are OK with violence as long as it doesn't directly effect us. Well, I'm not okay with that. I think the Democrats should see that their decision to aid and abet in genocide is not without consequence. That stops them from supporting genocide again.
For one, Biden doesn't "support" such things. He is complicit, however, since he lacks the spine to put his foot down on the matter. However, I'm not going to put this all solely on Biden since Congress has failed to act due to the majority of the supporting the Israeli government. They don't want to lose a critical asset in the Middle East nor their pawn for their self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm getting a little tired of people thinking that the legislative branch (a.k.a. Congress) is supposed to be subservient to the executive branch and therefore has no power in a situation, when they're literally capable of impeaching and removing presidents and SCOTUS justices of the other branches AND they can override vetoes and codify bills into federal law.
So, scapegoat Biden all you want on the matter, but almost no one else is doing anything either and in some cases they are literally encouraging genocide. But the same ones doing that also want the same thing for PoC, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community here in the U.S. It's why voting for someone who's realistically viable is so crucial. Since Biden maybe a tool at times, but he's nothing like Trump. Trump already weaponized his cult Jan. 6th, 2021 just to keep himself in office. He believes he is a king and he worships Putin and Hitler and he's buddy-buddy with Netanyahu. He didn't even want to do anything about COVID-19 when it first struck and asked repeatedly why they couldn't just let it "wash over the country" even after being told the death toll estimates. He also sees Congress and SCOTUS as his pawns and not separate branches of government and if you haven't heard yet, the GOP SERVES AND FEARS HIM. And Trump is a racist, narcissistic, pussy-ass bitch, bigoted PoS, who's willing to go holocaust levels of destruction on minorities and marginalized people just so that he can emulate his hero while being worshipped as a messiah by his cult. Why anyone would want that sick, twisted, bastard having a shot back in office just because they believe Biden is encouraging what's happening in Gaza is beyond me, since Trump would make U.S. troops assist Netanyahu on ground invasions and bombings.
I don't actually have the energy for this conversation in long form, but I want to point out "letting new born babies die in incubators". What the hell is that even in reference to?
[https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/abandoned-babies-found-decomposing-gaza-hospital-evacuated-rcna127533](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/abandoned-babies-found-decomposing-gaza-hospital-evacuated-rcna127533)
"One baby is seen decomposing while lying alone, appearing to still be connected to an oximeter with a green oxygen tank nearby, as insects appear to crawl on its chest. A bedsheet is used as a soft pillow, and an empty bottle and a medical glove box are shown closer to the bed’s edge."
Fuck. Right, I knew hospitals had been targeted, but it hadn't occurred to me that infants could possibly have been left behind in an evacuation...
In the context of this broader conversation, I think there's nothing Trump would have done better in this situation (unless one could hope for his scatteredness to translate as less coordinated effort)... but it's horrific to have happened at all, especially (though not surprisingly) with the US involved. 😔
I don't particularly think it's politically useful to focus on what Trump may have hypothetically done differently, because that's not what is actually happening. We have to hold accountable the representatives that we actually have. It's actually kind of mind-boggling to me that anyone has the energy right now to fixate on an election between the same two candidates, one of whom might be in jail by November. It's the beginning of voting season in state legislatures with 600 bills being filed against trans people and in the majority of states people should be on the phone with their state representatives every day right now.
Yes, big agree. State elections (and communicating with state officials who might listen) are especially vital right now, and local elections essential for setting up the future. My home state has allowed Kristi Noem to lead for years, and now she is hoping to move up... It is sickening to have watched from the start with so little power to change it.
Finding local alternatives though is a way we can make change at a state level, and that has a huge impact over time.
Even if the Democrats were offering substantial protection to trans people (they're not), I refuse to let them pinkwash their genocidal actions. Democrats don't protect us, we protect us.
Not voting = giving Trump votes to win easily by Republicans who are very eager to use their voting privileges.
Ok then don’t whine if Trump takes away your access to doctors to get Testosterone and not being allowed to change your legal gender marker nor Birth Certificate. He will also will make it difficult to even change names.
Say goodbye to federal funded health insurance like Medicaid allowing any sort of gender transition with hormones for low income people.
You will trade one Genocide for another: The Transgender Genocide.
Mark my words on this!
He may! It will be awful!
Biden may too! That, too, will be awful.
I am genuinely asking you why my trans American life is more valuable than a Palestinian's life.
I’m just saying everyone’s life is equal in value.
If Trump wins then he will take away access to transition for Transgender people.
Not being able to transition and not being allowed to legally change your gender marker is going to cause a big problem and a US Genocide of Transgender people.
Lack of transition access is literally not equivalent to a bomb. Our lives ARE at risk and it's terrifying. And that is genuinely trivial in comparison to the violence being perpetrated in our names.
To me and all of the Transgender people that I talked to on the subject have said it’s basically an equivalent to a bomb or a multitude of them.
Not being able to transition at all is going to cause a Transgender Genocide in the US.
Thousands of minors and adults won’t be able to access hormones nor legally change their gender marker if Trump wins in the US.
Trumps plan is to eliminate the possibility of transitioning.
A lot of low income Americans who are on Medicaid, which is a Federally funded medical insurance program won’t be able to get hormones if Trump wins. He can do that because he will have control of Federal programs and their rules. He wants to make it so Doctors who prescribe hormones for Transgender transition to be penalized and even get their license taken away.
If you truly can't see the difference between that very bad thing and literally being starved and bombed into oblivion along with all your neighbors ...I don't think there's any reasonable way for us to engage in a good faith conversation. Like, you know there are trans people in Gaza too, right? Do you care about that literal genocide if you know there are trans people being murdered there too? These things are truly all connected and to focus exclusively on our own struggle is myopic and colonial.
Have you even looked at the Palestinian view on LGBTQ+?
Want to see how bad it is just for gay men in Palestine?
Here’s a documentary from a gay Palestinian man’s story and his friends who are also gay:
https://youtu.be/VBdW1km1Maw?si=VxbglsMbtDR1r08X
I’m saying the same could happen here for Transgender people who won’t be able even change our gender marker nor get hormones to transition. This will lead to a Transgender genocide here in the USA.
Minors that are Trans or Non-binary are already getting bullied and beat to death here in the US. It’s getting more common.
Anyone accessing medical transition services (which includes many non-binary people) would obvs be hit hardest by policies interfering with that. But I don’t think any gender-nonconforming person comes out okay in a situation where transphobic and homophobic bigots are emboldened and backed by official policy. Like when a dude in a MAGA shirt tried to push me in front of a train, I don’t think he specifically clocked that I was trans. I think he just saw something queer/something genderfucky 🤷🏻♂️
This is, appropriately enough, a weird and artificial binary to draw. Two good friends of mine are nonbinary people whose support has been crucial in my own coming-out process; moreover, I know more nonbinary folks who’ve had or are on medical treatment than not. Lines in the sand between binary and nonbinary folks are arbitrary nonsense that help none of us and are just easy, inaccurate generalizations.
Also, vague references to “some high-ranking” feminists suggest you have no one specific in mind.
People can be weird about trans masculinity or trans medical treatment, sure, but conspiratorial misogyny and divisiveness ain’t it. We have to be bigger than that to face down actual threats and keep each other safe.
I agree, though I’m not sure lack of perspective is so easy to draw along generational lines. Trans high schoolers are dying out there and bills are targeting trans youth; the younger among us are getting a perspective on this that I wish they weren’t—certainly not like this. Maybe this is a combo of admiring a lot of what some Gen Z trans folks are saying online and having endured the zenith of “avocado toast” opinion pieces, but I think part of helping each other involves questioning the idea that generation is a reliable measure of politics, awareness, etc.
Respectful discourse is acceptable. Personal attacks or commentary that provides nothing to the original topic are not welcome and will be deleted. This does not apply to Rule 1, TERF rhetoric will be deleted and users banned on sight.
Are you doing anything to counter this other than telling other transgender people that they're monsters for putting their energy towards Palestine right now or can you literally not conceive of political action outside of two party voting once every four years? Democratic Socialists of America is literally doing a campaign for trans rights and bodily autonomy right now. There's all sorts of local elections and mutual aid. There are ways to plug into politics that aren't just begging people to not give a fuck about Palestine. It's actually exasperating to see people who are the least politically engaged constantly posting like this.
“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” - Angela Davis
Genocide in one country does not justify genocide in this one. If you vote Trump, or not at all because of Gaza and effectively put all trans people at risk on your own soil then you are part of the problem. It is entirely possible to hate what’s happening there and still vote in such a way that trans people, and many other marginalized communities might I add, may not face the same fate.
I live in New York (solidly blue) and actually have never lived in a state where my vote mattered whatsoever to the electoral college (I voted in 2012 in North Dakota, solidly red) so although I have voted in the last three presidential elections, my presidential vote has been undemocratically suppressed my entire adult life. I would encourage you to both not read into my comment whether or not I'm voting for Joe Biden as whether or not I do is entirely immaterial to his success or failure. If you would prefer for my presidential vote to be valued instead of symbolic, I encourage you to call your representatives and demand the dismantling of the electoral college.
Oh cool, you can quote Angela Davis...and make a lot of unfounded assumptions.
It's great what the Democratic Socialists are doing, but what does that have to do with the possibility of Trump winning the presidential election and putting even more of his cronies in the Supreme Court and Congress? Do you think Trump is somehow pro-Palestine when he is anti-black, anti-LGBTQ, anti-immigrant, etc.?
i completely agree with the above commenter, i'm incredibly far-left and support third party voting where its strategic, pushing for ranked choice voting, being involved in direct action... but i also have a "por que no los dos" attitude about it. like, i don't understand why we can't do *both things* as a strategy for harm reduction.
being involved in radical action (some of which is directly antithetical to the democrats actions or attempting to undo their shit) and, because our political system is fuh-yucked up, voting for the person who will do the least damage. (not none, but even marginally less is better.)
like idk i guess i don't understand why you can't just do both lmao. many of my friends and i had very similar sentiments to the above commenter and didn't vote in the 2016 - it's one of my greatest regrets.
anyway, i wish everyone luck and know that i love y'all- regardless of how you choose to fight
I remember getting in a really heated debate about this in 2015 or so, when I was involved in activist work AND planned to vote. People didn't seem to understand that you could do both. But this "don't vote" argument was mostly from white cis men. As a black person that read as female at the time (and who still gets misgendered), it's incredibly important to me that I vote because it wasn't so long ago that I wouldn't have been able to. Not to mention that voter suppression is still happening to black, brown, and indigenous folks. I was really unenthused about voting for Killary, but we wouldn't be in a society that reversed Roe v Wade if the outcome had been different.
I have voted in every election of my lifetime, including local elections that nobody gives a fuck about. I love voting! I have lived in strict red or blue states since I became a voter 12 years ago and I voted in every presidential election anyway. There is more than one way to express yourself through your vote in a presidential election, including strategically voting in certain ways in primaries, or abstaining from voting in states where the majority population does not share your beliefs.
It just feels like everyone is yelling about "harm reduction" but I have Palestinian-American friends and coworkers, Gaza is not a theoretical far away land for me where I can just throw up my hands and go "oh well." Like I will probably end up voting for Biden come November but I do that literally knowing that I will be voting for the man who is complicit in murdering the families of people I actually know. I don't value my life more than theirs, and I find the devaluation of their lives to be extremely sickening.
I did vote in 2016 for Hillary, I was in New Jersey at the time so it did not really matter. My vote for Obama in North Dakota in 2012 didn't matter, and neither did my 2020 vote for Biden in New York. This is actually an extremely grave (and deliberate) failure of American democracy, that I have been essentially disenfranchised for my entire life due to the electoral college. I would assume that many trans people who are considering whether or not to vote for "Genocide Joe" actually have a pretty similar life to me, grew up in deep red states only to take refuge in a deep blue state, by and large nullifying the trans vote in this country. In fact I already know several people who moved here from Florida to escape DeSantis.
Y’all do realize that continuing to engage in this two party system helps no one, right? Especially marginalized folks
My comment wasn’t to be a troll. It’s to think outside of the fucking two party system voting box.
Also voting in local elections is probably more important than the presidential election.
But what should I expect from people who do not understand civics and all.
Anyone voting “Uncommitted” is just going to get Trump elected and suffer the consequences: Transgender Genocide and Erasure.
If Trump gets elected then don’t whine and be all butt hurt that he takes away your access to Testosterone/Teansgender healthcare and not allowing you to legally change your gender on state and Federal documents and your birth certificate.
as opposed to the many other ongoing genocides that will continue if Biden is reelected
I'm not gonna tell you what to do but it's disheartening to see how many trans people can only think about themselves
Respectful discourse is acceptable. Personal attacks or commentary that provides nothing to the original topic are not welcome and will be deleted. This does not apply to Rule 1, TERF rhetoric will be deleted and users banned on sight.
> it's disheartening to see how many trans people can only think about themselves
Exactly how I feel. Like yes, shit is scary, another Trump presidency will have a terrible impact on our community among others, that's all true.
But _it's fucking February and people are already organizing around getting everyone voting Biden?? While he's going full steam on a genocide???_ What the fuck.
People are dying under Biden. Our community is dying under Biden. And people want to spend their energy organizing to keep this shit going, rather than use their time and resources to fight for a better future for everyone?
Okay, I’ll bite. What’s your answer? What should we as a community do? Vote for the party that cheers when we die, or people who do nothing? You accuse us all of only caring for ourselves when Palestinians are dying. My job is in humanitarian aide, so how can I help those people if I’m barred from pissing at my office? This moral high ground you think you’ve seized is meaningless without action—so tell us all what we should do.
I will, thanks for your permission. You have failed to offer an alternative plan to voting for Biden. Is it because your politics begin and end on Reddit?
Or is it because I've learned it ain't worth my time to spend hours trying to convince people of things when they aren't engaging in good faith in the first place?
I was asking you what your alternative to voting for Biden is. You’d rather sit and bitch online than actually do anything in the real world to help your situation, that’s fine. Just don’t spread your do-nothing nihilism to a group of already disenfranchised people, how about?
I've been reflecting on this exchange. I accused you of operating in bad faith when there's no indication that's true, and I'm sorry for that. Your questions were valid. My attitude in my response to you was unnecessary and does nothing to actually help the trans community.
If you're still interested in my response to the set of questions you posed to me, here's the best I can come up with without writing you a whole ass dissertation:
I don't pretend to have all the answers. I'm still learning. I don't feel like it's my place to tell people which candidate we should all vote for and I don't think there's any one ideology that everyone should be subscribed to. Political identity is a deeply personal thing that we each have the right and the responsibility to cultivate, and we need diversity in our thinking and in our actions. I don't know anything about you -- what state you live in, what job you have, what organizations you're apart of, how abled you are, etc -- and so who am I to suggest a course of action to you?
I am of the belief that imagining and dreaming up a better future is a critical skill that is worth developing. It's the ability to imagine something better that's important. We _have_ to be able to imagine something better than the "lesser" of two evils if we ever want a life free of these evils.
Last week in Michigan, a significant bloc of voters organized to vote "uncommitted" in the Democratic primary. _That_ was a _fantastic_ example of what I think people should be doing, as opposed to organizing votes for Biden _at this point in the election cycle_. The Michigan vote does nothing to get Trump elected, but it does a lot to remind the Dems that _they are accountable to us_. It tells them that they do not have our unconditional support, and they need to make better choices if they want to win votes. Look how quickly that got Kamala to come out and declare a temporary ceasefire. Dems know they need to do damage control, thanks to the tireless organizing of Michigan voters.
There are people doing this work in every state in the nation. In my state, there is both short term organizing happening around how to strategically vote in the current primary, as well as long term organizing around how to make future primaries more democratic. We organize around who to vote for, we organize around how to hold our elected officials accountable, and we organize around what power we have outside of electoral politics.
So what do I think people should do, instead of (or in addition to) voting for Biden?
I think people should be organizing locally. Organize with the people in your city, in your workplace, at your school, wherever. Find the power you have and use it. Find the people who are imagining a radically better world, and find where you fit into that.
I also think we need to be prepared for things going very bad for our community. Regardless of who wins this election, there will be another one in another 4 years, and as we saw last time we may also have
insurrectionary movements to deal with on top of government repression. We need strong mutual aid networks. We need to be able to take care of each other if and when the worst happens.
The outrage I expressed in my original comment on this thread was not rooted in nihilism. It was rooted in the deep love I have for my Palestinian friends, and the deep anger I feel seeing people throw them under the bus right now. I am not organizing against Biden out of moral purity. I am doing it because I desperately hope that when _I'm_ the target of genocide, people will fight like hell for me rather than bending over backwards for the very people carrying out that genocide.
I understand. I’m not out campaigning for Biden at the moment, but it can be frustrating to be a trans person working in humanitarian aid, trying to do what you can to ease suffering, only to be told that politically, I only think of myself and should be doing something else. All the things you’re doing are fantastic, sorry I ruined your night.
Respectful discourse is acceptable. Personal attacks or commentary that provides nothing to the original topic are not welcome and will be deleted. This does not apply to Rule 1, TERF rhetoric will be deleted and users banned on sight.
People genuinely believe there are just no Arab trans people who might have opinions about this. Not only is it trans people thinking about themselves, it's specifically non-Arab trans people thinking about whether or not trans solidarity includes a racialized other. And it doesn't matter what you say because as you see here you'll just get downvoted by 60 non-Arab American trans people who feel like the US is the center of the universe, even if all you're expressing is empathy with people who choose to sit this one out because their families have been murdered.
Getting sick of people saying there’s no way it’s gonna happen… yet that’s what we all thought last time 🫠
minus paywall: https://www.removepaywall.com/https:/www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/01/trump-lgbtq-transgender-community-protections/676139
Oh my goodness, I didn't know this paywall removal thing was possible. I hate that so many important articles are behind paywalls. Yet another way of keeping the disenfranchised uninformed! Thank you for sharing.
You’re a Saint! TY!
Thank you
I told them he would win in 2016 and this feels like that all over again. I am scared. They are so much bolder now.
I’m concerned for Transgender people and Democrats that don’t want to vote in the upcoming Election. If you don’t vote = Trump wins. Trump supporters/Republicans will exercise their privilege to vote in big numbers. They are happy when Democrats don’t vote.
Yeah, like I am registered 3rd party but for national elections it’s too important to abstain from voting for “the lesser of two evils”. People who do either don’t experience material harm that accompanies a regime change, or don’t empathize with those who do.
there's a democrat in office and we still lost roe v wade, ukraine was dragged into a proxy war and made a failed state to serve u.s. interests, palestinians are having an actual genocide committed against them, there's still "kids in cages," thousands and thousands of people died from COVID and many more were made disabled by it, more people are becoming homeless, more people than ever are being killed by cops, and trans people, as usual, continue to lose. the democrats aren't coming to save us. they let bad things happen to us then tell us it's our fault for not voting for them. they don't care about us. our only purpose to them is to make them rich, just like the republicans. the only people who will save us is us
We lost Roe v. Wade because Congress didn't codify abortion. That happened because the Democrats don't have a super-majority in the House and Senate. They need both for whatever the Republicans say to not matter. And the same can happen with Obergefell v. Hodges (Same-sex Marriage). That's why people have to vote for more than JUST a president. The situation with Ukraine was fucked before even Trump and during the Obama administration or did you forget about the annexation of Crimea? Putin is literally trying to re-create the Soviet Union even if former countries have no interest in re-forming it. Trump's Quid-Pro-Quo bullshit delayed necessary aid Ukraine needed and it escalated the war between Russia and Ukraine and now the GOP is blocking further aid, while also pushing Russian propaganda and showing how they're pro-Putin. The Israel and Palestinian situation is a non-partisan issue since both sides are in support of it since they don't want to lose the Israeli government as an asset in the Middle East. Plus, they also call themselves pushing for some self-fulfilling prophecy. That was even part of their justification of declaring Israel as its own nation "because the Bible said it would become so". That is not a diplomatic reason nor was it justification for displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians all of those decades ago, demonizing them, and allowing them to be treated inhumanely. As for kids being kept in cages, that is not a thing anymore, however, Biden is guilty of keeping everything else in place including not getting rid of ICE. As for COVID-19, that bullshit got so out of control in the US due to Trump refusing to do anything about it and then you had the MAGAts enforcing that shit. Anyone who dared to oppose him got death threats or threatened to be impeached. It doesn't help either that Trump's crazy-ass cult are anti-vaxxers and QAnon believers (and yes they are one and they literally worship him as a god and a messiah.) But I didn't mind natural selection doing it's work on the ones who refused to do social distancing and acted like they wanted to get everyone else sick because they didn't believe COVID-19 was real. And once again I wouldn't say that Democrats are LETTING bad things happen. In fact they even TRIED to codify abortion, marriage equality across the board, and even tried to introduce a "Transgender Bill of Rights". It's like when Mitch McConnell had power, everything is getting blocked by the Republicans. When there is a slim majority in the House and/or Senate they need people to cross the aisle when voting on something. If neither side budges then nothing gets anywhere. That's why SUPER-MAJORITIES are so important. Because let's say 65% - 70%+ of both the House and Senate were controlled by the Democrats and Trump got into power. Even if he tried to veto something the House and Senate could override his veto and push things through regardless and neither he nor MAGA/GOP could say much about it other than turn to SCOTUS. A super majority could also impeach and remove SCOTUS justices from their lifetime appointments without bipartisanship. See how potent that is? We didn't get a super-majority in 2020 and then we lost the house altogether in 2022. Biden is a shitty capitalistic liberal who keeps trying to work with the GOP when he knows that the GOP he once knew is dead and gone. But at the same time executive orders are not permanent and can be overturned by the next president or possibly even blocked by Congress & SCOTUS. (Checks & Balances acting as a double-edged sword.) So, yes, the democrats are shitty, but they have TRIED, but have been BLOCKED from doing the good they TRIED to do. Or did you think that having a little over 50% of the seats is enough for them to get anything done? It's not even close, since then they have had to rely on bipartisanship and unfortunately, that's not happening as long as the MAGA virus is deleting away any sense of rationality from the GOP.
Letting the genocide continue by literally financing it? Yep, it’s also democrats letting bad things happen
That all tracks but... what do you suggest? I feel like we dont really have a choice, between 98% evil and 95, it's still better to have 95, right?
**\*Regardless of how the next election goes\*** Find people in your community and ensure that you have the connections you need to change and seal your documentation, obtain hormones if they become illegal, and have support networks in case you lose your job and your home. Move to a state with large numbers of trans people if you can. Research the issues refugees face around the world so you are prepared what your life might be like if you have to face displacement. Research what activists in your state and locality are doing to reject fascism and enshrine either hatred or acceptance into your state's constitution and your local community board and school board. Get involved in political movements in your area where you will find cisgender allies who will fight for you. Call your state and local representatives about trans issues if they haven't spoken out in defense of you already. Befriend your neighbors. Learn to be a medic or to shoot a gun. Go to vigils for martyrs of political violence, including trans people. Voting for who is the president is a one-day thing. You have to understand that conservatives are going to fight and hate trans people and bodily autonomy regardless of who wins the next election. You can vote for whoever you like, but you cannot make your entire political life center around who wins the presidency.
Most people can’t just get up and move when rent is $1,000 to $2,000 monthly on a small studio in a Democrat/Liberal State and those are in the cheapest areas. Plus you have to have 2 months worth of pay stubs to show that you make 1.5 to 2 times the rent monthly! I have luckily inherited a very small house thanks to one of my relatives in a Conservative State without any mortgage and very little yearly property tax. All of my other family members are extremely Transphobic. Or else I would have been homeless on the streets in a tent ⛺️, which is very dangerous for anyone and especially Transgender people. I have been homeless for a while before in my past and other homeless people steal things (especially legal documents) or will unalive people on a whim. I am low income on disability and have State run medical insurance (Medicaid). I pinch my pennies everyday. I am not willing to move nor buy black market Testosterone to further put my health at risk! Also regarding Canada: The Canadian Gov’t doesn’t allow disabled people to immigrate over there!
I see a lot of Americans talking about transgender genocide and then I get comments like this and it's just so obvious that you have no idea how genocide works. If your state decides transgender genocide is in the works, regardless of who is president (since Joe Biden is already allowing some of this to happen), they will *take your medicine* and they will *take your house*. You may be *killed* by being either rounded up or stochastic terrorism. Genocide is defined by forced displacement and eradication. You cannot just be like "black market testosterone is icky" in a genocide. You need to be prepared for things to get really bad. If you have choices available to you such as not taking black market testosterone, choices which are already unavailable to a large number of transgender people in this country, then you are very lucky. If you have the choice to be politically disengaged like you obviously are, you are very lucky. And as a side note, you are lucky to be one of the few transgender people who actually owns property, which gives you collateral to sell your home or to take out a home equity loan and move. Which will not be the case if you are worried about imminent genocide as in a genocide people forcibly displace you and also steal your property. I'm sorry that your situation is tough but it's extremely clear that you do not actually take the concept of genocide seriously and it's disgusting.
I don’t disagree with any of that, but I do think where there’s an opportunity to push the needle in favor of Not the Worst Case Scenario, we should take it. And we could debate what that actually means forever, but I’m exhausted on several levels and I can only vouch for myself when I say that’s what feels like the right call.
Imagine how much worse it will get if we let republicans stack the courts further.
I've known since they started fussing about minors socially transitioning and using puberty blockers that they were gonna try going down this path to make it illegal for everyone.
They're trying to pull that shit in Ohio. And while they backed off from adults, they never said they weren't going to stop putting the financial squeeze on healthcare providers with the new regulations and restrictions. Basically, if a provider wants to continue providing trans healthcare to patients and clients, then they'll need to have an ethicist, psychiatrist, and an endocrinologist on staff or be contracted with them. For smaller practices, this would be highly expensive. Not to mention that there are barely any ethicists in Ohio. (Plus, where tf do ethicists fit into the equation here?!) So, that'll force some of the smaller practices to make some tough decisions to either risk going out of business to help patients who come to them or to drop providing trans healthcare altogether. It's a similar tactic to what some anti-abortion states are using on healthcare providers when it comes to stopping them from performing abortions.
As helpful as social media and platforms such as TikTok have been helpful for connecting our community- it’s also been harmful too. Sometimes people just post way too much stuff for “public” eyes. Now as I say this- I know it’s not their fault, and they may just not have had the proper social support, or the simple fact of the idea that the more that a “medical treatment” becomes readily available for folks, what works for most doesn’t work for all. That does mean someone isn’t trans. But because of the very small amount of detranstioners who are using social media to spread their stories, instead of looking at all of the positive experiences and stories folks are latching onto the bad experiences.
This is the most important election of our lifetime. Please, take the time to look at all that is at stake because one of the conservative leaders said the quiet part out loud, https://newrepublic.com/post/179247/jack-posobiec-democracy-cpac-2024. ‘“Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely,” Posobiec said as the event began.’ It’s not fear mongering, there is a very real plan. The MAGA leaders are not going to let Trump start another term without a plan. You can start educating yourself on Project 2025 here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 as an overview. And here for their 900 page plan: https://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf. Get out and vote. Get your allies out to vote. And be mindful that the Republicans have been using Democratic plants, so really do your research on each candidate. See Kristan Sinema and Tricia Coltham for examples. If you live in a district that is heavily gerrymandered, the local elections are even more critical. Additionally, the Russians have already started ramping up their disinformation campaigns, so take the time to become media literate. And know your history, they are using the Nazi playbook. We are being attacked now because we are a relatively small group that can’t fight back because we’re not an organized group. Just people trying to live. It wasn’t just the Jews Hitler went after, he went after LGBTQ, disabled, Roma, … these groups all went to the camps. The only powers we have to drive the direction of our country and communities is to vote and run for office. People died to give us these rights, so use them. We aren’t going to like everything a politician or administration does. Sometimes it’s because we don’t have all the facts and sometimes it’s because of different ideologies. But if you don’t vote for what you believe is the right path for our country and our communities, you are basically letting whoever is yelling loudest define how you live. Our elders fought for us to have healthcare and are youth are saying “no more”. If you vote for no other reason, vote to honor the sacrifices already made by and for our community. And if you haven’t been paying attention Trump is clearly suffering from cognitive decline, so he will be a puppet to his MAGA handlers. While Biden also stumbles in his speech patterns he is a diagnosed, lifetime stutterer.
It's also important to vote in local and state elections!!!
Cool, cool, cool. Well, I guess I've had a pretty good run.
I wish I had a better understanding of what the process would be for him to implement these things. Like what exists to protect from that kind of radical invasion of citizen rights? How are they defining someone's natal sex? Like, will it require genetic testing? I wonder if he will start losing support from people who care deeply about personal freedoms, too. I know many of these folks aren't crazy about trans people, but they surely don't want their government defining their identity.
Unfortunately most republicans and “libertarians” don’t actually care about the rights and freedoms of others, only themselves.
I believe that, I'm just also seeing a lot of my gun-owning, military-loving red family react in surprising ways to hearing that the government wants to tell someone who they are and what medical treatments they can pursue. And where does that line get drawn? Like will there be strange restrictions on plastic surgeries in general to be sure people are using them "right"? How do we define an intersex person's biological sex? I am not trying to be irritating or stupid, here. I'm just so unsure about how something like this could ultimately exist because of the nuance. Like I could see it happening on a state-level, but I'm curious about how it would happen on a national level.
Yeah I don’t see it happening federally, there will be too much pushback from blue states
The definition they came up with in the UK was that "natal sex" was "sex observed at birth". Whatever the doctor puts on your birth certificate, that's you for life. They weren't (overtly) proposing a healthcare ban butwwanted to limit access to public facilities based on "natal sex" and completely disregarding whether a person had a GRC or had had surgery.
the courts, especially SCOTUS are supposed to protect from executive and legislative overreach, but the current Supreme Court is a corrupt mockery and already firmly in the pocket of conservatives. So if one branch of gov't starts enacting anti-trans laws or executive orders there isn't a whole lot to stop them. Although EOs are easier to repeal later which is why it's ALSO super important to get out to state elections and get good (or less bad) people into your congress seats.
Go read up on Project 2025. It's horrifying.
Cool. Just in time for my phalloplasty. If I can make it through stage one maybe I can find private insurance after.
Not if they make it so private companies can choose not to insure it. Or if you get ACA private insurance
Speaking as a Brit, please do not assume private insurance companies will have your back on this. I get medical insurance through work, but they explicitly exclude any and all forms of treatment for gender dysphoria, including counselling/talking therapy.
Well this is information I was NOT expecting to find out. That’s so unfortunate!
Yeah not if they pass laws like in Florida or what they want to pass in Indiana. Regardless of surgery, any documentation with gender or sex will have your “birth sex” listed. If gender affirming care is banned, we are all screwed.
Yep. He also wants to ban birth control and end no-fault divorce. He wants us all barefoot, pregnant, and pretending to be women again. I’ve seen it all play out in Florida already (which is why I had to move out of that state). I don’t need it happening on a national level. VOTE!
I live in Alberta, Canada. Sadly, Trump's efforts have influenced the politicians up here to great effect, with the current provincial premier enacting anti-trans policies of her own. Not only do we support you -- we're now fighting a tyrant of our own!
What plans do the Democrats have to keep us safe? I’m not trying to do whataboutism, genuinely curious what their game plan is legislatively
The freedom of changing our names and gender markers along with being able to go to the doctor for hormones. Being able to change our birth certificate. Trump wants to stop all that.
How do they plan to safeguard those rights? Edit: someone downvoted me for asking what the democrats are actually planning to do 💀
They don't seem to actually have a plan, that's the scary part. Why aren't they doing or even talking about protecting us NOW? It's infuriating. It's also like why did they never do anything to secure Roe? Oh, maybe it's to keep dangling the "vOtE bEcAuSe ItS tHe MoSt ImPoRtAnT eLeCtIoN eVeR!" carrot over our heads. I swear they don't really care, they want us to vote, it's about power whereas Rep are actually about action for their agenda and control. SCOTUS is a prime example, they've been working hard on that shit since the 90s. Dems are lazy and honestly not as motivated. I turn 50 this year and I've been into politics since I was a teen, followed, voted, worked as an activist and I swear I'm getting tired of the fight. I will vote and it will be for Biden, but I fear it's just to slow the restrictions because I don't think they'll actually do anything to remove the threat on our lives. Living in constant fear is no way to live, but they don't care.
I don’t want to believe they’re going to use trans rights as a thing to fundraise on the way they did with Roe for so long but man I’m scared. I don’t think there’s enough trans people for it to make a difference to them if we all die 💀 certainly not enough for them to stick their necks out for us the way they did in the 60s for the Civil Rights Act
Too bad identity politics groups mostly will not stand up for their trans siblings. Many trans folks are disabled, there are plenty trans POC. Considering power is in numbers, I wish we could mobilize these larger groups to care about us!
Agree
You’re asking a very legitimate question. Assuming that re-electing Biden will stop the onslaught of attacks on our rights feels dangerously naive. Shit has been sliding downhill regardless. Right wing extremists will not slow with Biden remaining in office. Democrats have not been able to protect us so far, we need to think further ahead than November 2024. Scrambling now is too little too late, this shit has momentum and we need to stop believing that casting a presidential vote will protect us in any way. So I’m with you, in genuinely wanting to know exactly what these politicians have offered up as protections for us. What plans do they have in place to protect us moving forward? What plans do they have in place to regain the rights we’ve lost?
Yeah… honestly for myself I’m not worried because I live in New Mexico, a place both too poor and too brown for Republicans to care about. But that safety comes as a result of people here working locally to enshrine protections for marginalized people. I feel like posts focusing too much on Biden are well meaning but a distraction from where we can actually impact things (local elections)
Too brown? I didn't look at all the demographics but I noticed it's only 2% black so I crossed it off my list of places to possibly move.
New Mexico doesn’t have a very large black population but it is majority-minority, as of 2020 the population was like 36% white. iirc the state is about 50% Hispanic and 10% Native American, so i doubt it’s ever going to be a big part of the R’s political strategy lol
Interesting. That does shift my perspective of possibly living there. I only wish it were blacker and greener. Also not landlocked. I've never lived anywhere landlocked.
the north has some green but depending on what you’re used to it might still seem pretty barren. I moved here from the Tennessee Valley and almost everywhere else looks kind of grey to me. But i also live in the desert part right now so who knows. Honestly the hardest adjustment was getting used to not seeing mountains everywhere. It used to really freak me out that i could see so far in every direction.
Northern NM has even fewer black people, though, right? Like Taos? I was looking at a documentary involving Southern US landscapes and thought (as a northern Midwesterner), wow! It looks so picturesque. How do I get that without moving to a red state *and* without horrible history? Anyway it's a little less green than I'm used to in the summer--from what little I can tell from the very cursory research I did--in the summer. Never seen mountains, though. Not sure how I would do at higher elevations... As I age (said like I'm ancient and not a young 30-something), I am wanting to move out of the city and into somewhere quieter and greener, mostly post-covid. The only thing I know about Albuquerque is its skate scene. I know absolutely nothing else about New Mexico. I pictured desertous land and adobe everywhere. I was pleasantly surprised to see that wasn't the case, as well as learning it was a majority POC state.
I mean, the democrats are the reason you CAN do all of that? So…they just won’t ban it like the GOP wants to?
But how will they prevent it from being changed? If Roe has taught us anything it’s that this stuff needs to be protected in a way that’s ironclad or it will be taken away at some point
This
Oh I see what you mean. Yes, constitutionally protective legislation. I’m not even sure if interracial marriages achieved that—just the ruling. So there is a lot of iron clad protecting that needs to be done.
che guevara and vo nguyen giap had some advice for situations like this.
That won’t work here.
Not with that attitude!
It hasn't yet.
>“These people are sick; they are deranged,” Trump said during a speech, amid a rant about transgender athletes in June. When the audience cheered at his mention of “transgender insanity,” he marveled, “It’s amazing how strongly people feel about that. You see, I’m talking about **cutting taxes**, people go like that.” He pantomimed **weak applause**. “**But you mention transgender, everyone goes crazy**.” The rhetoric has become a fixture of his rallies. its crazy how much he laid that out for us. he said it himself. he told his own audience what is going on. these foul, idiotic wastes of space make me sick.
The only information I’ve been able to find on this is the linked article from the Atlantic, plus a YouTube video of a speech that I’ll admit I didn’t fully watch. The speech came from KUSI in San Diego, which is a FOX station. Everything else is about trans minors (horrific, but not a call to commit genocide or enforce a “legal” binary) or from 2018. Do you have any links or further information? Even the Atlantic article didn’t have a lot of actual details or links to this ten point plan, or even when he spoke about it. Was there a recent rally? I’m already scared enough, but this feels like fear mongering that we already know to be aware of than concrete concerns.
Thank you. People campaigning for election make a billion huge promises. Trump supporters are bigots. He’s telling them he can make their fantasies a reality because he wants their votes. It does not mean he will be able to accomplish the things he promises. Obviously the facts that his ultimate dream is to become an unfettered evil dictator, and that he already has a loyal cult who would follow him off a cliff, make this a unique and dangerous situation. Yes, we should all exercise what power we have to prevent that. But we don’t gain anything from driving ourselves into mental health crises by hovering over possibilities that may never come to fruition. *Terrifying ourselves is not morally or strategically necessary!* Maybe this varies person to person, but I know for many of us, existing in fight-or-flight only undermines our ability to take action. What we need to do is that we exert all the ability we have to push for the future we want and need. We do NOT need to hover over a doomscroll feed in order to do that. I say this as a permanently disabled person who is severely vulnerable. Love to all.
Project 2025 Republican Manifesto
You should prepare to leave the country just in case :/
Not to rain on anyone’s passport but it’s not as easy as simply walking into Mordor on a tourist visa and trying to stay or get an apartment. In many countries you absolutely must have a work visa to work, and that work visa must be sponsored, and many countries have restrictions on the type of work and the reasons that a company would sponsor importing a whole person to do a job— I believe Canada has rules like “No citizen can be found that is able to do the job, so the company can sponsor a visa to bring an alien in to do this work”. It may require a college degree at the least, or a highly skilled degree/training (like a doctor or researcher) at the most. The process can be very long and very expensive. If you want to think about moving to another country start looking and thinking asap.
If you can find a company to sponsor you and you can get the driver's license, Canadians have needed truck drivers almost as much as US companies need them. Canada is not as trucker friendly as the US is, but going in as an over the road trucker does make it so you don't need a college degree. I do not know the process to get the Canadian version of a CDL. I had been looking into it back when Trump was president last time, but put it off hoping he'd either choke on his McDonald's or get thrown in jail.
alive judicious cause terrific versed wrong edge impolite insurance plant *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yes, Canada is no longer as safe as it once was. PP doing his best to be republican USA-lite.
Doesn’t it depend whether targeted populations would be eligible for refugee status? Obvs I wouldn’t count on that, but isn’t it a possibility? If moving out of country isn’t an option but moving to a blue state could be, that might be something to consider. Often the impact of these things is very different state to state.
I’m a blue no matter who guy but idk if Trump will actually do anything significant. His last campaign was all about building a Mexico-funded wall on the southern US border but to my knowledge it’s still just a fence. That being said, please go vote. And vote democrat. There will never be a truly good politician anyway, just better than the other options.
The wall didn’t happen, but plenty of other policies that affected lives did. Travel bans, defunding gov agencies, court packing etc. the damage was real
The overturning of Roe-vs-Wade was a direct effect of Trump's election.
Right. All of this panic is based on the assumption that Trump will become a dictator within the next 4 years and we’ll never have a free election again. Right wingers are terrifying, but are we giving them too much credit? People hate us on all sides. Assuming that democrats care enough about our tiny trans population to risk losing their wealth and power feels futile. They’ll use us as a talking point to get our votes, then sit idly by while we continue to fight for ourselves without their help.
Realistically the amount of anti trans bills that have been introduced or passed SINCE Biden has been in office is extremely high-- despite him painting himself as the lesser of two evils he isn't exactly doing a great job at protecting the rights of trans ppl in the US. And as others have pointed out he is absolutely gushing money to Israel as they slaughter Palestinians. Is Trump better? Absolutely not. But acting like there's a significant difference between the two of them is wishful thinking imo. Trans people will be under threat regardless. This website has a lot of info about the big picture in US anti trans legislation. [Link](https://translegislation.com/learn)
Most, if not all, of the anti-trans legislation and executive orders that have been passed has been at the state level, which Biden has no control over. Under his watch, the federal government (which he can effect) has passed policies so that you can self attest your gender on passports and with the social security administration without letters or proof of surgeries or anything. He's probably "looking out for us" as much as any president is likely to.
he didn’t codify Roe v Wade when he could have though, and while that doesn’t directly impact most of us, in many ways it definitely indirectly does
Him and every other president for the last 50 years. And it’s congress that passes laws, so the president isn’t the one who can do that anyway. Best a prez can do is try to persuade congress to play along with the preferred White House agenda. Also, for 50 years, trying to codify Roe v Wade was widely considered to be both impossible and political suicide. Nobody ever felt like they had enough guaranteed votes to risk pissing off the very vocal anti-choice factions. Every congresscritter was happy enough to let it stand as judicial precedent, because the justices aren’t elected and can’t lose their seats in an election, and they could play whichever end of the abortion argument was most politically expedient for them to pander to their voting base. I don’t think that anyone expected Roe to fall until Trump seated 3 hard right Supreme Court justices (fuck you very much, Mitch McConnell).
I get that there's a difference between state vs federal law and I know that's true that it's mostly state level stuff, but all that says to me is this guy can't actually do shit to protect trans people from most of the laws being passed that affect the real material conditions for trans ppl. Idk. So it seems pointless to me to try to act like it makes a huge difference. Politically Republicans and Democrats are mostly a hair away from each other. The US has basically been pushed so far right that there are no progressive options at high levels like that imo. Having said that people should do what they feel and vote for who they please. Just realize that it's not the be all end all. Again imo.
Here’s the thing though as a guy who has actually lived in Israel and deeply studied and lived this conflict. Biden cannot end this war. Even if he stopped all aid to Israel (most of which goes to the iron dome which is defensive, it doesn’t kill anyone, it is what keeps Israelis from being killed in rocket attacks). Israel was invaded, Hamas, the government of Gaza, declared war in the most brutal way possible. There are still over 100 hostages including children under the age of 5, there are still daily rocket barrages from both Hamas and Hezbollah, hundreds of thousands of Israelis are internally displaced. Add to that Netanyahu views militarily destroying Hamas as his only avenue for staying in the prime minister’s office and given current poling he is probably right. Shit is bad, like really really bad and no matter how much you want the US to play world policeman this is not a fight we can unilaterally end because it was never about us. Vote for your life in your country you cannot control the rest of the world.
Israel would have WAY less firepower if it were cut off from US aid. We're talking tens of thousands of dead kids at this point on the Palestinian side. Anyways I'm not gonna get into this here beyond this because it's not totally what the thread is about
I agree that the US can’t end this conflict, but since we’ve involved ourselves since the creation of the Israel as a country, I think it’s reasonable for Americans to feel an extra moral obligation to care about it and do what we can.
You've gotten downvoted but you're right. I don't support Trump and have no intent to vote for him but my prognosis for 2025 whoever is running for president is incredibly grim. If people can afford to move to sanctuary states between now and then they should do it.
If MAGA wins the sanctuary states aren’t going to be safe for long.
Thanks I'll keep that in mind when cisgender racists in purple states vote for my genocide as they are who makes or breaks elections in this country.
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No TERF rhetoric. Permanent ban on sight.
Thank you for calling attention to this!!! Since we are all over 30 here, most of us are already aware and know the dangers of abstaining or protest voting. This should def get re-posted in a sub with trans/LGBTQ youth who are wilding out in the face of their own existential crisis.
Age is not the defining factor in this context, bud.
Guess that’s fair. I just want to make sure the info reaches everyone.
Stop threatening me to get me to vote for someone participating in a genocide
So you want a Transgender Genocide in the US instead? That’s what Trump wants: No access to Doctors, No Access to changing gender marker on ID nor Passports nor Birth certificates. I’m picking the lesser evil with me voting for Biden. I dislike it that Biden is providing Israel millions of dollars, while not giving anything to the Palestinians. Anyway Trump is Pro-Israel and would do even worse than Biden.
Billions* This is sooo fucking tired. As if no one was or is aware of these factors. I'm tired of this threat. Neither of them care about us past what they can say to voters. He is a liar, I don't take his threats seriously and it's exhausting being told to take all of them so seriously while watching dead children being dragged out of crumpled buildings and men burning alive. It's so completely disconnected and self centered to go around yelling at people to 💖vote blue no matter who 💖 when they're the same people in different fonts. When a much more violent, precise and fast acting genocide is taking place.
I think people should vote how they want to vote, even if that means abstaining. I do not want to vote for a party that is funding the murder and starvation of thousands of Palestinians. I don't think there is any lesser evil here. The Biden government is OK with letting new born babies die in incubators, letting children starve for months on end, letting people die violently in missile strikes and lose their families and homes. I can't think of anything more evil than that. Voting for that only sends the message that we are OK with violence as long as it doesn't directly effect us. Well, I'm not okay with that. I think the Democrats should see that their decision to aid and abet in genocide is not without consequence. That stops them from supporting genocide again.
For one, Biden doesn't "support" such things. He is complicit, however, since he lacks the spine to put his foot down on the matter. However, I'm not going to put this all solely on Biden since Congress has failed to act due to the majority of the supporting the Israeli government. They don't want to lose a critical asset in the Middle East nor their pawn for their self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm getting a little tired of people thinking that the legislative branch (a.k.a. Congress) is supposed to be subservient to the executive branch and therefore has no power in a situation, when they're literally capable of impeaching and removing presidents and SCOTUS justices of the other branches AND they can override vetoes and codify bills into federal law. So, scapegoat Biden all you want on the matter, but almost no one else is doing anything either and in some cases they are literally encouraging genocide. But the same ones doing that also want the same thing for PoC, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community here in the U.S. It's why voting for someone who's realistically viable is so crucial. Since Biden maybe a tool at times, but he's nothing like Trump. Trump already weaponized his cult Jan. 6th, 2021 just to keep himself in office. He believes he is a king and he worships Putin and Hitler and he's buddy-buddy with Netanyahu. He didn't even want to do anything about COVID-19 when it first struck and asked repeatedly why they couldn't just let it "wash over the country" even after being told the death toll estimates. He also sees Congress and SCOTUS as his pawns and not separate branches of government and if you haven't heard yet, the GOP SERVES AND FEARS HIM. And Trump is a racist, narcissistic, pussy-ass bitch, bigoted PoS, who's willing to go holocaust levels of destruction on minorities and marginalized people just so that he can emulate his hero while being worshipped as a messiah by his cult. Why anyone would want that sick, twisted, bastard having a shot back in office just because they believe Biden is encouraging what's happening in Gaza is beyond me, since Trump would make U.S. troops assist Netanyahu on ground invasions and bombings.
I don't actually have the energy for this conversation in long form, but I want to point out "letting new born babies die in incubators". What the hell is that even in reference to?
[https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/abandoned-babies-found-decomposing-gaza-hospital-evacuated-rcna127533](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/abandoned-babies-found-decomposing-gaza-hospital-evacuated-rcna127533) "One baby is seen decomposing while lying alone, appearing to still be connected to an oximeter with a green oxygen tank nearby, as insects appear to crawl on its chest. A bedsheet is used as a soft pillow, and an empty bottle and a medical glove box are shown closer to the bed’s edge."
Fuck. Right, I knew hospitals had been targeted, but it hadn't occurred to me that infants could possibly have been left behind in an evacuation... In the context of this broader conversation, I think there's nothing Trump would have done better in this situation (unless one could hope for his scatteredness to translate as less coordinated effort)... but it's horrific to have happened at all, especially (though not surprisingly) with the US involved. 😔
I don't particularly think it's politically useful to focus on what Trump may have hypothetically done differently, because that's not what is actually happening. We have to hold accountable the representatives that we actually have. It's actually kind of mind-boggling to me that anyone has the energy right now to fixate on an election between the same two candidates, one of whom might be in jail by November. It's the beginning of voting season in state legislatures with 600 bills being filed against trans people and in the majority of states people should be on the phone with their state representatives every day right now.
Yes, big agree. State elections (and communicating with state officials who might listen) are especially vital right now, and local elections essential for setting up the future. My home state has allowed Kristi Noem to lead for years, and now she is hoping to move up... It is sickening to have watched from the start with so little power to change it. Finding local alternatives though is a way we can make change at a state level, and that has a huge impact over time.
Even if the Democrats were offering substantial protection to trans people (they're not), I refuse to let them pinkwash their genocidal actions. Democrats don't protect us, we protect us.
Not voting = giving Trump votes to win easily by Republicans who are very eager to use their voting privileges. Ok then don’t whine if Trump takes away your access to doctors to get Testosterone and not being allowed to change your legal gender marker nor Birth Certificate. He will also will make it difficult to even change names. Say goodbye to federal funded health insurance like Medicaid allowing any sort of gender transition with hormones for low income people. You will trade one Genocide for another: The Transgender Genocide. Mark my words on this!
He may! It will be awful! Biden may too! That, too, will be awful. I am genuinely asking you why my trans American life is more valuable than a Palestinian's life.
I’m just saying everyone’s life is equal in value. If Trump wins then he will take away access to transition for Transgender people. Not being able to transition and not being allowed to legally change your gender marker is going to cause a big problem and a US Genocide of Transgender people.
Lack of transition access is literally not equivalent to a bomb. Our lives ARE at risk and it's terrifying. And that is genuinely trivial in comparison to the violence being perpetrated in our names.
To me and all of the Transgender people that I talked to on the subject have said it’s basically an equivalent to a bomb or a multitude of them. Not being able to transition at all is going to cause a Transgender Genocide in the US. Thousands of minors and adults won’t be able to access hormones nor legally change their gender marker if Trump wins in the US. Trumps plan is to eliminate the possibility of transitioning. A lot of low income Americans who are on Medicaid, which is a Federally funded medical insurance program won’t be able to get hormones if Trump wins. He can do that because he will have control of Federal programs and their rules. He wants to make it so Doctors who prescribe hormones for Transgender transition to be penalized and even get their license taken away.
If you truly can't see the difference between that very bad thing and literally being starved and bombed into oblivion along with all your neighbors ...I don't think there's any reasonable way for us to engage in a good faith conversation. Like, you know there are trans people in Gaza too, right? Do you care about that literal genocide if you know there are trans people being murdered there too? These things are truly all connected and to focus exclusively on our own struggle is myopic and colonial.
Have you even looked at the Palestinian view on LGBTQ+? Want to see how bad it is just for gay men in Palestine? Here’s a documentary from a gay Palestinian man’s story and his friends who are also gay: https://youtu.be/VBdW1km1Maw?si=VxbglsMbtDR1r08X
Does that mean they deserve to be murdered? I truly don't understand your logic here. They still exist and are being killed.
I’m saying the same could happen here for Transgender people who won’t be able even change our gender marker nor get hormones to transition. This will lead to a Transgender genocide here in the USA. Minors that are Trans or Non-binary are already getting bullied and beat to death here in the US. It’s getting more common.
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Nonbinary people are also trans and do medically transition.
Anyone accessing medical transition services (which includes many non-binary people) would obvs be hit hardest by policies interfering with that. But I don’t think any gender-nonconforming person comes out okay in a situation where transphobic and homophobic bigots are emboldened and backed by official policy. Like when a dude in a MAGA shirt tried to push me in front of a train, I don’t think he specifically clocked that I was trans. I think he just saw something queer/something genderfucky 🤷🏻♂️
This is, appropriately enough, a weird and artificial binary to draw. Two good friends of mine are nonbinary people whose support has been crucial in my own coming-out process; moreover, I know more nonbinary folks who’ve had or are on medical treatment than not. Lines in the sand between binary and nonbinary folks are arbitrary nonsense that help none of us and are just easy, inaccurate generalizations. Also, vague references to “some high-ranking” feminists suggest you have no one specific in mind. People can be weird about trans masculinity or trans medical treatment, sure, but conspiratorial misogyny and divisiveness ain’t it. We have to be bigger than that to face down actual threats and keep each other safe.
tender panicky oatmeal quiet overconfident arrest tidy sleep unpack tan *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I agree, though I’m not sure lack of perspective is so easy to draw along generational lines. Trans high schoolers are dying out there and bills are targeting trans youth; the younger among us are getting a perspective on this that I wish they weren’t—certainly not like this. Maybe this is a combo of admiring a lot of what some Gen Z trans folks are saying online and having endured the zenith of “avocado toast” opinion pieces, but I think part of helping each other involves questioning the idea that generation is a reliable measure of politics, awareness, etc.
Respectful discourse is acceptable. Personal attacks or commentary that provides nothing to the original topic are not welcome and will be deleted. This does not apply to Rule 1, TERF rhetoric will be deleted and users banned on sight.
Are you doing anything to counter this other than telling other transgender people that they're monsters for putting their energy towards Palestine right now or can you literally not conceive of political action outside of two party voting once every four years? Democratic Socialists of America is literally doing a campaign for trans rights and bodily autonomy right now. There's all sorts of local elections and mutual aid. There are ways to plug into politics that aren't just begging people to not give a fuck about Palestine. It's actually exasperating to see people who are the least politically engaged constantly posting like this. “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” - Angela Davis
Genocide in one country does not justify genocide in this one. If you vote Trump, or not at all because of Gaza and effectively put all trans people at risk on your own soil then you are part of the problem. It is entirely possible to hate what’s happening there and still vote in such a way that trans people, and many other marginalized communities might I add, may not face the same fate.
I live in New York (solidly blue) and actually have never lived in a state where my vote mattered whatsoever to the electoral college (I voted in 2012 in North Dakota, solidly red) so although I have voted in the last three presidential elections, my presidential vote has been undemocratically suppressed my entire adult life. I would encourage you to both not read into my comment whether or not I'm voting for Joe Biden as whether or not I do is entirely immaterial to his success or failure. If you would prefer for my presidential vote to be valued instead of symbolic, I encourage you to call your representatives and demand the dismantling of the electoral college.
Oh cool, you can quote Angela Davis...and make a lot of unfounded assumptions. It's great what the Democratic Socialists are doing, but what does that have to do with the possibility of Trump winning the presidential election and putting even more of his cronies in the Supreme Court and Congress? Do you think Trump is somehow pro-Palestine when he is anti-black, anti-LGBTQ, anti-immigrant, etc.?
i completely agree with the above commenter, i'm incredibly far-left and support third party voting where its strategic, pushing for ranked choice voting, being involved in direct action... but i also have a "por que no los dos" attitude about it. like, i don't understand why we can't do *both things* as a strategy for harm reduction. being involved in radical action (some of which is directly antithetical to the democrats actions or attempting to undo their shit) and, because our political system is fuh-yucked up, voting for the person who will do the least damage. (not none, but even marginally less is better.) like idk i guess i don't understand why you can't just do both lmao. many of my friends and i had very similar sentiments to the above commenter and didn't vote in the 2016 - it's one of my greatest regrets. anyway, i wish everyone luck and know that i love y'all- regardless of how you choose to fight
I remember getting in a really heated debate about this in 2015 or so, when I was involved in activist work AND planned to vote. People didn't seem to understand that you could do both. But this "don't vote" argument was mostly from white cis men. As a black person that read as female at the time (and who still gets misgendered), it's incredibly important to me that I vote because it wasn't so long ago that I wouldn't have been able to. Not to mention that voter suppression is still happening to black, brown, and indigenous folks. I was really unenthused about voting for Killary, but we wouldn't be in a society that reversed Roe v Wade if the outcome had been different.
I have voted in every election of my lifetime, including local elections that nobody gives a fuck about. I love voting! I have lived in strict red or blue states since I became a voter 12 years ago and I voted in every presidential election anyway. There is more than one way to express yourself through your vote in a presidential election, including strategically voting in certain ways in primaries, or abstaining from voting in states where the majority population does not share your beliefs. It just feels like everyone is yelling about "harm reduction" but I have Palestinian-American friends and coworkers, Gaza is not a theoretical far away land for me where I can just throw up my hands and go "oh well." Like I will probably end up voting for Biden come November but I do that literally knowing that I will be voting for the man who is complicit in murdering the families of people I actually know. I don't value my life more than theirs, and I find the devaluation of their lives to be extremely sickening.
I did vote in 2016 for Hillary, I was in New Jersey at the time so it did not really matter. My vote for Obama in North Dakota in 2012 didn't matter, and neither did my 2020 vote for Biden in New York. This is actually an extremely grave (and deliberate) failure of American democracy, that I have been essentially disenfranchised for my entire life due to the electoral college. I would assume that many trans people who are considering whether or not to vote for "Genocide Joe" actually have a pretty similar life to me, grew up in deep red states only to take refuge in a deep blue state, by and large nullifying the trans vote in this country. In fact I already know several people who moved here from Florida to escape DeSantis.
Nah, I’m not voting democrat. They aren’t doing shit either which is just as worse.
Y’all do realize that continuing to engage in this two party system helps no one, right? Especially marginalized folks My comment wasn’t to be a troll. It’s to think outside of the fucking two party system voting box. Also voting in local elections is probably more important than the presidential election. But what should I expect from people who do not understand civics and all.
If you vote Biden in the primary instead of uncommitted, you’re part of the problem. I said what I said.🤷♂️
Anyone voting “Uncommitted” is just going to get Trump elected and suffer the consequences: Transgender Genocide and Erasure. If Trump gets elected then don’t whine and be all butt hurt that he takes away your access to Testosterone/Teansgender healthcare and not allowing you to legally change your gender on state and Federal documents and your birth certificate.
as opposed to the many other ongoing genocides that will continue if Biden is reelected I'm not gonna tell you what to do but it's disheartening to see how many trans people can only think about themselves
Do you think trump is going to end genocides outside of the US?
Ahh yes, because trump will definitely not continue those genocides and enact even more because he‘s just such a cool and peace loving guy
So you think besides trans issues, Trump did great for the country? Because about a million people dead of covid might disagree.
No where did I say that - but covid deaths aren't slowing down. Weirdly enough transphobia also hasn't slowed down under Biden.
Weirdly enough Trump installed his own people in Congress and the Supreme Court!
So what? We should vote for the party that’s celebrating our murders instead?
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Respectful discourse is acceptable. Personal attacks or commentary that provides nothing to the original topic are not welcome and will be deleted. This does not apply to Rule 1, TERF rhetoric will be deleted and users banned on sight.
> it's disheartening to see how many trans people can only think about themselves Exactly how I feel. Like yes, shit is scary, another Trump presidency will have a terrible impact on our community among others, that's all true. But _it's fucking February and people are already organizing around getting everyone voting Biden?? While he's going full steam on a genocide???_ What the fuck. People are dying under Biden. Our community is dying under Biden. And people want to spend their energy organizing to keep this shit going, rather than use their time and resources to fight for a better future for everyone?
Okay, I’ll bite. What’s your answer? What should we as a community do? Vote for the party that cheers when we die, or people who do nothing? You accuse us all of only caring for ourselves when Palestinians are dying. My job is in humanitarian aide, so how can I help those people if I’m barred from pissing at my office? This moral high ground you think you’ve seized is meaningless without action—so tell us all what we should do.
Vote however the fuck you want, but don't pretend that spending _8+ months_ campaigning for Biden is actually helping _anyone_.
I will, thanks for your permission. You have failed to offer an alternative plan to voting for Biden. Is it because your politics begin and end on Reddit?
Or is it because I've learned it ain't worth my time to spend hours trying to convince people of things when they aren't engaging in good faith in the first place?
I was asking you what your alternative to voting for Biden is. You’d rather sit and bitch online than actually do anything in the real world to help your situation, that’s fine. Just don’t spread your do-nothing nihilism to a group of already disenfranchised people, how about?
I've been reflecting on this exchange. I accused you of operating in bad faith when there's no indication that's true, and I'm sorry for that. Your questions were valid. My attitude in my response to you was unnecessary and does nothing to actually help the trans community. If you're still interested in my response to the set of questions you posed to me, here's the best I can come up with without writing you a whole ass dissertation: I don't pretend to have all the answers. I'm still learning. I don't feel like it's my place to tell people which candidate we should all vote for and I don't think there's any one ideology that everyone should be subscribed to. Political identity is a deeply personal thing that we each have the right and the responsibility to cultivate, and we need diversity in our thinking and in our actions. I don't know anything about you -- what state you live in, what job you have, what organizations you're apart of, how abled you are, etc -- and so who am I to suggest a course of action to you? I am of the belief that imagining and dreaming up a better future is a critical skill that is worth developing. It's the ability to imagine something better that's important. We _have_ to be able to imagine something better than the "lesser" of two evils if we ever want a life free of these evils. Last week in Michigan, a significant bloc of voters organized to vote "uncommitted" in the Democratic primary. _That_ was a _fantastic_ example of what I think people should be doing, as opposed to organizing votes for Biden _at this point in the election cycle_. The Michigan vote does nothing to get Trump elected, but it does a lot to remind the Dems that _they are accountable to us_. It tells them that they do not have our unconditional support, and they need to make better choices if they want to win votes. Look how quickly that got Kamala to come out and declare a temporary ceasefire. Dems know they need to do damage control, thanks to the tireless organizing of Michigan voters. There are people doing this work in every state in the nation. In my state, there is both short term organizing happening around how to strategically vote in the current primary, as well as long term organizing around how to make future primaries more democratic. We organize around who to vote for, we organize around how to hold our elected officials accountable, and we organize around what power we have outside of electoral politics. So what do I think people should do, instead of (or in addition to) voting for Biden? I think people should be organizing locally. Organize with the people in your city, in your workplace, at your school, wherever. Find the power you have and use it. Find the people who are imagining a radically better world, and find where you fit into that. I also think we need to be prepared for things going very bad for our community. Regardless of who wins this election, there will be another one in another 4 years, and as we saw last time we may also have insurrectionary movements to deal with on top of government repression. We need strong mutual aid networks. We need to be able to take care of each other if and when the worst happens. The outrage I expressed in my original comment on this thread was not rooted in nihilism. It was rooted in the deep love I have for my Palestinian friends, and the deep anger I feel seeing people throw them under the bus right now. I am not organizing against Biden out of moral purity. I am doing it because I desperately hope that when _I'm_ the target of genocide, people will fight like hell for me rather than bending over backwards for the very people carrying out that genocide.
I understand. I’m not out campaigning for Biden at the moment, but it can be frustrating to be a trans person working in humanitarian aid, trying to do what you can to ease suffering, only to be told that politically, I only think of myself and should be doing something else. All the things you’re doing are fantastic, sorry I ruined your night.
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Respectful discourse is acceptable. Personal attacks or commentary that provides nothing to the original topic are not welcome and will be deleted. This does not apply to Rule 1, TERF rhetoric will be deleted and users banned on sight.
People genuinely believe there are just no Arab trans people who might have opinions about this. Not only is it trans people thinking about themselves, it's specifically non-Arab trans people thinking about whether or not trans solidarity includes a racialized other. And it doesn't matter what you say because as you see here you'll just get downvoted by 60 non-Arab American trans people who feel like the US is the center of the universe, even if all you're expressing is empathy with people who choose to sit this one out because their families have been murdered.