#lgbtqnotgoingback

[shroompunk]

LGBTQ+ PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING BACK.

joining a moment over on bsky led by Julia Serano, you can read more about it here:

if you're an American, we need to make sure our lawmakers know--we won't tolerate them capitulating on queer rights.

Video description: Video of a man making rainbow colored lite brite art that reads "LGBTQ+ not going back". Text overlay on the video reads: "I love a bit of nostalia as much as the next guy, but some things just belong in the past. The US LGBTQ+ community is facing cruelty from hateful lawmakers hell bent on sending us back to a time we had no rights. But we cannot go back--and we won't go back. Stand up for LGBTQ+ rights, speak out for the community, contact your representatives, demand that they defend LGBTQ+ Americans. Let's leave the past where it belongs."

[thetransfemininereview]

When Rep. Sarah McBride ceded trans rights in Congress, I was moments from publishing an article against transphobia in her defense.

Today, I’m publishing both my original defense and a lengthy critique of it and Sarah’s actions as a part of Julia Serano’s #LGBTQNotGoingBack action.

[stjohnstarling]

My piece for @juliaserano's day of mass action:

This is a brief newsletter in support of the mass action proposed to take place on this date — December 3, 2024 — by Julia Serano (supremely influential transgender activist and author of Whipping Girl) in response to the US Democratic Party’s expressed intent to abandon trans people in the wake of the election of Donald Trump. Dr. Serano has asked that everyone with a platform who cares to do so to speak out against the Democrats’ capitulation to Republicans on trans policies, including, among other things, their proposed federal building bathroom ban.

Read it here!

[crossdreamers]

LGBTQ+ People Are Not Going Back

At the moment the Republican party in the US is trying to turn back the clock, using transphobia to force everyone to adhere to their antiquated ideas about gender roles and social structures. But LGBTQ+ people are not going back.

The fact is that a majority of Americans are not anti-trans per se. They may not understand trans people very well, but the majority do respect trans people's right to live the life they want.

The Republican campaign against trans people in the final weeks of the election was not based on the understanding that a majority of cis people hate trans people. They do not, and the Republicans understand that.

Who represents "the common people"?

This was rather a tactic used to portray the Democrats as a people who are more concerned about the interests of small, marginalized, groups than "the common people" or "the average American" or "the silent majority".

So by presenting the Democrats as the party of transgender people, the Republicans managed to make at least some believe that the Republicans were the party of the common people. As Trump put it: "Kamala is for they/them. I am for you."

This is plain nonsense, but given the lack of political knowledge among many Americans, this kind of rhetoric may shift a sufficient number of voters .

Do all Republicans hate trans people?

So does this mean that Republicans do not really want to erase trans people from the face of the Earth? That this is all a game, and that trans people have become convenient scape goats only?

Given that even Trump defended trans women's rights to use women's bathrooms not that long ago, and that Nancy Mace until recently presented herself as pro-LGBTQ, it is fair to say that for some Republican politicians this is mostly a cruel opportunistic game used to gain more power.

But a most of the people behind Project 2025 and American right wing Evangelicalism express pure transphobia. They really see the existence of trans people as a threat to their preferred social order.

They need to turn "biological sex" into the only gender marker, because their understanding of the relationship between men and women requires a God given or Nature given divide.

This divide is to be used to force people into different social roles with different types of power. If "a man can become a woman" that absolute divide falls apart.

This is why they have produced an endless number of anti-trans laws, all aimed at forcing trans people underground. If cis people cannot see trans people, they do not exist, and if they do not exist, they do not pose a threat to the social order.

Closed vs. open minds

It seems that history is an endless fight between the fearful ones, who cling to "tradition" and an imaginary past in order to handle the uncertainties of life, and open minded people, who respect diversity and the right of others to decide their own destiny.

We saw this in the campaigns to end slavery, in the women's' struggle for social equality, in the civil rights movement's attacks on racism, and in the gay liberation movement's fight against bigotry.

Every time the extreme traditionalists have done their outmost to keep other people down. They have had their victories, for sure, but in thriving democracies they have always lost in the end.

The haters will lose this time too. LGBTQ+ Americans are not going back.

Jack Molay

See also: Trump and the transphobes won in the US. But there are still ways trans people can win.

This article was written in response to Julia Serano's call to action.

[commiepinkofag]

Call to Action

LGBTQ+ People Are Not Going Back.

Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024 [the first day that both the House and Senate are back in session]

also, contact your representatives directly. you can find your reps with contact information: Find Your Members

[kitauthor]

LGBTQ+ People Are Not Going Back (The Evolution of an Author)

I grew up believing I was "bad at being a girl" and when I got older I was "bad at being female". It took me forty seven years to figure out that I was both neurodivergent (AuDHD among some others, thank you very much) and trans. Because growing up Gen X in a small Iowa town bullied to the point of it being  large part of my cPTSD, I sure as hell didn't fit in. You want to know where I did fit in? The barn where I boarded my heart-horse until our move. This barn didn't care that I didn't ride. This barn didn't care that all I did was ground work. I loved horses. I was a good boarder. I paid my bill on time. Sure, I was quirky and odd, but a lot of people at the barn are. That's part of the horse world, really. I'm not going back. I've thought about this a lot because living where I do (very rural Missouri), I go by my very gendered deadname in town. In town, I'm just one of many living on a homestead, who tries not to be around people. Sure, I'm a little odd, but as long as they don't know I'm transmasculine, then they can just think I'm really bad at performing femininity and that's not uncommon. Hard to have time for styling your hair or long nails when you're doing farm chores and if my clothes aren't fashionable, well that's okay too. I'd love to be out in town. I'd love to be known by my name like I am online. I'm probably blurring those lines a bit just by writing this blog, and there are some who say that I shouldn't be doing this on my writing blog. Except, my writing is full of queerness and found family and cozy and yes, horses and joy. I don't want to backslide any more. I went back to my deadname at college after the election, and it damn neared killed me. If I had any doubts that I was trans, any at all, the amount of rage and grief that action filled me with, burned those doubts to ashes. I am furious that I have to hide my true nature from hateful people. I am not going back because after nearly fifty years on this planet, I know who I am and I'm not bad at being a girl. I'm great at being me. In 2018, (I didn't know I was trans yet), my world was changing. I was caring for my mother after the medical community abandoned her to die, and I was burning out. Bad. I decided to write the stories I wanted to read, those horse stories for people who never grew out of being a "horse crazy kid". I imagined them as wine and barn books for forty-something ladies. I called them equestrian women's lit, and the barn was a haven. Five friends, two of them the lesbian couple who runs the barn. Dealing with single parenting and infertility. A rocky marriage and a relationship unsure of its next stage. Life stuff, really. The kinds of human stories that I'd like to think we can all relate to. I published Steady on Course and fourteen more books in the series. (Steady on Course is just 99 cents and available at most ebook outlets if you'd like to give it a shot.)I share this because writing this series gave me the courage not to go back...to writing cis het romance, which is what had burned me out on writing so badly. I went on to write a companion series, Cardinal Oaks, featuring a sapphic couple one member of which we meet in the Noble Dreams series. I dove into my fantasy, now which in addition to disabled characters, also features queer characters. (See the "click me" in the lower right-hand corner of your screen? That's a portal fantasy serial featuring a transman in a sweet gay polycule and UNICORNS, and I guarantee you the next books I have planned include other LGBTQIA+ characters). And yes, I shifted my romance writing, too. I'm not going back. I encourage you that if you're not going back to do a couple of things. First, contact your congress critters and let them know that they need to support protections for LGBTQIA+ people and if they don't, you'll take your vote elsewhere. If, like me, you're represented by people who very much do not represent your values, let them know the same thing, too. Second, if what I've said resonates with you, if you think you'd like my writing, then I strongly encourage you to check out Muse Happens, my membership group. I'm a disabled trans person who has been under employed for over a decade. If I can reach 50 subscribing members at the lowest paying tier ($5/month), then that will allow me to cover my mental healthcare costs as well as pay for the special food my senior heart-horse needs every month. (She's 25, which is old for a horse, and she has more years in her with some TLC.) I need help, because I don't want to go back. Read the full article

[the-lady-of-the-labyrinth]

[thetransfemininereview]

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate 🦃

I’ve got a cool printable zine of the Trans Literature Preservation Project to share with you today, but more importantly, Julia Serano has called for nationwide action on December 3rd to stand against the Democratic Party’s inaction and backsliding on trans issues. #LGBTQNotGoingBack. More details and links in the article ✊

[thetransfemininereview]

Sarah McBride, like many in our community, was profoundly failed by the silence of establishment Democrats on trans issues.

Just as the party refused to stand for us against the Republican ad blitz during the campaign, they refused to defend their own colleague against blatant discrimination.

I’ve seen many people prepared to throw Rep. McBride to the wolves over her inaction, and I understand that pain. I was gutted when I read Sarah’s statement.

But Rep. McBride and the Democratic Party still have the power to stand against bigotry and fight back further harm. They MUST do so.

I organized for the Dems in Pennsylvania this election, the “most crucial” swing state. I am twenty-three and already have this platform. I AM the future of the Dems, of my generation who want to see progressive politics succeed.

But I can’t support a Democratic Party who won’t support me. 🏳️‍⚧️

When Rep. Sarah McBride ceded trans rights in Congress, I was moments from publishing an article against transphobia in her defense.

Today, I’m publishing both my original defense and a lengthy critique of it and Sarah’s actions as a part of Julia Serano’s #LGBTQNotGoingBack action.

[thetransfemininereview]

Julia’s original article also has links to dozens of other #LGBTQNotGoingBack articles for those interested:

When Rep. Sarah McBride ceded trans rights in Congress, I was moments from publishing an article against transphobia in her defense.

Today, I’m publishing both my original defense and a lengthy critique of it and Sarah’s actions as a part of Julia Serano’s #LGBTQNotGoingBack action.

[the-lady-of-the-labyrinth]

Don’t forget to take action today

[thetransfemininereview]

To my audience: I would welcome you to share this article with your Representatives, or any other Democratic politicians who might listen. I’m no longer on Twitter, but those who are should feel free to repost this article and @ Rep. McBride with the hashtag #LGBTQNotGoingBack.

When Rep. Sarah McBride ceded trans rights in Congress, I was moments from publishing an article against transphobia in her defense.

Today, I’m publishing both my original defense and a lengthy critique of it and Sarah’s actions as a part of Julia Serano’s #LGBTQNotGoingBack action.