Parker MolloyThere seem to be a number of pundits insisting that anything short of putting trans people in camps is not "an attack on trans people's rights."
Please understand how ridiculous that sort of characterization is.
Yes, efforts to make it impossible for trans people to get ID cards that list their updated name and gender marker are attacks on trans rights.
Yes, efforts to force people to use restrooms that correspond to their original birth certificates are attacks on trans rights.
Yes, efforts to criminalize or restrict transition-related health care and insurance coverage are attacks on trans rights.
Because here's the thing:
I do not care if someone believes "trans women are women" or not. I really, truly don't. People can believe whatever they want to believe, and others can believe whatever they want to believe about that person.
Responding "Biological sex is real!" is not actually an argument. I'm not at all interested in having a dumb, meaningless debate about that.
Yes, trans people should be able to update their ID documents. "But it says 'sex' and I believe sex is..." Nope, again, I do not care. That is not an argument here.
This is about finding a way for all of us to coexist.
If you make it so my ID has to have "M" on it, then you're making it so every single time I'm carded or every single time I get a job, that I have to out myself as trans to total strangers.
That is an invasion of my privacy. I don't give a crap about what you believe, I shouldn't have to out myself to strangers in public. It's a humiliating, dehumanizing experience.
The same goes for restrooms.
I assure you, I do not want to be in a public restroom unless I absolutely have to use it and it's an emergency. I go out of my way to avoid them when possible and opt for single-occupancy options whenever available.
But when it comes down to it, if there are two options, it makes *much more sense* for me to use the women's room.
Going, "Well, Rowling can't POSSIBLY be transphobic because she says 'dress how you want, call yourself what you want'" just demonstrates that both she AND the person making the claim, are dodging the point.
Sorry, but yes, if you believe that I should be forced to put myself as trans whenever I show my ID and that I should be forced to use men's restrooms, YOU ARE TRANSPHOBIC.
I'm sympathetic to arguments about prisons and shelters, etc. I get that it can be complicated and the goal is to ensure the safety of *everyone*
You're not making a trans woman "safe" by putting her in a men's prison. You're not making a trans woman "safe" by throwing her to the curb outside a shelter. There has to be a way forward that doesn't amount to "Full ban!" vs "No rules"
And putting a trans woman in solitary confinement simply for being trans isn't okay, either, as that's it's own additional sort of punishment.
But I do get that these are sensitive topics. And there need to be calm, reasoned discussions.
But that's not what Rowling or others say. Rowling has made it clear that she doesn't want trans women (no matter what medical treatments they've had) to be allowed to use public restrooms. She has repeatedly pretended that her concern is "self-ID," but doesn't say what she thinks *would* be enough treatment to allow trans people to update their documents. That has nothing to do with "self-ID."
Until Rowling openly says what standard people need to meet in order to update their ID documents and be able to exist in the world without fear of being harassed and stalked in restrooms, it's safe to assume that she thinks that there's no standard any trans person could possibly meet.
Why? Because she is transphobic. You can fall all over yourselves to say, "What?! How is that discrimination?! They don't want to eliminate you! You can always just go through life as a man!" but a.) THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS, and b.) This is the same as the "What? How is it 'discriminating' against gay people? They can get married already! Just to the opposite sex like everyone else!" defenses of a few years back.
So when Jonathan Chait or Andrew Sullivan roll their eyes at trans people warning about our rights being attacked, please understand that their bar for "attack" is literally just not being forced into camps. Yet.
Litzz11@parkermolloy Can someone please point out that Andrew Sullivan is one of the loudest shouters about "cancel culture," yet the state of TN just passed a law that makes drag shows ILLEGAL so hundreds of performers are now out of work. And that's NOT cancel culture?
Zac@Litzz11 @parkermolloy Sullivan has been one of the chattering classes most vocal opponents of anything that threatens the status quo for quite some time.
I just fail to understand what it is that is compelling folks like him to help propagate this fascist storyline.
Is it really that easy to push people like Sullivan into open fascism?
@lolzac @parkermolloy I remember he had a brief shining moment of liberal acceptance, I think it was back when W was president. How a gay man can be so blind to the intolerance other groups face is truly baffling.
@Litzz11 @parkermolloy Well he is a gay, white man. In my experience the only type of intolerance that they are against is intolerance against gay, white men. Oh and rich men. They don’t like that either.