Tag Archives: human rights

Trans Rights are Human Rights

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Debbie says:

One of the right wing’s most potent strategies against us is their ability to keep moving the needle, and make it so hard for us to focus. The outrage of the day is surpassed by the outrage of the next day, and everyone’s eyes follow the action.

Thus, I want to be really sure not to lose track of the current administration’s claim that it will erase the existence of trans people altogether, using an executive order to declare that “genitals at birth” are a permanent marker of a person’s legal gender.

First, this hasn’t happened yet, though I have no doubt that it’s a genuine plan and they will try to make it happen.

Second, it’s impossible. Sports oversight bodies have been trying for decades to clearly and fairly identify sex and gender, and they have never succeeded. And they are dealing with adults. When the White House uses genitals “at birth,” they erase all kinds of intersex people, including those who are identified female at birth and then have testicles descend at puberty. It won’t work.

However, if enacted, this policy will cause endless pain, suffering, and discrimination to many of the one million or more trans and nonbinary people in the U.S., and will inevitably cause a large number of unnecessary deaths: from people who are unwilling to seek medical attention, from suicide, and more. It is a disgusting, inhuman policy–exactly what we expect from the current people in power in our country.

Since doing nothing is perpetuating evil, I commend Christianna Silva and Lucy Diavolo’s article in Teen Vogue, How to Help Transgender People Fight the Trump Administration’s Policy Memo.

First, they say, Vote! If you feel like you’re hearing this message a lot, it’s because (whether or not your heart is with the American two-party system), it’s the most important thing you can do right now to fight the nationalist, authoritarian movement trying to completely take over our country.

Next, reach out to your transgender and nonbinary friends:

If you have trans friends, cook them a meal, buy them a present, or visit their house to help with chores like laundry and cleaning — things that can fall by the wayside when you spend all day in bed crying. Demonstrating tangible support for trans people is a way to let them know they’re not alone.

Here, I’m going to depart from the order they present, because I think this is crucial. They say, donate directly to trans people, especially trans women of color.

Rewire.News reporter Katelyn Burns put out a call for crowdfunds on October 21, and it’s a great place to start looking for people whose lives you can impact now. Similarly, hashtags like #transcrowdfund on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Tumblr are full of folks brave enough to ask for help.

Note that last sentence; it does take courage to ask for help, and courage deserves response.

Then, call your representatives at the federal, state and local levels. This doesn’t work so much for me, because I live in the heart of the blue bubble (and to the left of the blue bubble) and all of my elected officials are in at least basic sympathy with trans people’s right to exist and thrive. But it might work for you, so take it seriously.

Educate yourself, then educate your friends and family.

Read up on transgender rights in the U.S. and across the world, and then send some of your favorite resources over to your friends and family. Call and text the cis people in your life about accepting and supporting trans folks. Talk to your cis peers about how you can support the transgender people in your community.

Learning the language is a key step toward being able to effectively advocate for trans people’s rights, and getting to know the issues trans people face on your own will save them a lot of explaining.

Donate to trans-led organizations, especially local ones. They offer good links which you can go find, if you haven’t spent all your disposable cash on the #transcrowdfund sites.

And, finally, stay involved, especially as the new federal policies enter public comment periods.

“Many proposed changes to federal regulations, like the one written about in today’s New York Times, have to go through something called ‘notice and comment,’” [ACLU attorney Chase] Strangio explained. “So, through mail, people are able to say what they think about a federal rule. This is a huge opportunity for citizen engagement, because even if it doesn’t impact the administration’s decision, it will be easier for pro-LGBTQ+ organizations to argue in court that the measure is discriminatory.”

We are connected human beings who owe each other thought and care. If you’re cis, this is your chance to be part of the response. If you’re trans or nonbinary, you’re in my heart.

Follow me on Twitter @spicejardebbie

The Fourth of July


Marlene says:

Cross posted from Fukshot

I love the fourth of July. I’m conflicted about parts of it, but uncomplicated relationships are for uncomplicated minds. I loathe the standard fare patriotism and invented right wing history that this date invokes, but the negatives associated with this date don’t outweigh the positives for me.

Historically, July 4 is the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. A bunch of moneyed white men got together to complain about their taxes. That doesn’t sound too unfamiliar. Does it? They selected a passionate writer and speaker, slaveholder, rapist, inventor and rabble rouser Thomas Jefferson to draft a declaration of their distaste for being told what to do by other moneyed white men.

In spite of all his shortcomings, Jefferson penned (literally) the foundational document of the American Revolution and, perhaps more important, the foundational document of what we now think of as social justice and human rights.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [people] are created equal, that they are endowed (snip) with certain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

This was a declaration of the rights of people to govern themselves for their own well-being, benefit and purposes. This was the assertion that the rights of individuals were greater than the power of monarchy. This was the beginning of not just the American Revolution, but of many revolutions to come. Over the next fifty years, monarchies all over Europe would fall. Later, the promises of freedom in the Declaration would inspire progressive political thinkers such as Karl Marx and Emma Goldman. It is the promise of the Declaration that inspired abolitionists in the mid nineteenth century in the USA, and anti-colonialists all over the world in the mid twentieth century.

Ho Chi Minh quoted the American Declaration of Independence in his own and sought support for throwing off his French colonial rulers from the United States, who he assumed would be sympathetic because of our history as an exploited colony. Unfortunately, like Fidel Castro, his requests for assistance in establishing independence and freedom were denied and he was forced to seek support from the Soviet Union. The same segment of the Declaration was quoted by the Black Panther Party and they too were seen as an enemy by the US government.

On the Fourth of July, I celebrate the moment at which the political ideals I subscribe to, those of individual freedom and collective effort and sacrifice for the collective good, were set in motion for the first time in a way that is recognizable to people struggling in our time.

Jefferson himself predicted that rights should be ever-expanding and that it would be correct for future generations to look back on his age and see barbaric suppression. We do. I expect the same to be thought of my current ideas in the future, or at least I hope for that.

In the mean time, I also really like fireworks.