To All Trans Folks, I Lift a Glass in Your Honor
We in the trans community have been fighting the most immeasurably cruel and nefarious culture war for years now. A few friends and I discuss our trans worlds as divided into two parts BT and AT — Before Trump and After Trump.
While it’s easy to hang the hat of blame for all of our worldly ails on a single man; A Man who tried to strip of our healthcare, ban us from military service, referred to us as “Distractions” and “Burdens” and spoke at radical right conventions where other speakers declared their desire for our death, the war we fight today, in 2022 AT, is the result of his influence. While now generally considered an impotent figure in the political realm, even by those who used to be his closest allies, he opened the floodgates of tremendous hate and anti-trans sentiments that existed only in the shadows of shame before his rise to power. His legacy of torment and violence toward this community remains stronger than ever, pushed now by his flagbearers instead; Those who’ve latched onto his archaic and crudely expressed vile sentiments; Those who felt emboldened to march onward without him, but still with their loathing of our gender and self care as a hill to die on.
The years BT were not as divided. While anti LGBTQ+ rhetoric existed in some spaces, like the religious extremists and far-right pundits, they functioned mostly in an echo chamber where most of their hate was repudiated by the rest of the world, seen mostly for what it was; Unhinged bigots shriveling up in the soil of their own grotesque and distorted planet. In reality, we were seeing small steps toward progress, catalyzed by the landmark ruling that made marriage equality the future and put another nail in the coffin of discrimination. We saw advancements in education, access to information, resources were made available for those questioning, and the trans community saw representation in government for the first time in history, along with vocal allies. Although there was still tremendous work to be done, there was a satisfactory pace, and in growing numbers, people experiencing genders that didn’t fit within the binary or began to transition to any degree felt more supported- the option to explore the nature and diverse spectrum of gender began to feel more viable and positive rather than an act of rebellion or social self destruction. More…
