A quick reminder for those in the cheap seats: Yes... a lot of trans people are angry activists. We do not need to be civil and compliant for your convenience. If you want us to shut up, FIX THE ISSUES we're flagging. We're a small minority so that is NOT currently in our power.
The fact that someone is angry and an activist should be a hint that there's something wrong with the system that we can't change. Our frustration, outrage and despair should MEAN something to you other than as a source of annoyance.
If you claim to support trans people, that does not mean "I support the principle of trans people" - it means rolling up your sleeves and ACTIVELY ADVOCATING FOR OUR WELFARE, not simply assenting to our right to exist. That's not noble. That's just apathy.
As long as it's okay to dismiss us as a noisy inconvenience, NOTHING WILL CHANGE FOR US. You want us to stop assaulting your delicate middle-class sensibilities with our protests? F*cking DO something. Speak to your representatives, your bosses, your employees about change.
For the record - this approach of angry people being an inconvenience is nothing new. That's how women got the vote. That's women broke out of their roles as primary caregivers. That's how the black civil rights movement made progress in the 1960s.
So stop standing in our way and shushing us. LISTEN to us. ACT on our concerns. GENERATE support amongst your friends. CHANGE the world that we can't change ourselves, because we are few and you are many.
And if you need any further motivation? Consider this: The Australian Government legislated to strip naturalised citizens of their citizenship and deport them to their country of origin if they showed any signs of criminality. Trump is now climbing on that bandwagon.
The UK has already jumped in that direction. So now that's immigrants and trans people. Lesbians and gays? Fine if they're compliant and funny. But they want to marry? 41% of Australian thought that was a bridge too far. What about aboriginal people? Still no treaty or voice.
And we all know what American native rights look like - reservations approved as locations for casinos, but if you want to ship oil through their territory? Nah... their rights mean nothing. Disabled people? They have some protections, but there's still too many loopholes.
And supporting disabled people needs to go further than just preventing discrimination. It means that we REMEMBER and HONOUR their needs when we design public spaces, private buildings and dwellings. Adding disability considerations to design standards would be a great start.
Next cab off the rank? Some politicians want to re-criminalise abortion in Australia and America, and want to strip women of their bodily autonomy. People in poverty due to structural changes in their industry? Nah... somebody else's problem.
So advocating for human rights and protections against discriminatory behaviour is NOT something that affects only a few people. It affects MOST OF US. Don't be tempted to sit back on your laurels and say "Bah - I got mine." The maggots in power want to take what you've got too.
@threadreaderapp Unroll please. Thank you e'er so much.
