Thread by @LaraAdamsMille1

Homosexuals won recognition of their rights because, ultimately, the rest of society changes very little in allowing gays to marry, hold jobs, & be free from harassment/violence. It’s a stable movement because heterosexual people didn’t have to radically alter their lives for us.

The gender movement is an inverted movement. Rather than basic protections common to all people, members of the mvmt are demanding that all of society make radical changes to policy, personal habits, language, parenting, professional (inc. medical & scientific) practice, & more.

Homosexuals asked that we be allowed what everyone is allowed — That we can marry the (adult, consenting, unrelated) person of our choosing, that we can raise our children, keep our jobs. We asked for inaction in the form of not seeking to punish us for our personal lives.

The gender movement is demanding that we convert to their ideology and practice their beliefs. You can employ a gay person without voicing moral agreement with them. But current non-discrimination practices for trans employees demand you live as though you share their beliefs.

This is an unstable movement because it will never not require brute social and political force to maintain. There’s nothing organic about using pronouns that conflict with natural speech. There’s nothing sustainable about asking every person you meet how they “identify.”

& the gender movement is demanding far more than any true human rights movement in history has. We’re meant to enact scientific & medical practices that aren’t evidence-based. We’re being told to compromise our privacy, our sexual practices, our religious beliefs.

It’s distressing in the short term and unsustainable in the long term. People won’t accept this indefinitely. It will be torn down, along with every movement that’s being falsely associated with it. This will hurt gay rights, and disability rights, and women’s rights.

The modern era of social justice thrives on upheaval, & I understand why. It’s thrilling to see old institutions come down. The feeling of seemingly unmovable objects being moved... It feels like anything is possible. But history shows us that not all societal shift is positive.

Never in history has forcing a population to practice a belief system against their will been a positive change.

Violating freedom of thought, speech, association, assembly — that has never indicated progress toward justice.

I never believed in gender — this idea that “man” and “woman” are internal feelings separate from chromosomal and reproductive sex. But I supported trans people anyway, because I didn’t feel required to agree with them. I didn’t feel required to submit to their doctrine.

I used the pronouns to be polite, and because those pronouns weren’t the loaded prospects they’ve become.

But now there’s this “gotcha” quality to it, as if “she” = trans women are women = literally biologically female = all rights are now gender- rather than sex-based.

I feel betrayed by this movement. As a lesbian, I advocated for trans rights along with my own. Now trans “lesbians” march in opposition to me and my sisters. They demand our resources, our spaces, our platforms, our emotional energy. They demand access to our bodies.

But I said “she,” & that’s supposed to make the rest of it okay.

So I don’t do the pronouns anymore.

For me, individually, the demands of the movement were unsustainable, and I had to withdraw my support. And other people will do. Every day, more people are.

But those demands won’t go away. We can’t wait for or expect that.

What we must do is make clear - loudly and often - that homosexuals, women, the disabled - we are NOT asking for people who believe differently than us to affirm us by living as if they agree.

Feminism is a stable movement. And so is gay rights, and disability rights. We seek to live as ourselves without forfeiting our human rights. That’s all we’ve ever asked for. Society can give us that without infringing on the rights of others. It’s the right thing to do.

The gender mvmt isn’t limiting itself to protection of human rights. It’s demanding society assist the transgender person in feeling secure about themselves by transitioning our own speech, beliefs, & personal practices.

Freedom from emotional insecurity isn’t a human right.

We must stop this now and carve out reasonable, respectful protections for both trans-identfied and gender-nonconforming people, protections that don’t infringe on the rights of others or damage our society’s progress in medicine, science, basic human equality, and the law.

If we, the left, the moderates, the libertarians - & anyone else who believes in universal human rights protections - if we don’t take control of this and resume the fight for APPROPRIATE rights for people of ALL gender expression, collapse of multiple movements is inevitable.

No one, aside from the most fervent believers in gender, is impressed by the turn this situation has taken. We look like proof that allowing us our rights was a bad idea.

We’re endangering basic liberties like medical decision-making & parental rights for the sake of pronouns.

The protections we ask for must allow for belief systems other than our own. They must consider the rights of groups we don’t belong to.

We do not have the right to punish people for disagreeing with us, or for saying so.

We do not have the right to compel or stop speech.

And don’t come at me with “freedom of speech isn’t freedom from consequence.” To a large degree, that is EXACTLY what freedom of speech is.

You know how speech is repressed under oppressive regimes? With CONSEQUENCES.

The gender movement is a movement without perspective or empathy. It disdains compromise & ignores any interests it doesn’t share. Because no group (except maybe women) will work against its own interests indefinitely, the gender movement will fail.

I refuse to go down with it.