Thread by @AlexPetrovnia

A lot of why I run this account, with as much honesty as I can muster, is because I truly believe that by being openly and passionately myself, I can help humanize trans people against the literal armies of those who want to dehumanize us.

I make myself vulnerable, often to those exact people who want to dehumanize and villify me, in order to show you that trans people are real. We aren't a hashtag, or a wedge issue, or a fetish. We're living, breathing human beings, with hopes and fears and lives we live.

I try to keep this account positive. I try to showcase trans joy, and success, and how much love trans people have to give.
But I'm afraid.
We're all so, so afraid.

I try to be honest. I try to show a slice of the pressure and horrors trans people are facing right now. But I can't show you enough to give you a meaningful picture.

I can't make you feel the nausea rising in your throat when you see trans people trending again. I can't make you feel the pinprick tears of frustration popping up behind your eyes when people make the same dehumanizing mistakes over and over like it's no big deal.

I can't show you the roaring in your ears of hearing someone behind you at the grocery store misgender you. I can't make you feel how hard it is to control your breathing and smile when someone you love does it. I can't give you the lump in your throat when you say it's okay.

I can't give you the experience of blearily not recognizing yourself in the mirror in the morning but going to work anyway. I can't show you the panic something as simple as running an errand causes - the four or five outfits I put on, trying to find one that looks passable.

I can't give you dizzy feeling of seeing strangers recoil in disgust from you. I can't explain what it feels like to see parents pulling their children back from you in fear. I can't give you the absolute terror of being perceived, of constantly wondering WHO is looking at you.

Do they hate you? Do they fear you? Have they heard the pundits on the news telling them that you're a predator, a freak, a pervert?
Are you safe? Are you safe? Are you safe?
The answer is no.

You open the news. You open twitter. You overhear a radio talk show. You walk by a strangers' conversation and overhear.
Everywhere. Absolutely everywhere, strangers are being taught to fear you, and to hate you, and to make the world a more dangerous place for you.

They're passing laws against you. They're trying to stop you from getting medical care. They're trying to make it dangerous for you to exist.
And they're succeeding.
Every other trans person you know, every other trans person you've seen is terrified. They're shouting.

They're doing everything they can just to survive, to keep themselves safe, and to try to beg absolutely anyone besides trans people themselves to DO SOMETHING.
To SAY SOMETHING. ANYTHING.
The silence is deafening.

So what can you DO about this? I'm going to tell you. Here is a list of things EVERY CIS PERSON can do RIGHT NOW to #ProtectTransLives. 🧵

FIRSTLY: Get LOUD. Talk about the trans rights crisis right now to other cis people. Bring it up to coworkers, to clubs, to internet friends, to absolutely anyone and everyone who will listen. Fight FOR us as hard as those who hate us fight against us.

A list of tips here for ways to improve how you speak about and to trans people in order to protect us:

https://twitter.com/AlexPetrovnia/status/1401202019491319808?s=20

SECONDLY: Use your power to tangibly help trans people. Center trans voices on trans issues.
If you are a journalist OF ANY VARIETY, interview trans people and trans activists. Tell our stories NOW. Get people to notice.
If you have ANY influence—use it to protect us.

THIRDLY: Money. I know, it sucks. We’re all broke after the pandemic, but directly donating to trans people is incredibly powerful, esp as many trans people rn are RUSHING to get medical care and legal changes before they're stolen from us.
Trans people add your need posts here.

FOURTHLY: Cis people MUST hold other cis people accountable. Call out “lgbt activists” who have been silent on trans issues. Call out people in your daily life. Prioritize trans lives. #TransRightsAreHumanRights
YOUR SILENCE IS VIOLENCE.

FIFTHLY: Question EVERY narrative or opinion on transness or trans issues that comes from a cis person.
Call them out on it. Center trans people in discussions of our own issues. Treat us as experts in our lived experience. Accepting any less as legitimate is killing us.

SIXTHLY: DO NOT tolerate transphobia around you. Whether in your online spaces or IRL, you have the power to make "gender critical" opinions socially unacceptable. Do not treat them as worthy of discussion. Treat these opinions as what they are -- violent bigotry.

SEVENTHLY: Educate yourself. Find trans writers, activists and speakers and LISTEN genuinely. Do not attempt to insert yourself. Trans activists and writers link your work here, whether fiction, nonfiction, etc.

EIGHTHLY: Show up for trans people in your life. Offer them safety, or assistance, or patience with deadlines right now. Offer to help pick up their burdens. Offer to be a compassionate ear. Do NOT make trans people comfort you about your discomfort with us.

NINTHLY: Deeply, truly work on understanding that transphobia has been built into you from your childhood, and that it takes CONSCIOUS EFFORT to unlearn. Being a trans ally will not always come easy. You must be willing to be uncomfortable to save us from extermination.

TENTHLY:
If you vote in the United States, KNOW what’s going on in your state and WHO to talk to about it. This tool can help. Also tell YOUR representatives to PASS THE EQUALITY ACT.
freedomforallamericans.org/legislative-tr…

And to my other trans people reading this: I love you.
Many, many people have attempted to eradicate trans people throughout history. It won’t work. We will keep being born, in every culture, in every era, in every society and time and place. We will keep living and keep loving.

The trans experience is a human experience. Attempting to eliminate it won’t succeed—it will only cause pointless human suffering and limit the progress of queer liberation and feminism at large.
#TransRightsAreHumanRights #LGBTQ #CisSilenceIsViolence