Thread by @TillyBridges

Welcome to #TransTuesday! This is possibly the most important Trans Tuesday ever. CIS PEOPLE, I NEED YOU TO READ. RETWEET. TALK TO PEOPLE. We’re talking TRANS POLITICS aka CIS PEOPLE, NOW IS YOUR CHANCE TO STAND UP FOR US.

Not only is this the most important Trans Tuesday to date, at the end I’m going to make a very difficult request of you cis people. I NEED YOU TO READ AND FOLLOW THROUGH. If we do not change things for the better right now, we may never get to.

Possibly the single most important election of our lifetimes is here. If we do not vote in overwhelming numbers to overcome the gerrymandering and disenfranchisement levied against us, if we do not stop the rising tide of fascism here and now, we may never get to again.

Let’s start with a seemingly innocuous meme that was posted by a family member we’ll call Buddy. It spurred a long, drawn out discussion. It’s so, SO wrong, and harmful, but the very idea of that could not be grasped. (I added the NOPE)

Buddy says he fully supports me, and my right to be who I am, and “has no problem” with me, but this is untrue. Because he doesn’t just consider candidates with anti-LGBTQIA+ policies not worth voting for automatically…

He also thinks it’s fine to be friends with people who actively hate me for existing. Buddy doesn’t see why he can’t be friends with both me and the bigots. We can have a difference of opinion, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Except this isn’t a difference of opinion, is it? My life is in danger, my right to EXIST is in danger, and that’s not a difference of opinion. Favorite pizza toppings or singers or cars are a difference of opinion. People who think I should have no rights IS NOT A VALID OPINION.

By continuing to be friends with the bigot, Buddy upholds the system of oppression that harms trans people. Because if there are no consequences for bigots supporting hate and violence, why would they ever stop doing it?

When I point this out Buddy is very mad at me. He supports me (so he says)! How could I be so intolerant of a bigot’s intolerance of ME? Never understanding that bigotry is something NO ONE SHOULD EVER TOLERATE FOR ANY REASON.

Tolerating bigotry leads only to violence and fascism. Does that remind you of… our state of existence? This, right here, explains it remarkably well and with historical context! READ. IT. extranewsfeed.com/tolerance-is-n…

How could I ask Buddy to cut a friend or someone they love out of their life? I didn’t actually ask, but their choice NOT to do so sends a message to everyone they CLAIM to support.

And that message is: Buddy’s friendship with bigots is more important to him than my right to exist and have equal rights.

THIS IS A ZERO-SUM GAME.

You cannot support my right to exist and be who I am AND support the bigots who want trans people to not exist.

Friends don’t do things like that, do they? If someone wants to take my rights away, they are obviously not my friend. And if you vote for that person, you’re supporting that.

Further: if you don’t try to STOP them, YOU ARE AIDING THEM.

If YOU remain friends with them, knowing they want to take my rights away, you are supporting me losing my rights. That’s a hard pill to swallow, I know. It means confronting friends and loved ones about what they’re doing.

It may mean those relationships are going to change, if you have the INTEGRITY to be an ACTUAL TRANS ALLY. SAYING you support us is wonderful, but without ACTIONS that support us, it’s nothing more than platitudes to make yourself feel better.

See my Trans Tuesday on PERFORMATIVE ALLYSHIP (about a much less serious situation, but it illustrates the point very well).

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1501242597414633481

See my Trans Tuesday (and the MULTITUDE of Trans Tuesdays linked within) about TRANS RAGE, and how cis people keep forgetting about trans people, and how ABSOLUTELY FUCKING VITAL REAL CIS ALLYSHIP IS.

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1541821681781510144

As you will see evidence of in the Trans Rage thread, PEOPLE WHO STUDY AND TEACH GENOCIDES SAY THERE IS A GENOCIDE AGAINST TRANS PEOPLE GOING ON. RIGHT NOW. ~~~~RIGHT NOW~~~~.

(evidence in the above Trans Rage thread. READ. IT.)

Just OPEN YOUR EYES AND LISTEN.

https://twitter.com/PinkRangerLB/status/1586049095944531968

ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?

https://twitter.com/PinkRangerLB/status/1586049097886142464

THIS IS HAPPENING ALL OVER THE WORLD.

https://twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/status/1586362428668919810

SO MUCH SO THAT STATES HAVE HAD TO BECOME LEGAL SANCTUARIES TO HELP TRANS PEOPLE FLEEING PERSECUTION!
them.us/story/californ…

What will you do to stop this? Do you care?

Too often, it seems you do not. See the Trans Tuesday on TRANS RAGE 2: CIS APATHY.

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1544360432021880834

Think about what might happen if your MAGA/Trump supporter friends and family lost their friends and family over their horrible support of hatred. Can you think of a stronger message to send that might wake someone up? THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR ACTIONS.

So when you look at that meme again, what do you see now? Do you see it for what it is? It was designed to help make bigots feel better about their bigotry, and to make friends of bigots feel like it’s okay to be friends with them.

Perhaps you think I’m blowing this out of proportion. Perhaps you don’t know about all dangers the trans and broader LGBTQ+ community face.

Look at this incredibly long list of anti-trans legislation making its way through statehouses all across the United States.
freedomforallamericans.org/legislative-tr…

There are already Federal bills that are going to harm trans people. mikejohnson.house.gov/uploadedfiles/…

This will make trans people, trans KIDS, end up dead. Sure it can’t pass now… but if the Republicans take control of the house and senate, what then? They already have the Supreme Court.

“To prohibit the use of Federal funds to develop, implement, facilitate, or fund any sexually-oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10, and for other purposes… This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop the Sexualization of Children Act’’.

They classify ~telling kids trans people exist and are a type of person you can be~ as part of this. And call it SEXUALIZING children! When trans kids who don’t receive gender-affirming care already are at very high risk of suicide!

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1516451083412860931

Read that bill and see how many things it affects. Schools. Libraries. Private businesses. THEY ARE TRYING TO ERASE US FROM EXISTENCE. Which will cause trans kids untold pain and suffering and possibly a lifetime of trauma. It’s sickening and abhorrent.

And classifying our existence as “sexual in nature” is also sickening and abhorrent. THE FACT THAT WE EXIST IS NO MORE SEXUAL THAN THE FACT CIS PEOPLE EXIST oh my god oh my god I’m so mad. Are you as enraged as we are? YOU SHOULD BE.

We have to STOP THEM RIGHT NOW, so that if they get the presidency in 2024 they do not control both houses of congress and all three branches, because if that happens BILLS LIKE THE ABOVE WILL ABSOLUTELY PASS. PAY! ATTENTION!

There’s a reason every minority group of every stripe favors Democrats. Because the other party wants to strip us of every right we’ve fought so hard for and would rather we all just went away (and that’s putting it far too kindly).

EQUAL RIGHTS ARE NOT, AND CANNOT BE, A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. Everyone is deserving of them, and that’s an objective fact. The only people who disagree are bigots.

Black people are routinely disenfranchised and “deterred” from voting. Anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise. Disabled people have to fight for every bit of assistance they are due and still often don’t get what they need.

Defending trans people and trans rights should be enough on its own. We’re human beings and deserve to be treated as such. But if that’s still somehow not enough to motivate you, first question your life choices and then know everyone who’s not a cishet white man is next.

THEY’VE ALREADY COME FOR ROE AND ARE TALKING ABOUT MAKING MARRIED WOMEN UNABLE TO REFUSE SEX WITH THEIR HUSBANDS. There’s so many caps in this thread BUT COME THE FUCK ON. WHAT WILL MAKE YOU WAKE UP??

Vote in EVERY ELECTION, including LOCAL OFFICES where your voice has the biggest impact. You can often engage DIRECTLY with candidates for local office and pressure them on trans rights (and other things you believe in).

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1572367551157653505

The ACLU and Planned Parenthood often put out progressive voter guides so you can get more information on the people running for office. Seek them out for your area.

There are likely others, people putting in the work and research to help you be more informed. USE THOSE RESOURCES. Here’s a great one for Los Angeles:
docs.google.com/document/d/1Mm…

Voter’s Edge is a really great site that lets you compare candidates directly. Even if there’s not a ton of info for every candidate, you can learn a LOT by seeing which people and organizations donated to/support each candidate.
Votersedge.org

You HAVE to vote for people who will fight for trans rights, or we’ll never get them. We’re too small a part of the population to do it on our own. IT IS THE BARE MINIMUM YOU CAN DO.

Also a reminder that NO CANDIDATE IS PERFECT. Vote for the one with the best policies to help, and barring that the ones that will hurt the least.

Voting is like taking a bus. It might not get you exactly to your destination, BUT GET ON THE ONE THAT GETS YOU CLOSEST TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE.

And now here’s the big ask, cis folks.

This is SO IMPORTANT:

I want EVERY SINGLE CIS PERSON READING THIS WHO WANTS TO BE AN ALLY to commit to talking to your friends and relatives that you know vote to hurt trans people. You have to try to convince them to change. If they won’t? GIVE THEM CONSEQUENCES.

Tell them if they continue to vote for people who will strip rights away from and criminalize the existence of people with a RECOGNIZED MEDICAL CONDITION that ALL MAJOR MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONS SAY SHOULD BE TREATED… you’re done with them.

You, right now, can be a hero. You can fight for justice and equality. You can make a difference by fighting this ongoing genocide. Don’t be the German citizen who did nothing to stop the Nazis, because THEN YOU’RE NO BETTER THAN THE NAZIS.

THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE.

THE TIME IS NOW.

FIGHT HATE. FIGHT BIGOTRY. FIGHT FASCISM.

STAND UP FOR EQUALITY AND JUSTICE.

TRANS PEOPLE NEED YOU.

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.