Thread by @SF_TERF_CENTRAL

#ipeakedsomeone
So...this is a big one. I peaked someone important to me, someone I wouldn't continue getting deeper in relationship with unless she agreed to look at truth and facts, someone very deep into trans ideology, someone with many trans friends/family. Call her "xx." 1

We have spent 2 weeks dancing around the trans issue...me planting seeds, sharing difficult things, showing her places that terfs had been attacked for the same views I share. She kept saying she thought we could navigate this disagreement while having opposite points of view.2/

I finally put my foot down and explained: someone as smart as she is, as good at communication, and as into me as she is...if she actually looked at what I have seen, and she still thinks we can agree to disagree on this one topic...no. 3/

She kept saying I had "my truth, my facts" and I said, "this is not my truth nor my facts. This is material reality and simple truth and facts. If you can't understand truth and facts, we can't move forward together." So....heavy stakes. 4/

She finally pulled her laptop out and asked, "where do we start?" I asked, "well, what about what I've shared upsets you the most?" And she said drag queen story hour. So, I had her Google Chris Rufo, dqsh, and queer theory. 5/

She pulled it up and asked about the author, so pulled his info up on my phone and read about him to her. He's a conservative author and the piece was published in a conservative website. She didn't like that, but started reading. 5/

She halted and said this wasn't working for her, that she couldn't read this coming from a conservative person, that this wasn't gonna convince her. So, I said, "what do you want to do? I no longer avoid conservatives because I know now that they have valuable opinions ....6/

and information to share, and that mainstream media refuses to address this. Refusing to read or try to understand their point of view is why we are in such a shit storm in America." 7?/

She said, "I can see that, but I want to start with someone like you...a liberal woman who shares your views, someone I can respect." So, I said,"how about Kara Dansky? She's a former ACLU attorney and a feminist woman, ...8/

and she was one of the terfs attacked recently." I read some of Kara's background to her and she agreed this was someone she could tolerate. Within 5 min, she was deep into the @WomensLibFront website. She read through each item, each mission statement, each court case, ...9/

all the supporting documents, highlighted a few things she didn't understand (one was about a court case and said, "she...." And xx said, "wait, who are they talking about? A man or a woman here?" And I said, "I have no idea...that part of the problem here!" ....10/

She agreed and finished.)” She laughingly told me twice, "if you had just pointed me to this website earlier, we wouldn't have had such a struggle around all this!" My bad! Hahahah. She agreed with 95% of my/our/wolf terf point of view. 11/

The 5% is about gender dysphoria and what to do about it, and she feared I wouldn't accept that she didn't understand nor had she had a chance to read about the issues with studies etc. I said, "I don't need anyone to be 100% on board immediately on all of this.... 12/

You now understand what I've been trying to explain about safeguarding kids, protecting vulnerable women and spaces, male violence, language erasure, and why this movement is homophobic. That's plenty right now! Wow, this has been amazing...!" 13/

And, friends, this is deep....like pulling someone out of a cult deep. She is hurting. She is thinking, hard, about how to reckon with this new knowledge that she so easily dismissed as just some opinions that she thought were hurtful to people she loves. 14/

She really is smart and knows how to communicate clearly and with empathy. She asked if I needed her to be an activist like me. I said no! She asked if I was scared to protest and I said yes! She asked how I stay safe? 15/

I said I do what I can, under the radar, so those tras can't find us to attack us. But that I can't guarantee safety for myself out there, and that I'll never stop fighting this until it stops. She is worried. But, she is peaked. 16/

And, while I don't expect her to join us at gender clinics to protest, you know what? I know she will have important convos with her friends/family that will make a difference. They will be tough convos, but they will move the needle. 17/

Keep #peaking people. Have resources available, know your info, make people comfortable with sources and ease into it with them. We can do this!! (And, yes, I am very pumped!) 👊👊👊👊♀️♀️♀️. /end