Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

At the moment, the prospects for LGBTQ+ people look a bit grim in the USA. (Also in the UK and other countries, but I'm concentrating on the USA at the moment.) It's probably worst for trans people, as there are those who, while nominally "progressives," seem to think that if we could just get rid of those scary trans people, all of those right-wingers would flock to vote Democratic. That's just stupid, and unfortunately reveals the bigotry of those nominally-progressive people.

You cannot be progressive and freedom-loving if you want to try and negotiate away other people's bodily autonomy and rights. Throwing trans people under the train will not improve the lot of any other group of people. Moreover, the people telling you, "Just give us this one thing and we'll go away," are lying. They will not back down, not ever. Give them a centimeter and they'll take a kilometer. And in particular, if they catch you giving away trans people's rights, they'll say, "Great! Now let's get rid of same-sex marriage and criminalize homosexuality again! After all, you were willing to give away those people's rights, so giving away other people's rights is no big deal, right?"

There is a photograph going around showing a white woman in front of a whites-only women's toilet comparing it to that hateful Congress member putting "Biological" on a women's room in the capitol building. It's a very apt comparison. I have pointed it out to transphobes. Now I think their responses are in bad faith, but it is just vaguely possible that some of them really do not realize that the same arguments they use about keeping toilets safe for "biological" women are the same ones used for keeping toilets safe for white women just a few generations ago. And don't think we can't be returned to those bad old days, because we can, if we allow ourselves to be divided and conquered piecemeal.

My LGB friends: we are all in this together. If we allow the haters to think they've driven a wedge between the LGB and the T, that means they can drive wedges everywhere. Everyone: straight, gay, bi, ace, trans, cis, enby and everything else can be broken up so that only the Strong Vicious Leadership controls everyone and everything. In such a situation, nobody is safe. Nobody's body is safe. Our collective safety depends on our unity and for looking out for everyone else, not just ourselves.

To our Democratic and progressive politicians: You will not win by becoming a copy of the Republican party. Stay true to progressive ideas and for freedom for everyone, not just a few Strong White Men. There is no way to gain more freedom for yourself by taking it away from other people. Either we all stand up for all of our rights, or we're all doomed to be dominated by the evil people who I think want to return this country to the 50s — the 1850s!

I have written to my member of Congress (a Republican), and I am going to write to my two Democratic senators. I don't expect to actually influence our Republican Congress member, but maybe my senators will pay attention when I say that if they fail to strongly support LGBTQ+ rights, I will find someone else to whom to give my vote in the next election. I encourage all of my fellow Americans to do the same thing. We really need to convince the Democratic party that the days of "playing nice" and compromising with people who would deny so many people equality and decency under the law are over. I do not know what the next four years are going to be like, and yes, I'm frightened, even as I sit pretty high on the privilege pyramid, but I know we have to stand up for our rights and not submit to oppression in advance.