This is a short article in which I want to note two emergent traits I have observed in trans activism.
The traits can be summarized as such:
- An entitlement by privileged trans people co-opting the hardships of others
- A framing of trans rights as only being about gender identity
An entitlement by privileged trans people co-opting the hardships of others
The entitlement I’ve observed is especially true of trans people who are white, financially secure, have supportive families, have recently transitioned (post 2008, and especially post 2014) and lack dependents. They co-opt the statistics of trans people of colour and lived of experiences of poor trans people, passing off their hardships as their own. They wield their privilege and co-opted identity to divest resources and recognition from those who do far more. They do experience discrimination, but lack the awareness to appreciate their relative privilege.
A framing of trans rights as only being about gender identity
Under this framing, equality is reached when trans identities are normalized. This narrative ignores the ways that trans people have been systemically prevented from a safe and secure existence. In this framing of trans rights as being about gender identity, the following topics are avoided:
- Poverty reduction
- Housing as a right
- Sex work as work
- Living wages
- Rights for precarious workers
- Reduction in unionized workers
- Police brutality
- HIV criminalization
- Rape culture
- Free tuition
- Good public transit
- Physical access to spaces
- Drug use criminalization
- Colonialism
I believe these topics are avoided because the discussions around trans rights are led by the privileged trans people mentioned previously. They have not experienced the systemic discrimination that the statistics they coopt refer to, and therefore fail to take these factors into account when discussing the marginalization of trans people.