Bringing up the trans bodies
I am tired. Tired of reading about trans bodies. Tired of reading about trans suicides. Tired of feeling like three steps forward is simply a matter of the rest of society taking two steps back and leaving trans people and their advocates exposed. Rights, at least the version of rights I advocate for, are not a matter of slicing a cake into smaller slices, they are about continually baking cake until everyone can have their fair share. Bringing up trans bodies in perpetuity shows just how small the cake is, and how few crumbs have been tossed in our direction, then I reflect on the lives of women such as Lynn Conway and April Ashley and see how far we have come. Dead trans women cannot speak for themselves, but the legacies they leave behind are ingredients for the cakes we bake, the equity we demand, and the cornerstones for the rights we demand.
Lynn’s sad passing has left a hole in the trans community, for she exemplified trans life in ways that brought hope and comfort to many. While people like Buck Angel and Blair White happily throw other trans people aside for scraps of power, using their bodies and modicum of fame to cleave desperately to right wing patrons, trans people like Lynn sacrificed a portion of their power to empower others and bring a beacon of hope. Being trans does not make you immune to jealousy, petty ambition, or a desire to be liked; indeed, often being trans makes…
