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Trans class warfare
Who does the left represent, what values do leftists ascribe to, and why have those values become so entangled with trans liberation are questions few trans activists stop to think about when they pursue their goals. Over the last three months each of them have been driven home to me by responses I have received from trans activists and on various forums, and it has been an eye opener to the failure to teach trans history. Leftist values have become wedded to an uncritical assertion of rights that has alienated many potential allies, and for me it is a sign that trans activists need to have a hard conversation to move forward in the face of harsh headwinds.
I am a progressive. I believe strongly in equitable taxation, equal opportunities irrespective of birth, restricting home ownership to one home per person and banning landlords, a universal basic income that allows people to thrive, and effective public services in public ownership. So far so socialist. Yet, I also believe violence never solves problems, that consensual policing has its place in society, that rights are a mediated concept and cannot be forced onto other people, and that revolution only harms those it seeks to help. This is the pragmatic side of me which complicates the utopian vision for society that I strive for. Messiness.
None of this helps trans people stuck in a system that is actively oppressing them. Indeed, trans activists have accused me of standing by in my middle class post-op contentment as those who recently came out far insurmountable hurdles to achieve their transition goals. My counter point to this is that the transition goals of those transitioning now has changed compared to when I came out in 2000. Being trans in 2024 is to be part of a nebula of identities that has come to eschew the binary A to B narratives I inherited. For me living and existing as a woman was my end point, I did not want to be trans or have a trans sobriquet attached to my womanhood. Now being trans is owning that transness, or at least the public face of the trans community is owning a specific flavour of radical transness that makes being trans the apex.
This makes me feel like an old woman shaking her fist at the clouds, yet hints at the deep issues with the queering of transness over the last 24 years. No-one should be forced to assimilate an identity they do not ascribe to…
