Member-only story
Trans identities in lies and shadows
Getting to decide how trans identities are frames is a matter of who has access, who has the furthest reach, and who can shout the loudest. Framing who is trans, what is trans, and the reactions against trans identities are pressing, especially given that it is disaffected cis folk who are shouting the loudest with lies in their attempts to cast trans folk back into the shadows. Over the course of 2023 people like Riley Gaines have monetized their transphobia, weaponised their distain and hate, using their right-wing funded platform to marginalize trans folk. Legislatures in both the US and UK have listened intently to lies repeatedly told about trans people, to the point where trans rights are reduced, restricted, and stripped away.
In the olden days of 2015 we were told that there was a trans tipping point, where transgender identities would be treated as a normal part of society. Instead, after the election of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson in the UK trans people have been further marginalised, their lives treated as false and phony. We are the whipping folk, driven through the virtual streets of Twitter to be branded with the scarlet letter T, never allowed to simply exist. Our every misstep recorded and blown up beyond all recognition, our good deeds drowned out in cries of “Man!”, “TIM!”, “groomer!”, “Mutilator!” and worse. No more are we allowed to simply exist as woman…
