#stonewall — Public Fediverse posts

In those days, before the internet, before endocrinology, before the words transgender and gender identity had entered the languages of men, there were those who knew themselves to be other than what the world had named them.

And they were many.

In the beginning, there were the gender-diverse people of ancient civilizations: priests, warriors, healers, lovers, servants, rulers and rebels. Some were revered. Some were feared. Some were merely allowed to exist.

And the centuries passed.

Kingdoms rose and fell. Empires were built and burned. Religions declared what people were permitted to be. Physicians invented new words for old experiences. Governments invented new laws for policing them.

Still, the people remained.

Then came the twentieth century, and with it new knowledge. Physicians learned that bodies could be altered. Hormones could be administered. Names could be changed. Lives could be lived.

And for a brief moment, it seemed that perhaps the ancient question might finally have an answer:

“What if we simply let people become who they know themselves to be?”

But the enemies of freedom did not sleep.

They gathered in laboratories, churches, parliaments, newspapers and television studios. They forged accusations. They declared that trans people were a modern invention, despite the inconvenient existence of thousands of years of history.

And so began the Great Erasure.

They took the ancient records and said, “Those weren't trans people.”

They took the gender-diverse people of other cultures and said, “Those don't count.”

They took the pioneers of the twentieth century and said, “Those were merely confused.”

They took Stonewall and said, “They weren't there.”

They took the people standing beside them and said, “You have never existed.”

Yet the trans people endured.

They endured the laws.
They endured the ridicule.
They endured the doctors.
They endured the police.
They endured the newspapers.
They endured the people insisting that their existence was somehow historically impossible.

And still they stood.

For history is a stubborn thing.

You may burn a book.
You may alter a photograph.
You may rename a person.
You may pretend an entire generation never existed.

But you cannot make the people disappear simply by refusing to remember them.

And so the story continues.

Not because trans people suddenly appeared.

But because, after thousands of years of being told they were impossible, they finally became impossible to ignore.

#TransHistory #TransRights #TransPeopleAreHere #QueerHistory #LGBTQHistory #Pride #Stonewall #TransLiberation #HistoryMatters #StopTransErasure #TransIsNotNew #QueerJoy #TransJoy #Solidarity

In those days, before the internet, before endocrinology, before the words transgender and gender identity had entered the languages of homo sapiens (actually, before homo sapiens had language proper), there were those who knew themselves to be other than what the world had named them.

And they were many.

In the beginning, there were the gender-diverse people of ancient civilizations: priests, warriors, healers, lovers, servants, rulers and rebels. Some were revered. Some were feared. Some were merely allowed to exist.

And the centuries passed.

Kingdoms rose and fell. Empires were built and burned. Religions declared what people were permitted to be. Physicians invented new words for old experiences. Governments invented new laws for policing them.

Still, the people remained.

Then came the twentieth century, and with it new knowledge. Physicians learned that bodies could be altered. Hormones could be administered. Names could be changed. Lives could be lived.

And for a brief moment, it seemed that perhaps the ancient question might finally have an answer:

“What if we simply let people become who they know themselves to be?”

But the enemies of freedom did not sleep.

They gathered in laboratories, churches, parliaments, newspapers and television studios. They forged accusations. They declared that trans people were a modern invention, despite the inconvenient existence of thousands of years of history.

And so began the Great Erasure.

They took the ancient records and said, “Those weren't trans people.”

They took the gender-diverse people of other cultures and said, “Those don't count.”

They took the pioneers of the twentieth century and said, “Those were merely confused.”

They took Stonewall and said, “They weren't there.”

They took the people standing beside them and said, “You have never existed.”

Yet the trans people endured.

They endured the laws.
They endured the ridicule.
They endured the doctors.
They endured the police.
They endured the newspapers.
They endured the people insisting that their existence was somehow historically impossible.

And still they stood.

For history is a stubborn thing.

You may burn a book.
You may alter a photograph.
You may rename a person.
You may pretend an entire generation never existed.

But you cannot make the people disappear simply by refusing to remember them.

And so the story continues.

Not because trans people suddenly appeared.

But because, after thousands of years of being told they were impossible, they finally became impossible to ignore.

#TransHistory #TransRights #TransPeopleAreHere #QueerHistory #LGBTQHistory #Pride #Stonewall #TransLiberation #HistoryMatters #StopTransErasure #TransIsNotNew #QueerJoy #TransJoy #Solidarity

Just two examples of what I am dealing with on that other “social” network I sadly need to be a member of.

This is gay people trying to eradicate trans people from queer history — while apparently also appointing themselves the Supreme Court of what “normal-looking” gay men and lesbians are. 🙄

And yes, history has an ugly little lesson here. In the Weimar Republic, there were gay men who were deeply attracted to nationalist and later Nazi ideology, including people who were quite happy to distinguish themselves from the “wrong sort” of queer people. Respectability, conformity and throwing other queer people under the bus did not make them safe. It did not save them.

So when I see queer people trying to scrub trans people out of Stonewall, Pride and the history of our liberation, I pay attention.

Because this isn't merely about the past.

They want to erase us from history because they want to erase us from reality.

And finally, can we talk about the “kiddo”, “child”, “babe” routine?

A grown man disagreeing with a grown person and immediately reaching for infantilising language to establish dominance is not exactly a revolutionary new contribution to human civilisation.

Isn't that just typical fucking male behaviour? 🙃

#QueerHistory #TransHistory #Stonewall #TransRights #LGBTQIA #Pride #QueerLiberation #NoErasure #Fascism #NeverAgain

Just two examples of what I am dealing with on that other “social” network I sadly need to be a member of.

This is gay people trying to eradicate trans people from queer history — while apparently also appointing themselves the Supreme Court of what “normal-looking” gay men and lesbians are. 🙄

And yes, history has an ugly little lesson here. In the Weimar Republic, there were gay men who were deeply attracted to nationalist and later Nazi ideology, including people who were quite happy to distinguish themselves from the “wrong sort” of queer people. Respectability, conformity and throwing other queer people under the bus did not make them safe. It did not save them.

So when I see queer people trying to scrub trans people out of Stonewall, Pride and the history of our liberation, I pay attention.

Because this isn't merely about the past.

They want to erase us from history because they want to erase us from reality.

And finally, can we talk about the “kiddo”, “child”, “babe” routine?

A grown man disagreeing with a grown person and immediately reaching for infantilising language to establish dominance is not exactly a revolutionary new contribution to human civilisation.

Isn't that just typical fucking male behaviour? 🙃

#QueerHistory #TransHistory #Stonewall #TransRights #LGBTQIA #Pride #QueerLiberation #NoErasure #Fascism #NeverAgain

I’m furious at the pick-me gays trying to rewrite Stonewall and erase the trans and queer people who were there, fought there, and helped build the movement that gave us our rights.

And honestly? The behaviour feels painfully familiar: some men deciding they deserve the spotlight, rewriting history to centre themselves, and throwing the people who stood beside them under the bus for a little approval from the establishment.

The patriarchy really does come in rainbow packaging sometimes.

#Stonewall #QueerHistory #TransRights #LGBTQIA #Pride #NoErasure

I am so unbelievably tired of being lectured by the "LGB without the TQ" crowd.

I've been told Stonewall was "only about gay men." That's historically false. I've been told trans and non-binary people are somehow "homophobic." That's not just absurd... it's an insult to the generations who stood shoulder to shoulder when nobody else would.

The queer movement didn't survive because people built smaller fences. It survived because we refused to leave each other behind.

So if your politics depend on erasing trans people, rewriting queer history, and turning solidarity into exclusion, don't expect me to meet you halfway. I won't.

I have spent my life standing up for the entire LGBTQIA+ community. I'll continue doing exactly that, and I'll oppose every attempt to carve our community into "acceptable" and "disposable" people.

You don't get to wave the rainbow while pulling threads out of it.

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈✊

#TransRightsAreHumanRights #Stonewall #LGBTQIA #NoLGBWithoutTheT #Solidarity #HistoryMatters

I am so unbelievably tired of being lectured by the "LGB without the TQ" crowd.

I've been told Stonewall was "only about gay men." That's historically false. I've been told trans and non-binary people are somehow "homophobic." That's not just absurd... it's an insult to the generations who stood shoulder to shoulder when nobody else would.

The queer movement didn't survive because people built smaller fences. It survived because we refused to leave each other behind.

So if your politics depend on erasing trans people, rewriting queer history, and turning solidarity into exclusion, don't expect me to meet you halfway. I won't.

I have spent my life standing up for the entire LGBTQIA+ community. I'll continue doing exactly that, and I'll oppose every attempt to carve our community into "acceptable" and "disposable" people.

You don't get to wave the rainbow while pulling threads out of it.

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈✊

#TransRightsAreHumanRights #Stonewall #LGBTQIA #NoLGBWithoutTheT #Solidarity #HistoryMatters

Earlier this afternoon, on another social media platform (which I sadly still need to use, yuck...), I was attacked by a very vocal cis gay man after I challenged his version of Stonewall history.

He accused me of "rewriting history" because I pointed out that the Stonewall uprising was never exclusively about cisgender gay men. The people who resisted included a broad cross-section of the queer community: gay men, lesbians, trans people, gender-nonconforming people, drag queens, homeless queer youth, and members of the leather and fetish communities that were part of the wider LGBTQ+ liberation movement.

His response was to insist that Stonewall was a purely cis gay protest, that trans people and fetishists are "destroying gay rights," and that acknowledging their place in our shared history is somehow revisionism. He also claimed this was historical documented fact, and I should inform myself better.

The irony is striking. Erasing parts of our own history and pretending only the "acceptable" people were there is far closer to rewriting history than recognising the diversity of those who fought back against police brutality in 1969.

History is rarely simple, and historians still debate some of the details surrounding Stonewall. What they do not support is the myth that LGBTQ+ liberation was won by one group alone.

Our movement has always been strongest when we stood together. I won't let transphobia or historical revisionism dressed up as "protecting gay rights" convince me otherwise.

Solidarity built our community. Solidarity is how we'll keep it. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

#Stonewall #NoLGBWithoutTheTQIA #QueerHistory #TransRightsAreHumanRights #HistoryMatters