#transhistory — Public Fediverse posts

I really need to stop reading all the trans-exclusionary stuff. It makes me angry. It makes me depressed. Frankly, my nervous system has filed a formal complaint.

Unfortunately, I also feel the need to document it. Screenshots. Dates. Names. Statements. The whole miserable little dossier.

Because one day, when the political weather changes, some of these people will suddenly insist they were always on our side. They will say they supported trans people, that they were merely asking questions, that they were always fighting for equality.

And I will remember.

Not because I enjoy keeping score. Not because I want revenge.

(I do enjoy both of these things, but...)

But because history has a nasty habit of being rewritten by people who know perfectly well what they said when it mattered.

I will not let that happen. Neither should you.

For future historians. For accountability. And because apparently somebody has to keep the fucking receipts.

#TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransLiberation #TransHistory #QueerHistory #NoErasure #KeepTheReceipts #NeverForget #LGBTQIA #Solidarity

I really need to stop reading all the trans-exclusionary stuff. It makes me angry. It makes me depressed. Frankly, my nervous system has filed a formal complaint.

Unfortunately, I also feel the need to document it. Screenshots. Dates. Names. Statements. The whole miserable little dossier.

Because one day, when the political weather changes, some of these people will suddenly insist they were always on our side. They will say they supported trans people, that they were merely asking questions, that they were always fighting for equality.

And I will remember.

Not because I enjoy keeping score. Not because I want revenge.

(I do enjoy both of these things, but...)

But because history has a nasty habit of being rewritten by people who know perfectly well what they said when it mattered.

I will not let that happen. Neither should you.

For future historians. For accountability. And because apparently somebody has to keep the fucking receipts.

#TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransLiberation #TransHistory #QueerHistory #NoErasure #KeepTheReceipts #NeverForget #LGBTQIA #Solidarity

I really need to stop reading all the trans-exclusionary stuff. It makes me angry. It makes me depressed. Frankly, my nervous system has filed a formal complaint.

Unfortunately, I also feel the need to document it. Screenshots. Dates. Names. Statements. The whole miserable little dossier.

Because one day, when the political weather changes, some of these people will suddenly insist they were always on our side. They will say they supported trans people, that they were merely asking questions, that they were always fighting for equality.

And I will remember.

Not because I enjoy keeping score. Not because I want revenge.

(I do enjoy both of these things, but...)

But because history has a nasty habit of being rewritten by people who know perfectly well what they said when it mattered.

I will not let that happen. Neither should you.

For future historians. For accountability. And because apparently somebody has to keep the fucking receipts.

#TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransLiberation #TransHistory #QueerHistory #NoErasure #KeepTheReceipts #NeverForget #LGBTQIA #Solidarity

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

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

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

And because I am still upset:

Can we talk about the patriarchal male behaviour on display from the trans-exclusionary gay folks?

Because there is something almost breathtakingly familiar about certain gay men adopting the very hierarchies that patriarchy taught them, then turning around and using them against other queer people.

The “kiddo.”
The “child.”
The “babe.”
The condescending little performance of I am the grown-up man here, and you are the silly little thing who needs educating.

Oh, please.

Being gay does not magically uninstall patriarchy.

And neither does being gay automatically make someone immune to hypermasculine ideas about dominance, authority, hierarchy and who gets to speak with the voice of unquestionable expertise. To the contrary, some of these men seem to have taken every annoying male habit in the catalogue (talking down to people, asserting dominance, mansplaining, gatekeeping, deciding who counts as “normal,” demanding deference) and thought:

“Well, I’m gay, so apparently this is fine.”

No, darling. It isn't.

You don't get progressive bonus points for reproducing patriarchal behaviour inside the queer community that you do proudly claim to not even be a part of.

And frankly, watching gay men demand that everyone else recognise their authority while simultaneously telling trans people that we don't belong in queer history is a rather spectacular display of the very hierarchy queer liberation was supposed to challenge.

I am not your kiddo.
I am not your child.
And you are not my fucking patriarch.

Take your superiority complex, put it in a little box, and send it back to from whence it came. 💅

#QueerPolitics #Patriarchy #Misogyny #TransRights #QueerLiberation #LGBTQIA #TransHistory #NoErasure #Pride #Gatekeeping

And because I am still upset:

Can we talk about the patriarchal male behaviour on display from the trans-exclusionary gay folks?

Because there is something almost breathtakingly familiar about certain gay men adopting the very hierarchies that patriarchy taught them, then turning around and using them against other queer people.

The “kiddo.”
The “child.”
The “babe.”
The condescending little performance of I am the grown-up man here, and you are the silly little thing who needs educating.

Oh, please.

Being gay does not magically uninstall patriarchy.

And neither does being gay automatically make someone immune to hypermasculine ideas about dominance, authority, hierarchy and who gets to speak with the voice of unquestionable expertise. To the contrary, some of these men seem to have taken every annoying male habit in the catalogue (talking down to people, asserting dominance, mansplaining, gatekeeping, deciding who counts as “normal,” demanding deference) and thought:

“Well, I’m gay, so apparently this is fine.”

No, darling. It isn't.

You don't get progressive bonus points for reproducing patriarchal behaviour inside the queer community that you do proudly claim to not even be a part of.

And frankly, watching gay men demand that everyone else recognise their authority while simultaneously telling trans people that we don't belong in queer history is a rather spectacular display of the very hierarchy queer liberation was supposed to challenge.

I am not your kiddo.
I am not your child.
And you are not my fucking patriarch.

Take your superiority complex, put it in a little box, and send it back to from whence it came. 💅

#QueerPolitics #Patriarchy #Misogyny #TransRights #QueerLiberation #LGBTQIA #TransHistory #NoErasure #Pride #Gatekeeping

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

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

My plastic surgeon for my bottom surgery in South Africa in the 1990s wasn't very nice. I stopped going to follow-ups rather than deal with him. Today I panicked and wondered if he had been involved in the apartheid government's secretive program of forced sex changes for white conscripts who were considered queer by the military authorities. Fortunately a little research showed my surgeon qualified after the end of the program.

#apartheid #transHistory #lgbtqia

My plastic surgeon for my bottom surgery in South Africa in the 1990s wasn't very nice. I stopped going to follow-ups rather than deal with him. Today I panicked and wondered if he had been involved in the apartheid government's secretive program of forced sex changes for white conscripts who were considered queer by the military authorities. Fortunately a little research showed my surgeon qualified after the end of the program.

#apartheid #transHistory #lgbtqia

My plastic surgeon for my bottom surgery in South Africa in the 1990s wasn't very nice. I stopped going to follow-ups rather than deal with him. Today I panicked and wondered if he had been involved in the apartheid government's secretive program of forced sex changes for white conscripts who were considered queer by the military authorities. Fortunately a little research showed my surgeon qualified after the end of the program.

#apartheid #transHistory #lgbtqia

My plastic surgeon for my bottom surgery in South Africa in the 1990s wasn't very nice. I stopped going to follow-ups rather than deal with him. Today I panicked and wondered if he had been involved in the apartheid government's secretive program of forced sex changes for white conscripts who were considered queer by the military authorities. Fortunately a little research showed my surgeon qualified after the end of the program.

#apartheid #transHistory #lgbtqia