I never wanted to care about trans rights.

[paulkienitz]

Trans rights were never a subject that mattered to me. I've only ever known one trans person, and I didn't even like him very much. It was not, and is not, a subject that engages me personally.

But I still have to stand up to strongly defend trans rights. Why? Because the whole reason they are attacking trans rights these days is because they see it as a tactically viable starting point for beginning an attack on a whole lot of other rights. If they succeed in gaining public acceptance of bigoted anti-trans restrictions, their clear intent is to use that as a base from which to immediately extend further assaults on gay rights, women's rights, and minority rights. Their end goal is to create an America in which only white Christian patriots have full rights, and all others are less than citizens. They are attacking trans rights for the sole reason that they see these rights to be the least well defended, the most vulnerable point at which to gain an initial victory and reverse their string of defeats. It isn't simple transphobia that drives this, it's homophobia and sexism looking for a safe way to show itself. It's the whole panoply of deplorable bigotries, all focused on the one target they see as being the least protected.

We have to defend at the point they choose to attack, or they break through our lines. Then they can strike in any direction.

[Wounded Bear]

1. A violation of anybody's rights is a violation of everybody's rights.

[Novara]

3. That's exactly it

I may never fully understand the need to switch your gender but transpeople are people and they deserve respect. Full stop.

[Otto_Harper]

2. As Martin Niemoller wrote decades ago about another Nazi takeover:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

[hlthe2b]

4. Agree on defending the rights of all...

I have to wonder if all that understandable defensiveness may make some trans individuals come across as rather abrasive--might explain what you had experienced in the past. The constant attacks on "who they are" and whether or not "they have rights" has to leave a mark. It would with me.

[TeamProg]

5. People should be free to live their lives the way they want as long as they don't hurt or endanger

others.

That's how I was raised.

I was not raised in fear, to fear, to hate. I was raised to learn and appreciate.

[Initech]

6. Think the Christian right is gonna stop at Roe? Hell no!

They plan on rolling all kinds of rights back to the stone ages. It's truly frightening. I fear they are going to go full Nazi when they regain power, and they'll have the blessings of Fox News, the AM radio hate propaganda sphere, Trump, a stacked SCOTUS, and megachurches to carry out all of their evil biddings.

[Hekate]

7. Understand this: they made us think being anti-abortion was all about babies, & now we see it's not

Actually a lot of us got that part a long time ago, but the new laws sweeping the nation and Alito’s Leak make it very explicit.

What gut-punched me 2 months ago was that all 3 GOPers running for AG in Michigan flat out said that Griswold must be overturned. Griswold vs State of Connecticut (which went to the SCOTUS) established the right of married couples to buy and use contraception in the privacy of their own homes, in the privacy of their own lives.

Let that sink in. Until 1965 states still thought they could regulate adult married couples’ decisions about family planning. Griswold, therefore, is foundational to everything else we think of as a right to privacy in sexual behavior — and sexual/gender identity (LGBTQ+) . The fact that in 2022 these Republican politicians just came out and said that Griswold has to go should be ringing bells like a 5-alarm fire.

Several weeks ago journalist Jonathon Capehart admitted he hadn’t understood the implications of the Alito Leak for anyone but women until a woman pointed out the full threat to himself as a married gay man. “Now I’m terrified,” he said.

And so — now you’ve got it, and I thank you. Welcome to the front lines of awareness that what happens to one of us, happens to all of us. And that the fanatics are coming for all of us: gay, straight, trans, whatever.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. In Texas and other states, the GOP is attacking trans persons to score political points

Paxton and Abbott are attacking and threatening trans children for political points

Link to tweet

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/03/11/texas-transgender-politics/?utm_campaign=trib-social-buttons&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton are turning the law-and-order Republican Party into a gang of bullies, targeting transgender kids — and the parents who support them — with their decision to treat gender-affirming health care as child abuse.

That health care is legal under Texas law, but this is election season. Cynics who think politicians will say anything to get reelected have a new, sparkling piece of evidence......

But most of those aren’t sexy election issues. Paxton is in a runoff. Abbott faces a well-known, well-financed Democrat in November. And as The Texas Tribune’s Patrick Svitek has reported, they think they’ve got a hot item to entice Republican voters.

“This is a winning issue,” Abbott’s top political strategist, Dave Carney, told reporters last week. “Texans have common sense.”....

“How is that considered child abuse to accept them and love them?” one mother told them. “How can they overstep their power and try to come and tell me how I should love my child?”

[EndlessWire]

13. Threatening trans children

is despicable. These people need to be voted out of office. Denying medical care for a kid, even if you personally don't agree with it, is child abuse. They cannot justify it. And to use it to entice votes to keep power is beyond trashy.

It is loving and parental to support your child as they grow. These pathetic men need to be kicked to the curb. Leave these families alone!

[Javaman]

9. I wrote this a while back...

You're right, I'm not you...


https://www.democraticunderground.com/1002546435

but I can empathize.

No, I haven't had your experiences, but I can understand and relate from my own experiences.

When we seek to teach and end up dividing, we learn nothing and help no one.

While I haven't walked in you shoes, I have walked miles in my own and use that experience to try and seek out common ground to understand not just your plight, but all people who have suffered.

I have tasted the bitterness of poverty and have eaten from the golden apple of success. I have had to beg for food and I have had high dollar meals served at no cost to me. I have felt crushing defeat and the sweet beauty of victory. I have been judged and I have judged. I have had the hateful looks of scorn because of who I am and the embracing arms of acceptance.

I will never ever know what it's like to be a minority in this nation, I will not know how it feels to be looked upon, in some circles, as second class. I will not know what it's like to be passed over solely because of the color of my skin. I will never know these things.

However, it does not stop me from trying my best to empathize with the plight of a fellow human treated unfairly or killed because of the color of their skin.

Hate, ignorance and racism are exhausting. Acceptance, empathy and understanding is fulfilling.

We learn from positives and belittle ourselves as humans with negatives.

[IngridsLittleAngel]

10. Human rights should apply to all. The moment they don't, they become privileges

I'm not Jewish. I am still absolutely appalled and disgusted by what Hitler and the Nazis did to them in the 30's and 40's, and the ugly uptick in antisemitism we've witnessed in the Age of Drumpf.

I'm not black. I am still absolutely appalled and disgusted by witnessing the in-your-face racism we've seen ever since Obama was elected - first by the "Tea Party", now by UltraMAGAs. I hear of things like white students whipping a black student, or the shooting in Buffalo, and I feel nothing but rage.

I'm not an immigrant. I was born here. Still, I hear "BUILD THE WALL!" and want to scream. I read all the stories of kids in cages, and wanted to scream. I hear UltraMAGAs speak of fantasies like gun towers on the border and just "opening fire on everyone trying to enter", and I think "You're fucking evil!"

Those are just three examples where I could say "Hey, doesn't affect me..." Horse hockey. Each and every one of those examples, and many more, do affect me because those are human beings being harmed, treated as less than human, abused, harmed, killed... Human rights matter to me, more than the economy, more than anything. What good are we as a people if we can't look out for our fellow people - not in spite of being different, but because we are different?

First they came for the transgenders...

I don't know what else to say to you outside of maybe a little empathy and compassion might make a world of difference.

[vercetti2021]

11. Sadly this is where we are

They use the trans in sports issue to get a winning move from both sides. That's how they do it. Wedge an issue to get a majority of support and then slowly dismantle all other areas of trans rights. But they'll have to kill me before they get to take my rights away

[paulkienitz]

12. Yeah, they try to get us to defend people with testicles competing in women's sports

which forces us to parse nuance, or argue among ourselves, while they stick with big broad lies.