Trans people need hope right now

After marriage equality was made the law of the land by the US Supreme Court in 2015, trans people have been, to varying degrees, a political issue in both the US and UK.

It started with bathroom bills in 2016, and the infamous fallout of North Carolina’s HB2, and has moved through several layers of moral panic since then. We’re at the point now in the discourse where conservatives and edgy centrist pundits are labelling anyone even remotely supportive of trans people as “groomers,” insinuating that they are akin to pedophiles.

Nothing could be further from the truth, and its just another ugly escalating smear from the right wing meant to scare people who don’t know any trans people in their personal lives.

But beyond the lies and baseless accusations the endless “political debate” over everything trans has had serious ramifications on the mental health of many trans people across the world. It’s not a good situation and has left many without much hope.

Even for myself, it’s hard to put my all into it every day, even when covering the trans rights movement is my literal job. I often find it easier to just log off for the day and lose myself in a movie or video game rather than to read the endless vitriol tossed at people like me on the internet.

And that of course is the goal of this half decade long hate campaign against trans people. They need to wear down advocates and make allies afraid to speak up. That is how they win.

Earlier today I asked my trans followers what gives them hope in the midst of so much hate.

I’m not going to post that thread here but you can find it on my Twitter profile. I’m not sharing it here because I know that transphobic people often read my stuff on this site and I don’t want to give them a ready list of trans people to harass.

What a sad state of the world we have now.