I've seen a depressing trend of Democratic politicians embracing anti trans talking points and compromising gender affirming care for young people. This is extremely concerning as states and the federal government are undermining access to care now more than ever. Democrats standing by trans people has far more dire consequences now than ever, yet we're being treated as politically disposable by people who used to campaign on lgbtq issues like Gavin Newsom and Pete Buttigieg.
I can't say I'm surprised. Liberal papers like the New York Times has been uncritically promoting unscientific transphobia for years that claims alternatives exist to gender affirming care. My guess is that people see a person transitioning as an unfortunate thing, desperately wishing there was another way. They ignore the fact that gender affirming care is both the best treatment for dysphoria, and one of the most successful treatments for any mental condition ever discovered.
To put it simply, making gender affirming care harder to obtain for kids will kill many of them. Kids being kept from care by their parents already drives people to suicide, and a slimy politician preventing supportive parents from helping their kids will do the same. Every time I see people claim these guys are our best shot at beating fascism, I die inside. I have no doubt that they'll eventually axe care for all adults like everyone who was originally "worried about fairness in sports" is currently pushing for. The only way they won't is if we make it a costly issue for them.
Sure, but it is kinda funny how every time people start to get close to attacking capitalism or supporting socialists rising in power, suddenly there's a big wave of hate and outrage at trans people, gay people, migrants, etc.
It's almost like they want us to butt-heads with a majority of the population about issues that population will never budge on because the average American has the attention span and compassion of a broken chunk of drywall and only know how to fight.
I have been saying this for a long time, do not abandon advocacy for the rights of marginalized people, but if we want to actually bend society to protecting and respecting those rights, we have to bend it against corporate influence, we have to elect anti-oligarchs, socialists and economic progressives to our local seats of power and influence, we have to kick the legs out from under the foundation of the system that will come for trans people, it will come for gay people, it will come for brown, black and interracial couples, it will come for the mentally handicapped and it will come for women and children, it will come for your video games and your weed and your furry art. One-by-one, every single right and freedom will be lost if we don't start using our strongest weapon against their most vulnerable weak-point, which is by not spending money on luxuries, saving cash away from the banks and corporations who want to "borrow" it.
Our interpersonal narratives with each other need to keep focusing on how the wealthy are the ones making us hate each other, they're the ones driving up the price of eggs, they're the ones making us scared of trans people, they're the ones running congress and senate, they're the ones making gas cost so much, they're the ones taking chunks out of our paychecks and giving us NOTHING in return.
Again, all anyone knows how to do is argue and fight so we have to channel that at the right targets instead of meeting it head-on or we will keep getting stuck in this spiral that has seen only losses in the last decade.
Your "reasoned" argument to "slow down", "don't rock the boat" or "be patient" for social justice would be familiar to Civil Rights activists. MLK suggested that the "white moderate" was a bigger obstacle to civil rights than the white citizens council.
What you're really saying is that class struggle takes priority over social justice. The big problem with that is that social justice has never came to people who who politely sit at the back of the bus.
Right now? Yes. Not broadly, social justice is one of our top goals, but we don't take Berlin without storming Normandy. We are losing social justice because we are ignoring class. We are about to lose everything because we're not attacking class.
I wish, wish, wish more leftists with activist mindsets spent more time in liberal and conservative spaces so everyone had a more realistic idea what we're up against. If we keep attacking this wall with scolding, with social messaging, with appeals to empathy, we're going to keep doing what we've been fucking doing for years... losing.
Again though, this isn't a binary, let's not fall down that weird schism that bad-actors have leveraged us apart with that says "if you're not for X you MUST be against Y" or "If you're supporting Gaza children you MUST be against Jewish people" etc.
I don't think there's any harm in carrying our flags and slogans in marches and so on, but if you're talking to an average white liberal or conservative in actual conversation... which you should do a LOT more of, we keep the talk focused on what they're losing out on because of oligarchy and what harm it's doing to them personally, because literally, that's all they care about BUT it's a crack that can be weakened and allow other issues in. (As well as the harm being waged on trans people, people of color, etc, depending on the person and how receptive they are. You should broadly get better at making people like you too but that's a separate essay.)
I am speaking from experience here in changing people's hearts and minds on these issues. You all are a lot stronger as individuals than you think and are capable of doing so much more than you think, but it's a power that needs to be wielded with tactics and strategy like anything. We are the smarter side, we are the thinking side, let's think of ways to stop losing. If you have better ideas to stop losing I'm all ears, because whatever we've been doing isn't working. Don't let the "we got 'em" memes color our thinking because the fascists are literally celebrating in the streets and growing in power and they're coming for all of us.