Welcome to #TransTuesday! Others have spoken on this topic better than I can, but I’m a white trans lady so I have the privilege of more people listening to me. I honestly can’t believe it needs to be said, it’s such a no-brainer. Yet here we are talking TRANS INTERSECTIONALITY.
If you’re somehow unfamiliar, intersectionality is just what it sounds like… it’s the INTERSECTION of multiple vectors of marginalization that people experience due to biases and discrimination in our society.
I’m part of a marginalized community. I am a trans woman. By now you’ve certainly realized how othered, demonized, and hated we are by society for the “crime” of not wanting to have to pretend to be someone we’re not (and have the entire medical establishment backing us up on).
I do not presently face any other marginalizations, though I have previously. For a long time we were very poor, and class is absolutely one vector of intersectionality. Our society punishes people in poverty for the “crime” of not having much (or any) money.
It’s important to note, however, that I never faced these two marginalizations at the same time. Once I transitioned to live as my true self, we’ve thankfully been financially okay.
But that is definitely not the case for a whole lot of trans people, who also often face poverty due to losing homes and jobs after coming out, and being unable to find new ones. About THIRTY PERCENT OF TRANS PEOPLE ARE IN EXTREME POVERTY.
But that number jumps up to THIRTY-SIX PERCENT for Black trans people. Why is that? Well you’d better know by now all the marginalization, state violence, discrimination, and racism Black people in this country face on a daily basis.
So Black trans people are dealing with all the ways society harms them for being Black, while also dealing with all the ways society harms them for being trans. And over a THIRD of them also experience all the ways society harms them for being poor.
And they may face other marginalizations as well. They could be disabled, or a senior, or a disabled senior. Are you starting to get it? THIS IS INTERSECTIONALITY. For every vector of marginalization a person faces, their life is remarkably more difficult.
This is part of why I started Trans Tuesdays, because as a financially okay white trans woman who didn’t lose a home or family or job or friends, I face SO MANY LESS BARRIERS than almost all other trans people. That is my PRIVILEGE.
If you’d like more info on the very concept of privilege in society, and how cis people have so much more of it than trans people, there’s a Trans Tuesday on CIS PRIVILEGE.
If you’d like more info on MY privilege and how I try to use it for good, there’s a Trans Tuesday on PRIVILEGE (TIME AND MONEY).
If you’d like more info on how my privilege gives me a responsibility to help those who are less privileged, see the trans tuesday on THE ONLY TRANS PERSON YOU KNOW.
It’s known that there’s a racism problem in the white trans women community, and while I find that terribly awful and dismaying, I also can’t say I’m entirely surprised. Because a whole lot of white people, cis and trans alike, have a racism problem.
I’ve been calling it out every time I see it, but I keep getting told “we have to fight for trans rights,” and “I have a black friend so I can’t be racist,” and “now is not the time,” over and over again. Imagine telling someone they have to WAIT to get their rights until you get yours. YIKES.
That’s been going on for centuries, from getting the vote for EVERY citizen of the United States seemingly one group of people at a time while others are made to wait, on through everything else.
There’s a real “I got mine” attitude of people willing to throw everyone else under the bus for their own gain. But in doing so you weaken your own position, because oppression always comes back around (as in the recent loss of a national right to abortion care).
I keep saying trans people are human beings (which is true!), but that means that just like the rest of humanity we are not immune to flaws or bigotry (cough cough Caitlyn Jenner cough cough).
A lot of this (recently, anyway) was sparked by the murder of Brianna Ghey. And I shouldn’t have to say this, but yes it was awful, and horrific, and my heart breaks for her. But it also breaks for every trans woman who’s a victim of violence.
But she wasn’t the first, and she wasn’t even the first in 2023. Just this year there was Zachee Imanitwitaho and Jasmine “Star” Mack, and Destiny Howard, and sadly probably more I’m not aware of. Did you see the same kind of response from the trans community over their deaths?
Have you even heard their names before? Did you know that all three of them were Black trans women? Why aren’t they deserving of the outpouring of love and support as Brianna? That was rhetorical, because of course they are. But they didn’t get it, did they?
What’s worse, the Black community created movements (with accompanying hashtags) specifically for the violence Black women face at the hands of police: Say Her Name and Rest in Power.
These were appropriated by a whole lot of white trans women for Brianna, and that’s a problem. Now listen, the internet and social media is vast. Movements take off and we don’t always know where or how or why they originated. Nobody is saying you have to know everything.
But when you use those movements as they were not intended, and Black people politely ask you not to use them and explain their origin and meaning, the correct response is: “I’m so sorry, I had no idea. I’ll stop using them.” THE END.
There are so many words in the English language, we can (and should) have our own just for the violence trans women face. I suggest Tell Her Truth, and Rest in Pride is also a good one (though applicable to the entire queer community and not trans women specifically).
What you DON’T do is make excuses for why you can keep using them. What you DON’T do is parrot racist dog whistles that the only Black people complaining are “agitators.” What you DON’T do is say “but the words fit so I will use it anyway” and ignore the harm you’re doing.
The way you support marginalized communities is BY LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE FROM THAT COMMUNITY.
You do not make them justify what they’re telling you as if it’s only okay if it meets your approval. You do not make them do the labor of educating you on their movements as if they’re personally obligated to be your teacher. YOU ARE ON THE INTERNET. Be an ally and educate yourself.
All of those things, ALL OF THEM, are what we trans people keep asking, BEGGING cis people to do for us. Because nothing nothing NOTHING will get better for us until they do.
So how do you not see that nothing nothing NOTHING will get better for Black people until white people will do the same for them?
How can you be okay with visiting the same kind of bigotry, of appropriation, of violence upon another marginalized community when you’ve experienced it yourself and know how awful it is?
How can you not WANT to fight for EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING to be treated truly equally by society? HOW?? I legit do not understand it. We can and SHOULD and NEED TO focus on more than one thing at a time.
IF YOUR FIGHT IS NOT INTERSECTIONAL, YOU ARE NOT PART OF THE FIGHT.
You are, in fact, aiding our oppressors.
So let’s think about all the vectors of discrimination and marginalization people might face in our society. I may be missing some! This is not intended to be comprehensive, just illustrative of the many different ways society discriminates against people.
Vectors of marginalization:
Race
Class
Gender
Transness
Age
Disability
Incarceration
Religion
Language
Weight
I’m sure there’s more! And if you don’t believe in some of them… listen, just go out to lunch with people experiencing some of these marginalizations and see how differently they’re treated.
We once went to lunch with friends, a cis white couple from Italy. Basically the most privileged people in society, but their English wasn’t great yet (which is fine!). But the discrimination they faced in just trying to order their food was… eye-opening. And disgusting.
And I’m not saying that’s the same level as what trans people or Black people or disabled people experience, but it’s definitely another vector of discrimination.
Now look at that list and realize a whole lot of people experience multiples of those marginalizations. Some people might experience ALL OF THEM AT ONCE.
And of course life isn’t difficult for people BECAUSE they belong to those categories, but because of the way SOCIETY TREATS YOU when you’re in those categories.
So what you’re saying when you refuse to listen to people from a marginalized community is, on the surface, that their needs aren’t as important as yours (whether you experience any marginalization or not).
But FURTHER-
There are people who SHARE YOUR MARGINALIZATION who you are telling that their experiences don’t matter/aren’t as important as yours.
So to use the movement and hashtag example, a trans person saying “I’m going to use Say Her Name” anyway, is telling every Black person that you don’t care if you hurt them, and you’re telling every Black trans person that they’re not welcome in the trans community.
PLEASE SEE THE HARM THAT YOU ARE DOING, not just to people who are different from you (which should be enough on its own!), but to people who are also LIKE you.
There’s no such thing as “waiting your turn.” We’re not free until ALL of us are free, because if one group gains liberation while others still suffer… first of all, that’s a gigantic problem on its own, but if that’s not enough for you remember that no bigotry exists in a vacuum.
Nobody is just one type of bigot. Scratch a transphobe and find a racist. ALL BIGOTRY is connected, because at its root it’s all about fear and hatred of anyone who doesn’t conform to the false binaries of society established by rich able-bodied cisgender heterosexual white men.
So if we don’t fight for EVERYONE experiencing oppression (and morality requires that we do), eventually the oppression will come right back around to us again… as we just saw with the hard fought abortion rights just being overturned!
If you can’t do it for others, at least do it for the selfish reason of protecting YOURSELF.
How do you learn these things? How do you find out what life is life for people from different communities, people who experience different marginalizations than you? Well my friends, you follow them. You read what they have to say. You LISTEN.
I follow lots of trans people. I follow a lot of Black people, Latinx people, Asian people. I follow disabled people. I follow Muslims and Hindus and atheists and Jewish people. I follow people from every income level and of multiple genders and ages.
AND I LISTEN.
And you wouldn’t believe how much I learn. And that, hopefully, makes me a better ally to them. I WANT to be a better ally to them. I NEED to be. I need to be an accomplice in their liberation, just like we NEED cis people to be accomplices in trans liberation.
One of the people I’ve followed and learned so much from is Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg. I’m not Jewish or cis like she is. But she’s taught me SO much… and not just about Jewish people and their faith, but also about life.
And she has a great saying, “liberation is a group project.” It applies everywhere.
Be the ally and accomplice for others that we need them to be for us. #TellHerTruth
NONE OF US WITHOUT ALL OF US.
Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com