Welcome to Trans Tuesday! It’s time for THE INTENTIONAL (?!) TRANS ALLOGORY OF STRANGE NEW WORLDS’ AD ASTRA PER ASPERA, part 2! This week, we see that “being good” won’t save us, and the hypocrisy of those who oppress us! Let’s get right to it!
Be sure you’ve read PART 1 first, it’s got all the context and setup you need (especially if you’re not familiar with Star Trek or Strange New Worlds), and the beginning of our discussion of the episode proper! Okay, on with the show!
8:58 – Captain Batel: “Una rejected my deal… Do you know how hard it was to get that deal approved? I called in every favor. And do you think that was easy? Because I can tell you it was not.” Look how good I am for only getting her kicked out because of who she is. This has been so hard for me, don’t you get it???
“I don’t want to oppress trans people, but I will if I’m told to,” doesn’t actually absolve you of our oppression.
9:18 – Batel: “I don’t write the code, and my job… our job… is to uphold it, regardless.” Doesn’t matter if you think the law is wrong, we gotta do what it says.
But nah, laws can be super wrong actually, they’re not some perfect creations free of flaws or bigotries. Which we’ll get to. Batel: “Una broke the law.” Pike, getting angry: “And what if the law is wrong?”
10:32 – Pasalk has joined the prosecution, and because Una didn’t accept getting dismissed for who she is, he wants to change the charges to add “engaging in permanent bioengineering and two counts of sedition. We’re seeking dishonorable dismissal and twenty years in a Federation penal colony.” See you didn’t play nice when we did a kind oppression, so now we’re gonna do the mean version.
13:04 – Neera, to Una: “You decided to fight and not make this easy for them. They want to make an example out of you.” If they show Illyrians will be punished for existing openly, that’ll sure cause any others to stay hidden.
13:21- Una: “Put me on the stand. Let them see that being an Illyrian doesn’t change who I am as an officer.” Neera: “Your story doesn’t matter to their case. You broke the law. I put you up there, they’ll just use you to corroborate their facts. Or worse, to tear you down, or likely bring down a bunch of your so-called friends with you.” True CIS ACCOMPLICES also put themselves in harm’s way to defend us, even if it costs them. Society will go after them too.
14:45 – La’an: “I think I might be of some assistance to the case. Counselor, are you familiar with Starfleet v. Wyck?” Neera: “[it’s] used as an example of ‘fruit of the poisonous tree.’ If evidence is procured through illegal means, it’s inadmissible in court. You think some of the evidence against Una was illegally obtained?” La’an: “Just let me cover all the bases first.” This isn’t specifically part of the allegory, but a bit with La’an later is and it relates to this, so I’m including it here.
16:19 – Pike, speaking about when he met Una while giving a speech to her class at Starfleet Academy: “I was speaking about a test mission I’d flown. Una came up to me afterward and, uh, pointed out a mistake I’d made during reentry. …but she was right. She had the guts to tell me.” Una is smart and capable and a good officer, and isn’t afraid to stand up to authority. “[An admiral] once told me that every good captain needs a first officer who will tell him when he’s wrong.” The point of this is to show you Una is actually really smart and capable. She is a good officer, and being a genetically modified Illyrian didn’t affect that at all.
17:08 – Pike wants to take the stand to defend Una, but Batel advises him against it. “…if you take that stand, this whole case becomes about you. You are the captain of this ship. You knew Una was an Illyrian, and you didn’t tell Starfleet. You could be charged with conspiracy, and your whole crew could be at risk.” Defending and standing up for us comes with its own risks for cis people, because transphobic society set it up that way. We need cis people to do it anyway because there aren’t enough trans people to do it on our own, and again, cis people have a much better chance of being listened to.
20:58 – Batel: “The Federation’s stance on genetic engineering is clear. The practice is dangerous and illegal.” As I mentioned before, this was due to genetic engineering that earth went through, which led to the Eugenics Wars where millions died.
They blame this on the genetic engineering, and not the specific choices made by people who were genetically engineered. Holding a whole category of people responsible for some bad actors, does that sound familiar?
Batel: “Pushed to its limits, genetic engineering is nothing short of playing god. By interfering with DNA and removing genetic outliers, we endanger the very essence of natural evolution.” Think of the poor procreators! This isn’t natural or of god. This reference is extra pointed because Star Trek, especially in the modern era, does not generally make reference to real religions. That they do here is notable, in that it’s going out of the way to show you how people will use religious arguments if they think it furthers their cause.
But being trans is natural, and nothing we do to our bodies is different than what cis people do to their bodies. It’s fine for them, but not for us. Tale as old as time.
See CIS PEOPLE GET GENDER AFFIRMING HEALTHCARE TOO.
21:37 – Neera: “Captain Batel is right. Permanent genetic modification is illegal under Federation law. Slavery was once legal. Apartheid was legal. Discrimination against people for how they worshipped, how they loved, their gender, the color of their skin… all legal at one time or another. A law does not make something just. I’m not saying the Federation means to do harm. Their experience with genetic modification, the Eugenics Wars, was horrific. …the Federation built a utopia in its wake, and in an effort to protect that utopia, they became blinded by a centuries-old fear, so much so that they have, perhaps unknowingly, become persecutors. My client is only here because of who she is and because she felt she had no other choice than to hide that fact. Just like the millions before her who were forced to hide how they worshipped, how they loved, what they truly looked like, because it made others uncomfortable. Because it made others afraid. If a law is not just, then I ask how are we to trust those who created that law to serve justice?”
I had to quote that full speech because damn is it good, and exactly right on the money. Just because something is a law does not make it just. Centuries old fears, whether well-founded or not (transphobia), don’t justify oppression. And yet, often, the people who make those unjust laws are the ones we have to try to get to change them.
It’s fucked up, friends.
23:15 – Admiral April, who was Una’s former commanding officer and sponsored her entry to Starfleet Academy, takes the stand. Captain Batel asks him if he knew Una was genetically modified, he says no. Batel: “If you had known she was genetically modified, would you have sponsored her application to Starfleet Academy?” April: “Una is an extremely talented officer, and one of the most gifted applicants I’d ever met.” Again showing how smart and capable she is. Batel: “That is not the question, sir.” She asks again. April: “No I would not.”
23:57 – Neera, cross-examining April. “It takes a big man to admit his mistakes. …just for the record, could you tell the court why you would not have sponsored Commander Chin-Riley’s Starfleet application, specifically?” April: “Starfleet regulation 17, Article 12 explicitly prohibits genetically modified people, such as Illyrians, from serving.” Neera: “…can you tell me what General Order one is?” April: “No starship may interfere with the normal development of any alien life or society.” Neera: “A very important law. So much so that you now refer to it as the Prime Directive.” Neera then goes on to list multiple instances of April violating the Prime Directive, because he felt it was the right thing to do.
Neera: “…it would seem that the rules of Starfleet only apply when a captain deems that they do. …You have shown that you have been repeatedly willing to break the very first order of Starfleet and you are hailed as a hero. You can break the law if you so choose. So, hiding behind order and protocol to explain why you would not have admitted Una Chin-Riley to Starfleet is a sanctimonious falsehood, is it not?”
This is a direct correlation to the CIS PEOPLE GET GENDER AFFIRMING HEALTHCARE TOO essay that I mentioned. It’s fine for them to do it when it suits them, but they hold trans people to a different standard. Because we make them uncomfortable.
26:25 – Neera: “My client did not ask to be genetically modified. It is an Illyrian cultural practice done to children before they are even born. It is done for survival, and yet she has been arrested because of a violation of a law. But the admiral has just shown us that Starfleet regulations are flimsy and subjective at best.” Nobody asks to be trans, we just are. We choose whether to transition or not, but whether we do or don’t doesn’t change that we’re trans. And discriminating against us due to who we are as people is as basic as bigotry gets.
26:48 – April: “Una Chin-Riley’s services to Starfleet have been commendable, yes. But the law that she broke is there to save lives and prevent genocide.” Cis people see trans people as a threat to cisness and think we want to “trans your kids,” that it will spread.
Like I’ve mentioned so many times, seeing out trans people happy and living joyous lives does make others think they can do it too. But it doesn’t make cis people think that. If you’re cis, has seeing a happy trans person ever made you want to transition? (if your answer is yes, you’re maybe actually not cis, friend)
We don’t want to trans your kids, we want your trans kids to survive and get to be themselves.
27:08 – Neera: “So you admit that the reason for your decision is not law, but fear and racial prejudice.” The presiding judges sure don’t like that, and so they throw out all of April’s testimony.
28:32 – Una’s mad that Neera was attacking April on the stand. Neera: “Why are you still trying to protect them? …Do you know how rare it is to get a platform like this? …Most Illyrians don’t have your privilege. Has it occurred to you that your case might bring us one step closer to dismantling the law? Maybe in the future there can be justice for Illyrians.” Neera’s come around to realizing that this situation has a chance to move the needle. Maybe.
30:25 – Character witnesses are called in. La’an, Spock, and M’benga all speak well of Una as an officer, including La’an saying she wouldn’t be in Starfleet, or alive, if not for Una. And thus none of the people La’an has saved would be alive either. Una is not just a good officer, she is an exemplary one.
31:52 – Batel: “Mr. Spock, if the defendant broke the law, would it follow that the only logical course of action is for her to be punished accordingly?” Spock: “Perhaps. Although I think it is illogical for Starfleet to punish itself. …The loss of Una would be destructive to Starfleet as an organization. She is an extraordinary officer.”
They go on to talk about her selflessness, her leadership, and her importance to the crew. It shouldn’t matter if a trans person is good and useful to deserve equal rights, of course, but the point here is to show you that in a society that sees her as nothing but a threat, she is in fact an asset to everyone… including the very society that wants to eliminate her.
33:16 – As La’an and Neera talk, it’s revealed that La’an thinks she may have been the one who turned Una in to Starfleet. La’an: “The night I found out Una was Illyrian, I was… I was angry. I recorded a personal log.” Neera: “And you think somebody got ahold of that personal log, and that’s how Una was exposed. …May I ask why you were angry? It can’t be because Una was genetically augmented. Considering your last name, I would think you would understand the nuances of genetic manipulation better than most.”
Remember that as discussed way back at the beginning, La’an is a descendant of Khan, the genetically engineered human responsible for the Eugenics Wars.
La’an: “Una was my friend. She lied to me.” This is directly how a whole lot of cis people act when we come out to them, as if we’d been lying to them about who we are. See CIS GRIEF (when we come out) for more. But all we were actually doing was trying to be who they (and all of society) told us we had to be. It’s society that lied to us. And it is not our fault for believing what all of society, and our own friends and family, told us. Again see TRANS TRAUMA 2: SOCIETAL GASLIGHTING.
Neera: “It’s not that simple, is it? Could it be that you carry your family’s augmentations, and you believe that because of them you may become dangerous?” La’an: “Yes, I do.”
And there you have what, I think, is at the root of a whole lot of transphobia. If the cis binary is a lie, and trans people prove it… there’s a chance that any given person could be trans. True!
“If trans people are real then there’s a chance I might be trans!” And they cannot accept that possibility, because they’ve been taught not to.
Neera: “There is nothing wrong with you, Lieutenant. No hidden monster inside.” La’an: “But you don’t know-“ Neera: “Yes I do. It’s how they make us feel. They look down at us for so long that we begin to look down on ourselves.”
Our society treats transness like this horrible, wrong thing to be avoided, and it teaches us all to believe it through our entire lives. See IMPLICIT QUEERPHOBIA and INTERNALIZED TRANSPHOBIA.
Neera: “Genetics is not destiny, despite what you may have been taught. The fear you have of yourself, it’s not your own. It was drilled into you. You’re not born a monster. You were just born with a capacity for actions, good or ill. Just like the rest of us.”
Genetics is not destiny. Biology is so much more complex than male and female, man and woman. Nothing in biology fits into only two neat and completely exclusive boxes. That’s literally not how life works.
That brings this week to a close! Next week we wrap up and talk about why we’d try to change a society that’s terrified of us, and how maybe this mostly-utopian future lays out a roadmap for us to get from here to there.
Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
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