There seem to be a number of pundits insisting that anything short of putting trans people in camps is not "an attack on trans people's rights."
Please understand how ridiculous that sort of characterization is.
Yes, efforts to make it impossible for trans people to get ID cards that list their updated name and gender marker are attacks on trans rights.
Yes, efforts to force people to use restrooms that correspond to their original birth certificates are attacks on trans rights.
Yes, efforts to criminalize or restrict transition-related health care and insurance coverage are attacks on trans rights.
Because here's the thing:
I do not care if someone believes "trans women are women" or not. I really, truly don't. People can believe whatever they want to believe, and others can believe whatever they want to believe about that person.
Responding "Biological sex is real!" is not actually an argument. I'm not at all interested in having a dumb, meaningless debate about that.
Yes, trans people should be able to update their ID documents. "But it says 'sex' and I believe sex is..." Nope, again, I do not care. That is not an argument here.
This is about finding a way for all of us to coexist.
If you make it so my ID has to have "M" on it, then you're making it so every single time I'm carded or every single time I get a job, that I have to out myself as trans to total strangers.
That is an invasion of my privacy. I don't give a crap about what you believe, I shouldn't have to out myself to strangers in public. It's a humiliating, dehumanizing experience.
The same goes for restrooms.
I assure you, I do not want to be in a public restroom unless I absolutely have to use it and it's an emergency. I go out of my way to avoid them when possible and opt for single-occupancy options whenever available.
But when it comes down to it, if there are two options, it makes *much more sense* for me to use the women's room.
Going, "Well, Rowling can't POSSIBLY be transphobic because she says 'dress how you want, call yourself what you want'" just demonstrates that both she AND the person making the claim, are dodging the point.
Sorry, but yes, if you believe that I should be forced to put myself as trans whenever I show my ID and that I should be forced to use men's restrooms, YOU ARE TRANSPHOBIC.
I'm sympathetic to arguments about prisons and shelters, etc. I get that it can be complicated and the goal is to ensure the safety of *everyone*
You're not making a trans woman "safe" by putting her in a men's prison. You're not making a trans woman "safe" by throwing her to the curb outside a shelter. There has to be a way forward that doesn't amount to "Full ban!" vs "No rules"
@parkermolloy Transphobes know quite well they're actively making trans people _unsafe_ by imposing their own ideas of sex and gender on everybody. That's part of the appeal.
I guess there might be some people who have uncritically bought the "safety" argument but don't actually want anyone to suffer, and maybe pointing out the lack of safety will change some of their minds. Not many, though, I suspect. 😐
