Thanks so much for the support. You lot are keeping me going.
Not particularly young, well into our thirties. But early adopters and in some cases leaders of what's going on now.
I grew up in a very abusive environment. Then in early adulthood I found people who were doing genuinely good things, lots of it nothing to do with trans, some of it the sort of things most people on here would agree with, like supporting LGBT+ refugees. But there was always the trans stuff going on too. That was fine, I want trans people to be able to get on with their lives, nobody should be getting hassled for the way they dress.
It ratcheted up slowly. I was told that how I understood myself, my body, my life, was all wrong. I should use the labels they gave me, not talk about the way I felt. I was used to that in a lot of different contexts. I could work on other things, and keep my head down, stay out of trouble, try to ignore what worried me.
The last few years, too much has happened. The same people who told me to shut up about my body and how I felt about it and how it was the cause of so much abuse are now rewriting the rules for everyone in the UK, not just my social bubble.
They think that they are the only ones who are important. They talk about intersectionality, and consultation, and community support, and what they mean is 'I talked to a bunch of my mates who I am sure agree with me'. They even call trans people who disagree 'scum' and much worse. They don't think about people who aren't like them, including very marginalised people. Language has to change so fast that everyone is transphobic scum for using the words they themselves taught a few weeks ago. Then they demand changes which will do serious damage to people who can't use English the way they do, who can't weaponise academic priviledge, and they never, ever, compromise.
This isn't most trans people. Amongst themselves, they don't even want to represent most trans people, except that publically they need to claim to be the voice of all trans people for political power, and anyone who they call 'transphobic' then is seen as out to literally kill all trans people.
They can't compromise, or negotiate. Personal purity is the absolute priority. You are either with them or against them. In-group or out-group. Completely onside, or 'die cis scum'. Nuance and dialogue cannot exist, because they've spent so long being completely certain of their own rightness.
There will be people reading this from the extreme TRA side who recognise who I am, because they watch this place.
To them - hello. Talk to me, please. Maybe I'm another cis person who doesn't 'get it' and it's not worth your time to educate me, but I've been trying and listening for so long. You know the work I do and the things I care about, and I want a world which works for trans people and the people I work with, and the people who are both.