so, some shouldn't-be-but-still-are spicy takes:

"going stealth" is a concept that exists to:
1.) shield cis people from having to grapple with our existence,
2.) separate us from each other, and keep not-yet-knowing trans people from figuring out we can just be normal people,

but 3.) largely exists so we can't coherently form a movement. Because we can't see or talk about each other if we can't see each other and never speak about being trans

you can 'go stealth' if you need to, but once you don't need it? you really should stop if you can

relatedly, we need to have a community conversation about 'being clocked' (people realising you're trans) being negative -- yes, it hurts for many, yes, from cis people its shitty

but it also means that trans people (many who you think are cis) cant reach out to you or anyone else they think might be one of us, on the train or whatever, to make RL connections outside of specifically trans spaces, further building the movement.

im sorry that we have to put collective good over personal comfort, but if we want things to improve, greeting other people we think are trans on the train, surrounded by people who won't realise they've been outed when we have enough shibboleth etc, is important

because right now we're largely fractured and powerless and nebulously connected

dont go 'hey are you trans also' obviously (though pushing towards that being fine is also important), but as long as its treated as a shameful secret that *someone else bringing up is bad*, we'll continue to only really connect online and in trans-majority spaces mostly

but most of these spaces are full of people still in the 'needing support and scared of the world' phase,

grs trauma cw//

and if we keep having that dictate our movement, we'll continue being unable to question surgeons' not-actually-based-in-science decisions, because talking openly about GRS currently makes people who dont yet have access suicidal, etc.

(speaking of? don't go to Dr. Rum*r until theres news she's changed SIGNIFICANTLY because its roulette)

collective power is the only thing that gets us anywhere and the only way to build that is y'all forming real bonds to people who aren't already in the movement/adjacent to it

(insert joke about trans people recruiting)

but right now all the boons of trans stuff are after long legislative fights by orgs that keep getting tons of money funneled into them... to pass laws that get undone 4 years later

the only way we get longstanding concessions is the same as anyone else -- by being enough of a credible threat to the ruling class that they throw concessions behind them while running away, trying to remove steam from the movement like an oil slick from a 1960s spy car.

and you can only have that by getting as many people as you can to act as a single unit against one of the weak points or available levers of power

(and one of those levers? is that currently we're largely unseen by cis people until we're popular. But we can change that, together, by just being more openly trans...)

we as a community have tried for over a decade to demure on these things because people said it caused suicidal ideation, which I'm sure is the case -- but if we let that dictate the upper bound of the movement, we'll continue having that community suicidality,

because in order to solve the suicidality of large swaths of the community, we... need to use our collective power to fix things. because it keeps repeating and keeps making things stagnate.

this is also why we need to move from letting support spaces and first-few-years people dictate the conversation -- because support spaces will always tend towards those first years, because those are the ones who most need support.

but they're also the ones with the least theory/history/exp/knowledge/stories/oral history/etc

that also means we need to start adding a bit more friction to the 'i just came out as trans ,now i'm going to write authoritatively on trans stuff' unless they actually do the research in the history and people not in their bubble

insurance not having clauses exempting GRS is great -- but black trans people *just in the US* are still being murdered at rates more than one a month, and have been since I've been trans.

its *still legal* to use the trans panic defense in like 47 states.

still legal to fire us for being trans outside of something like ten states

the legislative stuff has been largely the benefit of white trans women with access to insurance, and even those are not material gains past GRS and hormones

they aren't making our existence closer to normal, they aren't forcing recognition of us or getting cis people to see

fuck 'donkey kong says trans rights'.

we need people in power worried about collective trans power.

because that is the only leverage we have, but it's all we need

cis people (who aren't already on our side) are already terrified of individual trans people, what we represent, and what they think it means for them to be attracted to us. there's a lot of power there yet to be used

anyway, pride month was last month. get on board with the decade of wrath. Screw july being 'wrath month', 2020 is wrath decade.

Join with other movements if you aren't already a part of them, its all the same systems and groups fucking us over after all

rights don't mean shit when the polity have no reason to actually respect them. They just define what the state can do to you. The state still uses the polity as a weapon

(remember the uproar over the 'trans dykes are good and pure' protester shields?)

pride is good.

power saves many more lives.

stop focusing on pride, because it becomes way easier to have pride when you don't have to deal with worrying if every trans person you meet is overtly or secretly anti-trans, especially when those ppl can be violent

and make those ppl so afraid to fuck with any one of us bc the rest are willing to throw down, whether it's a mayor (where we use different tactics) or a guy on the subway. doesnt have to be fists, with enough people threats back down without you even having to threaten violence

and folks on the fence? now's a great time to transition, between social norms of mask use and not needing to interact with peeps in person as much, the initial period is a lot less scary

hopefully by the time you need it the community will have gotten it's shit together enough to fully support you within it but until then I invite you not to make the mistakes of the last two decades

(throwing out "elders" (very telling that this usually means "trans ppl out in the world for more than 5y as trans) for using language you don't yet understand, that you then use five years later after reading some history and theory and experiences and get thrown out for, etc)

(putting the comfort of the suicidal over the collective good (we need to figure out other ways to handle that, but most of it is unfortunately "people need to start working on childhood/adolescent trauma and we need to figure out how to reorient specific spaces to that"

and to gently make it clear that yeah experiencing being triggered is an awful experience, but some things need to be talked about if we want positive change,
starting with being able to openly talk about mistreatment from surgeons)

(happens way more than you think, same with bad results, bc most malpractice suits come with Non-Disclosure Agreements)

personal reactions cannot be dictating the movement discussion ceiling. you will never get the demands you want, so you need to shoot for the moon, because then you can compromise on the top of Everest.

if you aim for the roof, you'll find yourself still on the floor after

it sucks to say and sounds cold, but this hasn't improved with ten years of tiptoeing and community support and the pattern isn't just repeating,

but due to the trauma maybe 1% of the pattern inflict on others living under or friends with ppl saying x important thing makes them suicidal (among other ways it manifests, sometimes just as triggered and not suicidal ideation) its now self replicating

(also support spaces are still predator hunting grounds and that REALLY needs fixing but there aren't structures of accountability that can get around people creating new accounts)

highly recommend Trans Liberation - Beyond Pink and Blue, a book by Les Feinberg (ze also wrote Stone Butch Blues) to progressives reading this and even most leftists.

it covers very little of what I have, but gives you a broader view of what was before the internet

for a history on the LGBT left in the US, aimed primarily at communists, theres Lavender and Red, the writings from when Les was on the editorial board for the WWP newspaper. WWP has issues, but Les' writing is Les, parts where its WWP's Line are clear

https://web.archive.org/web/20170111045339/https://www.workers.org/lavender-red/

and never forget, our struggles are linked. the same aristocracy, ruling class, bourgeoisie, Capital, stoke most of the bigotry to keep the people under them fighting each other instead of those exploiting them.

unemployment and homelessness largely exist so they can be threats to keep wages low -- "want more pay? I'll just find someone more desperate. you can starve."

that said:

Black lives matter. ICE must be destroyed, along with the entire system of policing. Indigenous tribes and Black people should be given reparations. "citizenship" is a sham.

a long list, this is the start. start here, for the first one: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ 

add'l: https://twitter.com/NireBryce/status/1290486955709366282