In recent years, attacks on LGBTQ people and specifically the transgender community have spread and intensified around the world. Here in the United States, right-wing religious organizations stoke hysteria over alleged men participating in women’s sports, over a few trans athletes possibly gaining unfair advantages over women, and over supposed indoctrination and mutilation of unsuspecting children. In states nationwide there are currently 575 laws up for consideration that can be considered openly anti-LGBTQ. When we focus more specifically on legislation that can be considered anti-transgender, the trend is even worse. 100 anti-trans laws have already been passed in the states, and there are currently 740 anti-trans laws still up for consideration. These trends have led to and been compounded by anti-trans executive orders signed by the President in his first days in office, and recent advancement of a federal budget that would cut Medicaid funding for anything related to transgender health care.
LGBTQ rights in general and particularly the rights and health needs of transgender people are under direct and sustained attack. These attacks are partly the product of hateful rhetoric from the reactionary religious right that wants to eliminate any behaviors they consider nontraditional, non-Christian, or immoral.
But these attacks are also part of a long-running and conscious strategy by those in power to divide us in ways that allow them to continue their rule over us and their political economy.
Women have long been an oppressed group and continue to feel oppression in so many ways. Having been denied the right to vote, economic opportunity, social equality, and basic health care needs and control over their own bodies, most women have experienced discrimination very similar to that experienced by trans and LGBTQ people. Women are currently having basic rights to control their own bodies ripped away. Women have every reason to support LGBTQ and trans rights.
So, much like they stoke racism, antisemitism, and anti-immigrant hysteria to keep us divided, those who rule us are making a systematic effort to divide women from the trans and LGBTQ community. The more they can pit women against trans people, or native-born versus non-native born, or white versus Black, the easier it is for them to take our eyes off of the many crimes they commit against all of us.
Trump and his capitalist buddies are trying to destroy all levels of education. They are cutting funding for nutrition programs and school lunches. They are trying to weaken and destroy Medicaid. They are trying to destroy our unions. They are detaining people and openly repressing dissent. They are ripping rights away from all of us.
Meanwhile they are extending tax cuts for themselves, building massive AI (artificial intelligence) data centers for themselves, increasing the military budget for themselves, cutting regulations for themselves, and cutting deals with big businesses both in the U.S. and around the world. These are all direct attacks on us and our needs. In order to successfully carry out those attacks, they need to keep our eye off the ball by creating so-called enemies that distract us from their crimes.
We can’t fall for their distractions. We can’t let the bosses and their politicians divide us.
So, while we focus on Pride this month, we can’t isolate the movement for trans and LGBTQ rights from the larger struggles that we all face. We must recognize that attacks on trans and LGBTQ communities are part of the much larger attacks on all of us. While we must defend trans and LGBTQ communities, we must do so by fighting back against all the attacks that all of us face.
