Brianna Wu
I’m increasingly despondent if the trans civil rights movement can be saved. It’s obvious we’ve been cavalier in how we’ve handled transness and children. Drag queen story hour. Curriculum inviting children without dysphoria to deeply question their gender. Figures like Eli Erlich literally setting up networks to illegally send children hormones. All of this turns apolitical parents against us. And it makes it harder for elected Democrats to stand with us. So, the day after a NYT poll comes out showing 77 PERCENT of Americans think trans rights have gone too far, I say we should reevaluate these tactics with children. And it’s just nothing but abuse and insults from the trans community. Why do so few of us care to ask if our strategy is working? Why is moralizing people that differ from the maximal position the first move? Why is there so much abuse over a question of tactics, not objectives? Why am I one of a handful of public figures on the left willing to say this? I know this is a painful topic, but we owe it to ourselves to ask if our current strategies are working. How can we advocate for trans rights in a way that builds broader public support while protecting our most vulnerable?