How Things Change (Or Maybe Not)

CN –  Mention of murder of Christa Leigh. 

As I sit here debating whether or not to make myself a coffee, looking at my journal for my upcoming posts in the next month, I had noticed one note I had written. It says “How things have changed for the LGBT community”. I thought yeah things have changed drastically for us in the past few years and that has been wonderful. Then I remembered yesterdays news. 

Yesterday the founding member of Miss Transgender America was found murdered. She is the first transgender woman to be murdered this year. She was murdered by her own husband. Her name is Christa Leigh… DO NOT FORGET HER AS YOU HAVE MANY OTHERS. Things haven’t exactly changed for us now have they?We are at the start of this year. THE VERY FUCKING START and already someone has been murdered. 

LGBT people are still under attack for being who they are, who they were born to be and in 2018 already there shows no sign of this stopping. Systematic oppression is still happening, intersectionality is still not a talked about thing and poverty is on the up. 

Fucking hell, non binary identified folk STILL cannot get married under their correct gender identity and we are supposed to have “equal marriage”. I’ve been barking up this tree now for actual years. YEARS. Myself and my partner have been discussing this issue for 5 years whilst we have been together and still it has not been a thing. I’m going to kick the fuck off about this because, you know what I have kept my mouth shut for a very long time, and I am just about done. When you agree to take part in a film, provide contacts, tell the film maker that no, they are not the first person to be bringing non binary identity into the limelight, give information previously about how your partner even spoke in the house of commons in 2012 to discuss equal marriage and the spousal veto…. Only for that to be disregarded, ignored and not even thanked, it is going to piss people off.  

You want to know what has changed – sweet fuck all, except for the fact that we now have the more vocal, more able bodied, camera pretty shitlords taking credit for something that they never even fucking started. For your information the first non binary person to enter a government building and speak to members of Parliament was in the 90s and not 2017. Oh and before I get the sudden barrage of hate mail that probably is going to come with this as folks realise which film maker I’m calling the fuck out on, you should know this.

• They were invited to film our non binary wedding in 2013
• We were interviewed during their wedding and it got cut – might have been due to the fact that I mentioned that I had a protest wedding for proper equal marriage in 2010
• I hit them up with a contact for the film.

Fuck that actually felt good to get out. But yes, it turns out that disabled trans people have been doing work for a good solid 20+ years and not getting recognised for their work. Something that really fucking hasn’t changed over the years. Will it ever? I fucking hope so but I’m not holding my goddamn breath. 

I mean this isn’t the first time intersectional LGBT folks have and will get shit on. I am public about the fact that even Brighton museum up until THIS MONTH wasn’t fully accessible to people wanting to see the museum of transology, and it was just a goddamn door issue. Poor working class LGBT folks are still being seen as the scum of the earth by many of the richer community folk, and their issues are never addressed and LGBT people of colour still get fuck all platforms and when they finally do speak, they are seen as problematic or trouble “for the rest of us”

I mean fuck, I went off on one because a no trans people had been asked to take part in a conference aimed at the history of someone who was speculated to be non binary and a goddamn trans person told me to stop campaigning and they didn’t give a shit about their peers feelings as they wanted to attend anyway. THIS IS OUR CHANGE. TRANS PEOPLE IN PRIVILEGED SITUATION’S SHITTING ON MARGINAL FOLK. Fucking hell the cishets™ can pack up and leave cause we have trans people doing the emotional labour of tearing down OTHER TRANS PEOPLE for them. 

So in summary – what has changed? Nothing except some of us can get married, and privileged LGBT folks can now shit on others 

The “Debate” On Trans Women

We have been shocked to the core with the TERF behaviour that’s gone on in recent days, weeks and months. Now it directs itself to women’s hour on the BBC, so I would like to add to this. 

THERE IS NO FUCKING DEBATE. TRANSGENDER WOMEN ARE WOMEN. THEY ARE REAL AND THEY EXIST! 

Thank you

Remembering The Dead – TDoR

Every year we celebrate and morn the trans lives lost over the previous years. This year it went well over 300 deaths throughout the world. 
These are not deaths that are because of old age or natural causes. These are 300+ people who have been murdered or driven to suicide. These are deaths that could have been avoided but once again trans people have systematically neglected and abused. These are no accidents or one off occasions. 

Many of the people murdered are trans women of colour and some were sex workers. They are the people who are being neglected the most. These are also the stories that get brushed under the carpet , not only by the general population , but often by queer people themselves. There is still a huge stigma being known to be a sex worker, and  because its not the norm, it is often not talked about. Because its not talked about, we are in fact not reaching out to the trans people who in fact need us. 

Trans sex workers are happily discussed if we are in videos that cater to the fetish market, and we are not a nuance if we are polite and keep our mouths shut. We are told that our actions are what causes huge stigma in pur community, and that there is always a better option than to be a sex worker.

But WE ARE GETTING MURDERED. We cannot be silent over what is killing our friends, our partners, the people we love. We cannot keep brushing under the carpet that once again the numbers of deaths are stupidly high. We cannot be silent over people getting away with this and we certainly cannot be silent about the cuts to services that are affecting our community. 

Please take a moment to go through the list of people who have passed this year. This should never happen. No one should die because of their gender and who they are. People should be allowed to live how they want in safety and not murdered because they are transgender

Thank you. 

For the list please go here

My Genitals Are Not News Worthy

It has been pretty fashionable the past 12 months or so to include transgender issues in the media. I don’t know about you, but personally I’m getting bored of it. Before the gates of hell open up and swallow me hole for saying such a terrible thing, I would like to explain why.
Firstly, its not just the TV or the latest buzzfeed article that goes on about transgender issues. Often there are articles talking about how “hot” passing trans people are or some petty cis parent “worried” about the corruption of their child because trans kids are in schools.

You see, whilst some things can be very productive and informative, often the posts and videos that get posted are often to cause a reaction to non trans folk or littered with inaccuracies because no actual research has been done. They often push surgeries, hormones and binary treatment as if its just the one path everyone takes. Also because of Caitlin Jenner everyone thinks the transformation is really quick and that we shouldn’t be so stressed out about how long it actually takes to “fully transition”. You never get told in the media that you are looking at about 10 years from start to finish, and that’s if you are a open and shut typical case. You never get told that you see about a million different doctors even before you get a chance to be on hormones alone. You also never get told properly about non binary people existing, or that gender isn’t just solely one thing that’s either masculine or feminine. We are often pressured to even hate parts of our body that we didn’t even hate before.

The bathroom posts, whilst helpful are also a hindrance too.
The thing is MOST pieces that hit mainstream media haven’t even been written by trans or non binary people. Media only wants to talk about either the bathroom issues or what genital surgery is like. There is nothing about what WE actually want. And god forbid that you bring up trans people who choose to not or cannot pass. We are constantly told that our worth is based solely on how well we present as the gender we are or how far along on our transition we are. All the bathroom “photo protests” are mainly with people who pass so well, they wouldn’t even be “questioned” in the first place.
The people the bathroom bills affect are the trans people that do not pass. It mainly affects trans women too. People are protesting about “how men shouldn’t be in the women’s toilets” and trust me, those people do not even think that there are female assigned at birth trans people. In fact anti trans protesters have openly said that “women in men’s bathrooms” is entirely different because there is no threat. Its bullshit, but guys we need to start fighting for the women who need us to fight now. Us walking into women’s bathrooms in protest is not helping the cause, its only making it worse.

I am at a point of privilege, whilst I’m not passing all the time, I get treated with male privilege often, regardless of my gender identity. I am also white and whilst I am not physically able and have disabilities, I am still given platforms in order to talk, and be listened to. I however am still trans and I still get discriminated on a weekly basis and constantly questioned about my genitals. I admin online in quite a cis white dominated environment and when I joined I was the first openly queer person working with “The neckbeards” It hasn’t run smoothly in the slightest and negative attention has  been given to myself and one of my partners because of this. So you can imagine how bored you must get when the media goes on about trans issues when you yourself are on social media very publicly.
I’m not saying that all the media coverage needs to stop, I’m just saying that if trans issues are going to be blasted all over the planet, at least let it get written by trans people please.

Halloween Is Upon Us Once Again.

Its that time of year where we all go and dress up as our favourite ghosts and monsters, our fears and our loves.
It is also the time of year that I used to love as a child. The dressing up, the laughter, the candy. Oh god, the candy, my sweet tooth has never enjoyed so much candy, as when it has at Halloween. This post isn’t however about candy. Its about costumes.

There has become almost a tradition in society to allow racist, trans phobic and just inappropriate costumes to be made especially for this time of the year. And its some how allowed because its in humour.
I am going to speak now on the whole Bruce/Caitlin Jenner costume that has come out this year. Whilst impersonating celebrities has happened since the dawn of time (and often with funny as fuck results) the costume is aimed for cis men, as a way to “drag up” and make fun of transgender women. Some people may think that this is totally acceptable, and if you do, even after this post, you are part of the problem.
You see, if it was just a costume or cos play aimed at everyone to wear to just imitate a celebrity, it would be a beautiful thing. Many hours of make up, expensive dresses and fabulous vanity fair looking photos would be taken. HOWEVER THIS IS NOT THE CASE. What the costume is, and I apologise for my language right now, the costume is nothing more than a piece of fucking shit with a sash saying “Call me Caitlin”, with what looks like a drunk cis man posing stupidly.
For starters, they could have used a woman. Since, that’s how she identifies, secondly for an extra few pounds more you can buy the Bruce Jenner Olympic outfit ” To make your evening complete”

The sad thing is, is that this isn’t even going to affect Caitlin as much as you might think. The people who it will affect are trans women on poverty lines, street workers, women who regularly get abused on a daily basis because they are not “passing”. The fact they chose a man to showcase the costume shows that they never considered that (though they did consider that his dick might be too small, and packed him with extra stuffing for the costume).
When trans people try and explain that its not a joke, and that we need to stop this, they are told that they need to lighten up. That they are being far too sensitive. That they need to take a joke. The fact is, its not a joke. TRANSGENDER PEOPLE ARE BEING MURDERED BECAUSE THEY ARE TRANS! Jokes like this, are constant reminders that the world doesn’t see us for who we really are, and that we are nothing more than a breathing punchline.

ONE COMPANY WENT A STEP FURTHER. Let me introduce you to the MENS (ITS LABELED AS MENS) costume, “Tranny Granny”

I think I do not even need to explain how this is inappropriate. I think as soon as cis people use the word tranny, it speaks for itself.

This year, when you wear your outfit out, please ask yourself whether it would be offensive towards people. Whether the humour your projecting is hurting people we actually need to protect. I’m even going to extend this to not just Halloween but to general cosplay too. I have noticed a rapid increase of white people “blacking” up for a costume. You do not need to do that to make you a “better” cosplay. If you think that being racist is going to help you, it isn’t. Its just going to make you look like a racist dick.

So this year, maybe celebrate Halloween by getting a costume for fitting for the evening. Like a vampire, or a ghost. Halloween is all about the spooks people, and not an excuse to get away with being a dick. Unless that’s your actual costume, in which case, good luck with your costume.

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