Trans Love in the face of Hate

Published on: 2/2/24
Author: Alexis Krohn

#TogetherAgainstBias

Unfortunately, we’re continuing to see an anti-trans panic sweeping the nation, and it’s spreading to the rest of the LGBTQ+ community, as well. States are swept up in outlawing drag performances, revoking amended documentation for trans people, banning our use of bathrooms, and more. Schools and libraries are being told to keep “sexual material” off the shelves, and some commentators have “said the quiet part loud” by openly admitting that they are passing such laws with the intent of selectively enforcing them against queer people.

And though they say that they’re “defending the children,” it’s not that cruelty towards queer people, including children, is an afterthought - cruelty is the point. We know that queer inclusion and allowing trans kids (and adults) to get treatment saves lives, but there are swathes of the country which are okay with queer death by suicide. Legislating hate and bullying into law is not “defending the children.”

Supporters of these laws are trotting out the same tired old slurs that they’ve been using against queer people for ages. The ‘90s called. They want their panics back. Hatemongers call queer people “groomers” for merely wanting to exist. They say that we’re a danger to children, again recycling the same disgusting lies of old. They sexualize our very existence, telling us that by being around kids, we’re hurting them - again, using the same absurd hate-tropes of the 80s against gay men and women. Make no mistake, they want to erase queer people from public. You can see it in how having a straight couple in a book is just “normal” and unexceptional, but the instant there’s a queer couple in a book, it’s “indoctrination.”

When you hear people spouting these lies, please think of your queer friends and family. Do not stay silent. Expose the lies and the hatemongering. Embrace queer people in your schools and workplaces. Shut down harassment. Remind people of love.