In commemoration of the upcoming Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV), President Joe Biden issued a statement praising trans people’s contributions to society and describing actions his administration has taken to counter transphobic bullying and extremism. Additionally, many members of Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also issued their own statements affirming that community health depends on supporting trans people too.
“Transgender Americans are part of the fabric of our Nation,” Biden wrote in his statement. “Whether serving their communities or in the military, raising families or running businesses, they help America thrive. They deserve, and are entitled to, the same rights and freedoms as every other American, including the most fundamental freedom to be their true selves.”
I’m not sure how much solace we should take from inauthentic political posturing, but we should certainly try to use being a political football to our advantage (since we can’t help that we’ve been victimized this way, but we can try to make something of the national spotlight being put on us).
To that end I think it’s beneficial for us to raise our standards and demand more than just words from politicians claiming to be supportive allies. Biden wants to be seen as supporting trans folks? Well, we demand the VA cover gender affirming surgeries. That’s a specific transphobic VA policy that needs to be overturned, and Biden can show he’s an ally by doing something about it.
Yes, but appreciating a comment like this, especially in a political environment where a large portion of country, including a good chunk of Bidens voter base, are openly transphobic, does not mean we can’t also call for more substantial action.
Especially if we acknowledge that due the to the current makeup of the house and the senate, Biden is pretty much powerless to put though any pro-trans legislation, so really the best we can (realistically) hope for is a change in the narrative towards the positive.
And hell, it’s better than what we have in the UK where our “”“left wing”“”" leader refuses to support trans people.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply we shouldn’t still appreciate when the president of the United States calls trans people the “fabric of our nation”, I think the words themselves are undeniably good.
I was only trying to say we shouldn’t shut down criticism of those acts as realpolitik, especially if as a community we can possibly leverage that kind of criticism to help accomplish our own political ends.
It is bizarre to me that the UK has somehow slid even further right than the U.S. in some ways, considering the U.S. is somewhat known for that political brand (where our “left” is still right of the conservative Christian Democratic party in Germany).
Labour has straight up moved to the right of Democrats at this point which is crazy