I’ve come across bad news that my home state has passed a really shitty law regarding trans people. Are there things I can do to help change this and all of the other shitty policies and attitudes at home?
Sure! As the saying goes: soap box, ballot box, ammo box – in that order. But it’s hard work. The crazies are motivated, so we must be too.
Talk to people. Show them that trans people are not demons (most of the time). Make friends. Let them know that these laws hurt you and people like you. Get involved in the community. Contact your elected representative in government. Often. Get other people to do so too. Join or support an activist organization. Get involved in politics. Run for office. Vote! And make sure others do too.
Failing that, emigrate :3
I’m worried we’re past the point of the first two working.
Realistically though who are you going to shoot and under what circumstances?
Well, hopefully nobody, but it implies revolution: which again requires quite a bit of social organization but is something that does still happen around the world.
Now, whenever this topic comes up the standard objection is that a group of private citizens couldn’t beat, say, the US military, but that’s not the point: you need to overthrow the government. If the military supports you (unlikely) or refuses to get involved (possible), this is a much more realistic proposition.
It is hard to use facts to counter an emotional preference, especially when that emotional preference is “I feel good when bully outgroup”. If enough people choose to see compassion as an evil weakness, compassion will become a crime.
All you can do is be a person who does not oppress. But, within a human world, you cannot by force of will become someone who is not a target of oppression. The best you can do is to refuse to change your morality in order to gain the benefits that come with apparent conformity.
This is more of a “how to survive under oppressive policies while we work to change them” kind of tip, but self-care, and community support networks.
For example, too many of my friends have found themselves feeling obligated to challenge transphobic rhetoric online. They frequently put themselves on the front line of things and persisted out of a sense of duty, even when their mental health was degrading. Sometimes self care is about moderation, in the case of my friend who actually enjoys arguing with assholes online. In some cases, it means picking a different front to fight on (such as in the case of a different friend who got back into activism after a break by starting a trans clothes swap).
By “community support networks”, I mean a community where you don’t have to worry about changing hearts and minds, where you can sometimes say “fucking hell, this is depressing” sometimes. And also people with whom you can feel safe with and seize whatever joy you can. It might mean having a friend who knows a lot about DIY HRT, who can forward the info onto whoever needs it, or sharing prescribed HRT with someone whose prescription is late. It can mean a lot of things, and it can be online or in real life, but the short of it is that we can’t do this alone, whether “this” is “surviving” or “changing the world”
Purchase a handgun and a rifle. Then join a trans-friendly recreational shooting group. Practice your marksmanship. And finally protest peacefully with your guns so cops can’t go in and break up the event as they typically can do so easily.
Do this consistently for the next ten years, or nothing changes.
Are you asking what you can do personally, or how social and political changes happen in general?
You can look for political organisations near you and see if one aligns with your views and goals. Especially if you want change on a local level it’s not necessary to join one of the big ones. Small orgs (if they’re well structured and focused) usually influence people by organising lectures to educate and actions to spread awareness. Some organisations also have a mutual aid program, these are more common in places with oppressive governments because there you have to look out for one another and ensure survival.
There are trans organisations who do all the things I mentioned and they are focused fully on trans issues. In my opinion the best trans organisations are those that have a focus on the oppression of immigrants, ethnic minorities and people of colour, because trans people in those groups face more oppression, more discrimination and can have more difficulty transitioning through the ‘official routes’.
Trans orgs will often educate people in DIY hrt and are even more focused on mutual aid. However there are trans organisations who also organise public events and actions to spread awareness. They can also play an educative role for political parties that want to improve the lives of trans people, but also for schools and workers unions.
To give an example, I have a local organisation near me that provides educative workshops at willing schools where they talk about their queer experiences and the political and social struggles that come with being queer. There have been studies that show that these kinds of workshops make children more aware of queerphobia and they reduce bullying based on queer traits (one part of the workshop is to ask the class if anyone has ever used ‘gay’ as an insult to start a discussion on why that is so common and how that makes (closeted) gay people feel).
