Full Democratic Rights for Transgender People!
"Bathroom Bill" Bigotry
http://www.icl-fi.org/english/wv/1081/transgender_people.html
Date Written: 2016-01-15
Publisher: Workers Vanguard
Year Published: 2016
Resource Type: Article
Cx Number: CX18647
Transgender and gender non-conforming people -- that is, anyone whose appearance, behavior or dress falls outside of bourgeois gender norms -- face an exceptionally high degree of harassment. Around 75 percent of transgender students report being verbally harassed at school and more than 30 percent physically assaulted. Transgender individuals are vulnerable in public spaces, especially if the difference between their preferred gender identity and their biological sex is apparent. Barring them from bathrooms would turn them into criminals while inviting further harassment and physical violence. Everyone -- regardless whether they match the skirt-clad or pants-clad signage on the door -- should be able to go about their business in peace.
Abstract:
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Excerpt:
Liberal "lifestyle" and "identity" politics continue to predominate in the struggle for gay and transgender rights. Lifestylism is a belief that the sum total of individual lifestyle choices can effectively transform society. But being gay or trans is not in itself political. Pursuing an unconventional lifestyle may go against societal norms, but it will take a fundamental social and economic transformation to change the institutions that are the source of deeply rooted attitudes toward gender roles and sexuality.
The theory of "identity" politics -- which presumes that only those experiencing the oppression can combat it -- relies on the false notion that everyone outside the group is part of the problem. By this logic, men can never oppose anti-woman chauvinism and straight people can never fight anti-gay bigotry. A twisted version of such dead-end politics can be seen with the feminists known for waging venomous campaigns against trans people. Negatively referred to as TERFs (trans exclusionary radical feminists), these feminists argue to exclude (male-to-female) trans women because they are not "real" women and have "male privilege"!
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