I want to start this newsletter by saying, I’m not trying to shit on things that mean a lot to people and I am deeply grateful to people who are organising in any capacity at the moment. I hope my newsletter can be read today with generosity, and the understanding that I am an active member of the community and that I care deeply about what happens to all of us. I want trans and queer liberation, and I want that liberation to be part of the liberation of all oppressed peoples.
So far this year on the queer calendar, we have had 2 seriously well attended A to B marches - Dyke March and Trans+ Pride. From 5,000 dykes to 55,000 trans people and their allies, we have demonstrated we are here, we’re queer, and that we can be mobilised. So - why have our times taking to the streets both been police approved and not had one concrete demand or mission outside of visibility?
We are stuck chanting ‘trans rights are human rights’ when we need a list of demands and civil disobedience to achieve them. And in the context of multiple genocides, the highest number of homelessness ever recorded in the UK, and literal fascists in power in several countries - what do human rights even mean right now? Rights are not given to us by legal structures, they are fought for in the streets.
Lets get back our fight because we are capable of so much more! What do we want? Healthcare, housing, hormones available for free in fucking superdrug - why did 55,000 of us not get our heads together collectively to think a little deeper than trans joy? What are our demands? How do we achieve them?
On Saturday 3 demonstrations took place, Trans Pride totalling around 55,000 people, Tommy Robinsons march which saw 15,000 people, and the counter demo to Robinson’s which saw 5,000 people participate. We had the opportunity to ask the 5,000 counter demonstrators to join forces with us at Trans Pride and to take a route that would lead 60,000 people on a march to celebrate our power and run the fascists out of town, but we didn’t, which leads me to ask - why?
There is a very real fear right now for trans people, we live in a violent world that is enforced through violent legislation. I am aware that as a white non binary/trans masc person I do not experience the brunt of the horrors my black, brown, and trans femme comrades experience. To want to stay firmly away from violence and confrontation makes sense, no one wants to walk into getting their head kicked in. But I have to ask, why are we staying away when we have the possibility to outnumber the fascists by forty five thousand! What are we afraid of?!
When we chant, ‘whose streets? our streets!’ are we deeping what that means when we choose to reroute last minute to avoid a confrontation? Have we given up on standing our ground? We need to regain some confidence because if we correlate keeping each other safe with backing down, we will never get free.
Perhaps it speaks to how our community is (or isn’t) operating. To take action requires us to have each others back, to stand shoulder to shoulder and refuse to back down. We need to resist individualism at all costs and start creating networks and communities where we can show up and hold the line. Our people are dying, everything we have is being slowly prised from our trans hands and the hands of our marginalised comrades. Every day a new law appears taking away further rights from trans people, migrants, and other oppressed groups. From Act Up to Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners all the way to Sisters Uncut, Palestine Action, and Trans Action Bloc - it is direct action and civil disobedience that liberates the people.
I love trans joy but what about trans power? What about trans fuck you? What about trans organising, trans antifascism, trans antiracism, trans anticapitalism, what about trans this is not enough and I won’t settle for less. If we are going to mobilise 55,000 people, we better start doing something with them!