“This is why we can’t catastrophize at this moment, because catastrophization is white supremacy,” they said. “All the things that White people fear, Black people, Indigenous folks, migrants have been facing for centuries.”
I understand this sentiment. Many in the community in my red state are catastrophizing though and telling us that “well others are already facing that” to make us feel better doesn’t work. And to be honest, it’s also bs. Trans people in those communities aren’t being tracked like the possible worst case scenario. Trans people in those communities aren’t criminalized and being put in camps. Trans people in those communities aren’t being told their meds are now illegal. And all Trans folk are under threat of being beaten up in bathrooms, of being killed for being who we are. Are those communities more likely for those things to happen? Yes. But to say that white trans folk being worried about that and the other worst case scenarios happening too is white supremacy doesn’t really help any Trans person. There’s ways to say we can’t catastrophize without calling it white supremacy.
2nd Amendment.
The 2nd Amendment, in practice, only exists for white straight Christians.
I can pass.
Irrelevant. If you pass, you’re by definition not going to experience anti-trans violence, which is the discussion at hand.
But moreover, any time you use a firearm in self-defense, you WILL be outed to the police.
Among firearm self-defense folks, the common advice is like this:
Did you just shoot a home intruder? Leave your house. Go to your driveway. Leave the gun somewhere outside that is clearly visible, but a significant distance from you. Call the police and tell them a shooting has occurred, but that no threat still exists. Stand somewhere brightly lit where they can see your hands. Follow their instructions, but don’t talk to them without a lawyer. You most likely will be arrested.
The point is that any actual use of firearms in self-defense involves interaction with law enforcement. And they will run a background check on you, and your trans status will be revealed then. What tends to happen then is that a case that would be classified as self-defense, if committed by a straight white man, will instead be prosecuted as a homicide, because you are a trans person.
Alternately, you might find yourself forced to use the restroom of your AGAB due to a bathroom law. Now you have to out yourself to use the restroom. Do this long enough, a transphobe will assault you for being in the ‘wrong’ bathroom. When you use your firearm to defend yourself against assault, it is YOU who will be charged with a crime, not your attacker. Your attacker and your friends will lie, accusing you of doing perverted things in the bathroom the law requires you to use. The police will take the side of your attacker, and you will have the book thrown at you.
In practice, the 2nd amendment does not exist for minority groups. A white guy can walk down the sidewalk openly brandishing a semi-automatic rifle. A black kid will be murdered for reaching for something a cop thinks just might maybe be a weapon.
Irrelevant. If you pass, you’re by definition not going to experience anti-trans violence, which is the discussion at hand.
My son would find it relevant. Fuck you.
What are you talking about? Try writing more than a single flippant sentence, and maybe you can get a point across.
The 2nd Amendment, in practice, only exists for white straight Christians.
I own a firearm. I am not a white, straight Christian, but I could pass for one.
Irrelevant.
My son, who is trans, and who depends on his parents for support, would find it relevant.
If you pass, you’re by definition not going to experience anti-trans violence, which is the discussion at hand.
Fuck you.
Try writing more than a single flippant sentence, …
Brevity is the soul of wit.
And my point is, in any situation where you actually end up using that firearm, you are far, far less likely to be afforded the right of self-defense than someone who isn’t trans or related to a trans person.
https://peopleslawoffice.com/free-cece-mcdonald-self-defense-homophobia-transphobia/
Again, whether prosecutors respect a self-defense claim largely comes down to the demographic characteristics of the person making that claim. If you use a firearm to defend your transgender son, odds are good that you will be charged with murder, even if you are indeed actually defending your son. Queer people don’t get to benefit from the 2nd Amendment.
