LGBTQ+ People Are Not Going Back
Progressive politicians apparently need help to grow a spine.
Something interesting happened that led me to being public, visible and vocal. Just after I came out at work as trans, I got a whiff of betrayal, a sense that my hospital “colleagues” were about to throw me under the bus.
I wasn’t sure how public I wanted to be. I was justifiably worried about being targeted - doxxed, hate mail, death threats - and I didn’t want my teenage daughters to have that experience while processing their dad transitioning. I thought, maybe It’d be better if, for a few years I just keep working as a trans specialist in hospital, I could quietly chip away at awareness and understanding in the medical profession, making healthcare a bit better for trans patients, who are usually treated appallingly.
But I was now vulnerable, about to lose my income and my only security. “Shit,” I thought, “they’re going to go after my reputation. And my career.” (Spoiler: they did.)
At that moment, I realised: silence is death.
My only protection was visibility, to tell my story, be open about who I am and what I stand for.
Because only then, can the bad behaviour of others be thrown into full relief, all their the cruelty exposed for what it really is.
“If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it”
― Zora Neale Hurston
So, I came out on LinkedIn, to all my networks from different times, places and spheres of my life. Then I started writing regularly - about my experience of transition, the culture of medicine, misogyny, employment discrimination of trans people, anti-trans politics. I wrote about my values.
After a month, my friend Nadia wrote to me: “You’ve found your voice!” It felt good. But more importantly, I didn’t let my story get told by the very people doing me harm.
Now, to the Democrats of USA, the Australian Labor Party (inc.), New Labour (UK) - there’s a lesson for ya.
When you don’t stand up for LGBTQ+ people when there’s a war against us, then the whole world sees that you don’t stand for anything at all. You won’t get to tell who you are: your enemies will do it for you, AS THEY ARE DOING RIGHT NOW.
And then you complain about the narrative not cutting through…
When the Dems say, “We’ve got your back”, but then we see you don’t even back one of your own, Sarah McBride, we don’t believe what you say.
When the ALP wins government after 11 years, with an official platform to close the loophole allowing religious schools to sack LGBTQ+ teachers and expel queer students, we know that you’re weak as piss and running scared.
When Labour copies and continues the Tories’ rabid cruelty against trans kids, criminalising doctors who provide holistic patient-centred gender-affirming care, and segregating trans patients in hospitals, you burn up all of your political capital with our communities and will never get it back.
The simple equation is this: the proportion of LGBTQ+ identifying voters is increasing every year. We won’t be voting because of an “identity”, we’ll be voting for survival.
If you continue on this spineless way, you just won’t get our votes.
But if you STAND FOR SOMETHING, and stick to your values you idiots, you might be able to claw back some votes from this important demographic. But that’s not the most important electoral metric.
It’s trust. Sticking to your values is the only way to grow trust and you’ll probably get more votes from the broader population to go with it. Imagine if they could see that you’re not willing to horse-trade the lives of the most vulnerable.
That’s the mission. It’s not that hard. The alternative is to be crushed by the far right.
#LGBTQ+PeopleAreNotGoingBack