Take Me To Your Leader.

I came across this excellent article in the Advocate about the “Trans Movement” and it makes some good points,

What Trans Movement?
Caitlyn Jenner’s story is an important one. But stories like hers alone cannot sustain a movement of racially and culturally diverse trans men and women seeking community and visibility.
By Jen Richards
July 14, 2015

The open secret of trans activists and organizers is that we spend as much time navigating horizontal harassment and internal politics as we do on our proper outward-facing efforts. What is a steady state of affairs for those of us on the inside occasionally rises to public awareness, such as with the “tranny wars,” a fight over the use of a word that some claimed with affection and others saw as a vicious slur. Or the “no platforming” of feminists who are critical of trans people. Or the exclusion of trans women from the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival.

Anything done by or for trans people, or any issue that intersects with gender, is inevitably attacked. The battlefields are social media and op-ed sections, and the stakes are control of discourse and who gets to represent trans people.

Internal tensions are not unique to any group of people, but the feeling is more pitched among trans people than elsewhere, a feeling echoed privately by people in all corners of the social justice movement.

But you know what… this is not just a trans problem, all marginalized groups do this just look at the civil rights movement of the sixties. There wasn’t just Dr. Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) there were also the Black Panthers, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). All civil rights movements are fractured and we are no different.

Ms. Richards goes on to write,

The vitriol is just as bad, if not worse, when aimed at fellow trans people. When 12 trans women were featured on the cover of C★ndy magazine, other trans women published essays on the cisnormative beauty standards it perpetuated. When Our Lady J became the first trans woman hired as a writer on a high-profile show, Amazon’s Transparent, another trans woman wrote that she was the worst possible choice because she’s not a “real, everyday trans woman.” When I started a website solely for sharing positive experiences, WeHappyTrans.com, one of the first comments I received was “Where is the site for those of us who aren’t happy?” And when the first Trans 100 was published, a list of 100 out trans activists, most of the emails I got from trans people were about how terrible I was for not including them.

I admit that I am sometimes guilty and I am also the target of the hate which is why I went to comment moderation.

There isn’t a trans movement, or a trans community, but rather multiple movements and communities, divided not only by race and class but also distinct histories, leaders, resources, and needs. There are of course some goals, challenges, and victories shared by all. And though there are many exceptions, the lived experiences of most trans people fall into broad camps.
[…]
While they vary widely in their particular stories and interests, all of these women share in the unique privilege of having occupied the intersection of identities most valued by contemporary Western society.

Another completely different set of experiences is shared by those who did not benefit from occupying such a privileged space. Black, Latina, and Asian Pacific Islander trans women, along with some white artists and performers who came from gay male communities, found one another on city streets, in nightclubs, and at underground balls. The clear lines between what we now distinguish as transsexuals and queens didn’t exist. Total exclusion from mainstream society, reliance on sex work and underground economies, and the necessity of sharing limited resources put a greater emphasis on groups than on individuals.

It is the same way “Gay Inc.” is really a separate LGB movement compared to most other LGB people, they are struggling to have their basic needs meet while “Gay Inc.” was pushing for marriage equality. The trans community is the same way, many trans people are forced into survival sex in order to have their basic needs meet, food and a roof to sleep under while many trans people are worrying about where to have their hair done or where will the next party be.