She got it perfect, we don’t want them to change their minds, we just want them to allow us to live our lives.
She goes on to write,
*Once when I was moderating a panel discussion about the new gender identity/expression non-discrimination act. The panel was made of lawyers from GLAD and CHRO, a trans woman in the audience asked a question about the way her boss treated her. The CHRO lawyer asked the woman how did her boss treat everyone else at work and the woman replied that he treated everyone the same way. To which the CHRO lawyer responded, it is not against the law for your boss to be a jerk, it is only against the law for him to be a jerk to you because of your gender identity.
Trans people have no dispute with feminists - they either support transgender rights or they do notExactly! We will not sit around and let them take our rights away. I am not asking you to like me, I am not asking for you to change your mind about us, although that would be nice, we are not asking for “special rights” we just want to be treated like anyone else*.
If you’ve got a problem with trans people, that’s your problem - and I want nothing to do with you
Independent
By Paris Lees
February 13, 2016
A journalist contacted me recently for a feature she was writing about “the row” between trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) and trans people. She told me it would be a “balanced” piece that listened to “all the sides of the debate”. I offered her a quote: “In Britain, 48 per cent of young trans people have attempted suicide. What drives them to feel so hopeless, desperate and alone? Could it be the widespread social exclusion, family rejection, workplace discrimination, media ridicule, poor healthcare and street violence trans people face? If you want to talk about trans issues, start here.”
She asked me how I’d like to be “treated, perceived and/or accepted by radical feminists”. I don’t. Like most people I just want to get on with my life without constantly being beaten over the head and asked to justify my existence. If you think I’m a man, fine. I don’t need you to accept me. But I won’t sit back and let you take away my rights.
She goes on to write,
If you’ve got a problem with trans people, that’s your problem. As Andrea Dworkin, Gloria Steinham and Angela Davis prove, it’s perfectly possible to be a feminist and celebrate trans people. If you don’t, that’s nothing to do with feminism and everything to do with you. And I want nothing to do with you.
*Once when I was moderating a panel discussion about the new gender identity/expression non-discrimination act. The panel was made of lawyers from GLAD and CHRO, a trans woman in the audience asked a question about the way her boss treated her. The CHRO lawyer asked the woman how did her boss treat everyone else at work and the woman replied that he treated everyone the same way. To which the CHRO lawyer responded, it is not against the law for your boss to be a jerk, it is only against the law for him to be a jerk to you because of your gender identity.
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