To ALL trans folk

Closeted trans person here. The fact that so many of you have dared to live as yourselves, and to keep fighting in the face of increasing odds, is the reason I'm still here.
Never underestimate just how much it means for the world that you exist, as you are.

I live in San Diego, and I have met maybe 3 or 4 trans folks in my day to day vibes. Nobody has been weird or inappropriate. Nobody has been anything other than human in the nearly 20 California years I've lived here. The fact that there are national effing laws aimed at an actual handful of folks is absolutely wild to me. I'm a ~40 year old cis white male, but you will always have me in the fight, as will anyone else just trying to live life. Stay excellent to one-another, love y'all 💗

No trans person has ever done anything bad to anyone I care about.
All Republicans have.

Whoever you are, by whatever name/gender. You are worth it.

TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS
THE WORLD IS BETTER WITH MY TRANS FRIENDS IT
AND THE WORLD IS DIMMER WITHOUT THEM
THE ONLY PEOPLE THE WORLD DOESN'T NEED ARE FASCISTS AND THEIR ENABLERS
AND THIS IS A THREAT TO ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE
- And how exactly are you going to carry out that threat?
  
  Education and if they refuse to learn, anything else to ensure the safety of the others. Needs of the many outweigh the feelings of the few.
- Lol
  
  Everyone disliked that

"You are not worse for your association with the world, but it is better for its association with you."
Brandon Sanderson (Oathbringer)

To all my trans family, we will fight for you.
- Just curious, who exactly are you including when you say "we"?
  
  Me. They're including me.
  
  We is anyone that cares for another person. If you are a POS person then you are they. The ones I will fight.
  
  Dev Patel for one...

A friend of mine had a party for her official gender change last year and I was so happy for her!
Just knowing she felt safe to come out in front of her family and friends and was able to start HRT and change her gender marker in official documents felt like a huge success. Not just for her, but for progressive politics in our country.
- 🤢
  
  Downvote this fool
  
  🤡

I'm not trans myself, but I'd be willing to die to defend my friends who are

The fascists want you to disappear. Never give the fascists what they want.
- They don't. Deep down, no one wants to lose their scapegoat. They need an enemy. If trans people went away, fascists would have to find some other harmless, vulnerable, terribly frightening class of people to replace them. Or more likely, if they all disappeared, they would SUPPOSE THE EXISTENCE of trans people, and continue to demonize them.

Thanks you. Always very heartening to know that there are at least some people on your side.
- I will always have your back. I will have the back of anyone judged by their inherent traits.
  
  <3

Thanncs :3c

Joining a wholesome community and downvote Posts. Cool.
- Bigots that deserve bans. Technically we could see who downvoted, is one of the "problems" with Lemmy...
  
  Just out of curiosity, how do you go about seeing who downvoted what? It would make a nice block list.

True

I'm all about positivity, but let's be real: the World is not better or worse because of someone's sexuality or gender identity, but is a lot worse for everyone because of the existence of bigoted people that have nothing better to do than meddle in other people's lives.
- In a bigoted world, even the existence of the oppressed is a strike against bigotry.
  Survive, and the world is better for it.
  
  I like that. It makes the fight to keep breathing another day something not strictly out of selfishness. Because you're right, if everyone stopped fighting those fights we'd lose a lot of people, not just trans ppl, and yeah, the world would be solely populated by hard uncaring Viltrumites.
  Kindness must persevere.
  
  I'd expect you to have exactly that opinion
- Insane that this comment gets downvoted here lmao people have really lost the plot
- So you acknowledge that bigots make things worse for everyone, but you blame the people they're bigoted against for it? What are you trying to say here?
  
  Where did I blame the oppressed people for the existence of bigotry?
  All I'm saying is, for all the qualities a person can have that makes the World better for everyone else, being a specific gender is one of the most irrelevant.
  Gender is a personal subject that only matters for you and the people you care about and care about you.
  Change "trans kids" for "cis kids" in the banner and you'll understand what I'm talking about. The picture message is empty of meaning.
  To be clear, I have nothing against someone's gender identity and I could have commented nothing at all. But this is a public forum, and I have an opinion on it, so there we are.
- This is so true. A pity you got down voted. Obviously bigots don't like being called out.
- Bro, i gave up, this is getting worst than Reddit in some matters. And yep, or you say you love them or they will downvote you to Mordor, there is no Middle ground on Middle ground
  
  You do know that downvoting doesn't hide posts on Lemmy like it does on Reddit, right?

I agree with you on trans people but kids? I don't know. It's the same reasoning why we don't give kids right to vote
Edit: I fail to understand why this gets downvoted ...
Edit 2: I don't have time to respond to actual answers, I try later. But just a reminder: The only thing I said is, that I support trans people, just in case of kids I'm not sure. That is all. And I got -28 at the moment and people calling me moron
- I fail to understand why this gets downvoted ...
  Because trans kids exist whether you approve of them or not.
  
  Yes, but there's also a medical industrial complex that pushes confused teenagers towards transitioning to make money.
- You don’t know if the world is better with trans kids in it? Are you saying you think the world would be better if trans kids were all killed? Or that they’re not worth fighting for?
- since nobody has given an explanation yet I'll try to, however I am horrible with getting my words out and someone else can give a way better explanation than me.
  Most trans people will either have signs or know that they are trans before they are 18. I myself knew that something was off about me as early as 3rd grade, I saw a tomboy and told my parents I wanted to be a 'tomgirl'.
  By the time puberty hits is when irreversible changes happen to the body. This is also when most trans people really get the "oh shit this ain't right" moment.
  Imagine being trapped in a body that is doing its very best to rip your soul apart from you, then learning that there are medications that can stop it, but then learning that people who aren't even experiencing what you are have made the choice for you to not let you access them.
  Now imagine that, for 5+ years.
  It's torture.
  
  Not 5+ years. Experience it beginning for 5+ years, then for the rest of your life because puberty has no undo button on many changes. I will never understand assholes who want to take away puberty blockers from kids who need them to have more time to decide on the life they want to live. That is no one's god damn business but their own, under 18 or not.
  
  What do you think of the kids that undergo hormone treatment and come to regret it later?
- Don't worry, I support trans kids not being allowed to vote before the age of 18.
  
  Eh 16 is fine in my opinion. But for cis kids too then.
- "The world is better with you in it and you're worth fighting for!"
  You: It isn't and you're not.
  Also you: Why is this downvoted??
  
  How the hell did you come to THIS conclusion? You're now literally putting words in my mouth
- I understand it being a sticky issue for people because there's so much of society and choice we put into the realm of adults. But here's the thing. Psychology has been obsessed with trans people since the origin of the field. We have a ton of data on what happens when trans people recognized at an early age grow up and what that looks like when there's no intervention whatsoever. The reality of it is that there's certain things that there is no medical fix or take backs for once you experience your first puberty.
  We know very well that gender identity observed in trans kids is stable. We have a rubric of diagnosis stable enough to have gone up against several National medical ethics boards and survived the scrutiny nessisary to opt for attempting risks.
  The first generation of kids to grow up utilizing this process are now adults (the oldest cohort are now in their 30's) and the results have been promising with an almost absurdly low rate of regret reported across the population...
  But now you have to recognize why that rate of regret is so low. You need the signoff of a team of professionals who put the bar very high to allow candidates to attempt these risks and any of them can pull support if something doesn't go to plan. Furthermore a child alone does not make these decisions the informed consent has to be demonstrated by the child and their parents. So when people say "kids shouldn't make these decisions" you're missing that they aren't making these decisions. A kid and a panel of adults who are experts in their field, social workers and dedicated parents who have watched the difference in their child's behaviour go from very obviously not thriving in a multitude of ways to massive improvements through social transition make these decisions.
  People act like it's as simple as a kid showing up and asking for a lollipop. It isn't. We have literal generations of data about what happens if we do nothing. The outcomes are miserable. We can afford to try something different than known miserable outcomes.
  
  You don't know how to spell necessary... otherwise, what you have said is glaringly ignorant. What you "understand" couldnt fill a thimble. Your You're an idiot and your opinions should be treated as such...
- It's different to voting though.
  Puberty blockers have been used for decades with no ill effect. It literally just delays puberty, which is irreversible once a person starts to go through it. It's much safer to delay puberty in children who identify as trans, allow their brains to develop, and have them get treatment so that their mental health is kept healthy.
  Personally, I think listening to the trans community on this and having them give advice on how to manage trans kids is better than leaving it to general society who won't understand the emotional trauma involved. There's a reason why suicide rates are high with trans kids.
  I would associate it moreso with children trying to tell adults about the priest who keeps touching them but end up being dismissed because they're kids. We ignore our children's voices to our own detriment.
  
  And listening to doctors on this. Apparently the vast majority of pediatricians recommending puberty blockers for trans kids since it prevents suicide doesn't matter.
- Have you ever felt gender dysphoria?
  
  No, I don't have gender dysphoria.
  Also not I, nor you can build an airplane, yet we can have a discussion about plane building
- I am fine with a stance like "I don't know"...as long as you're not pushing any kind of agenda as a result.
  A long time ago, I was uninformed about trans people. I was curious and asked questions...but I didn't push them into any kind of restrictions.
  I'd argue I'm still relatively uninformed. But I know that there's been no evidence of any societal benefit from pushing further restrictions on them, and there's plenty of evidence of harm by referring to the various gender studies. That's all I need. Even if I wasn't actively pushing to support trans youths, and even if I still have a part of me that sees them as "weird", I sure as hell see no point in standing in the way of their preferred forms of progress.
- I fail to understand why this gets downvoted …
  Because you're a moron who refuses to learn better.
  
  Thank you. Really thank you, this is beautiful. I didn't even have time to go through responses of people actually explaining to me what's the matter instead of downvoting. Bit you come in and call me a moron, fantastic, this helps everyone
- I dunno, I like peace and quiet as much as the next curmudgeon, but the world is still better with kids in it.
- I know a trans male that knew they were male when they were in primary school. Trans kids exist
- I hope your eyes are opening.
  I pray for it.
  
  What?
- Edit: I fail to understand why this gets downvoted …
  You're either with them, or against them.
  If you don't give 110% support to the trans agenda, then they will immediately assume you're Ron DeSantis.
  
  Existing is not an agenda.
  
  Correct, you help people who are being attacked, or you do nothing when they are being attacked.

I’m all for people making their own choices. But teaching children about sexuality is wrong, let alone assuming a child has the mind to transition their gender. This is sick in the head.
- Sexuality and gender expression are unrelated.
  You have fundamental misunderstandings that you should educate yourself about before commenting again.
  I won't reply further to you, so please dont bother.
- Please fuck off. I really want to believe that you are just ignorant and mean well, but still. It's hard being polite.
  I am gay, and I have known it even before I knew what the word "gay" meant. Being gay doesn't just mean "ooo I wanna fuck that manly ass so much, ooo I wanna suck dick". Does being straight mean "pussy pussy I want pussy"? No. It can mean having romantic feelings for your male best friend, really liking to look at a male celeb for a very long time cuz they just "look pretty" and so on.
  I was surrounded by homophobes who constantly denounced being homosexuality. I had to spend my entire childhood feeling that there was something terribly wrong with me. This was until I actually discovered the LGBTQ community. I understood that I was not the only "freak" like this in the world. I understood that I could live a nice and beautiful life as a gay dude.
  If I was exposed to the concept of homosexuality in childhood (the fact that something like this even exists, and that you're not a freak for being gay in case you think you are), then my childhood would've been a lot better.
  The same goes with gender identity. I'm cis, so I won't be able to give a very good description of what it's like being trans, but from what I've understood from my trans friends, it's pretty similar.
  Why should kids have to suffer for not being cis n straight? Conservatives make it seem as if kids are being taught how to fellatio Jeffery Epstein or something. Kids do need to know about concepts like these (them being sexuality, gender identity, etc.) so that they can protect themselves from going down the spiral of self hatred.
  
  I hate how people conflate sexuality and sex. You can be gay and die a virgin and I have no idea why some people don't understand that. It's about who attracts you, not what you do.
  
  I have known it even before I knew what the word "gay" meant.
  Same in my case. I invested my own word and told my parents that I wanted to be a "tomgirl" (the opposite of a tomboy) in 3rd grade.
  Honestly it's kinda wholesome.
  
  Listen downvote me all you want. I’m all for people living how they want to. But school and childhood years are not fit to teach people about sexuality, especially before teenage years. If I had a kid, I wouldn’t want them to be subject to these topics until they’re at least 13-14 and that’s a teenager at that point. Most children have no idea how sexuality or genders work anyway and saying that a child can be transgender is such a wild concept to me. It’s the same as claiming a child is totally straight or gay. They’re children, what the fuck do they know.
- "If someone touches you where your bathing suit covers, that is bad and you need to tell people about it" is teaching children about sexuality.
  So that's what you think is wrong.
  
  To be fair that is only one (but a very important) part of it.
- Fuck off
- Teaching kids about sex and sexuality is the opposite of wrong. Teaching kids their body parts, and why and how they are private makes it harder for them to be exploited, assaulted and raped. Teaching them about sexuality, at an age appropriate time lets them know that puberty is fucking weird, and hard, and not everything fits into 2 nice little neat boxes. It teaches them, that yes they ARE normal and not freaks.
- Did you not know you were straight as a kid? I remember being VERY aware of girls starting in like third grade.
  Did you not get boners? Did you not have the Internet?
  
  Don't you know the difference between sexual orientation and gender?
- But they're not transitioning at that age. It's puberty blockers used to delay permanent changes to their body. Puberty blockers have been used for decades and there's plenty of research and evidence around to show that there's no harm in delaying puberty.
  On the contrary, there is lots of evidence to show that forcing children who identify as trans to go through puberty is traumatic and can lead to suicide. Forcing trans children to go through that is, in my opinion, sick in the head.
  Wouldn't you want to do what's best for your child no matter who they are? Children are people too and it's worth listening to what they say, especially if they're voicing distress.
  Passing knowledge is never wrong, in my opinion, and it's never wrong to defer to someone more knowledgeable if you don't know what the answer is.
  I would highly suggest that you speak to your local trans community to understand what 'teaching children about sexuality' means to them and how it affected them, to get a better understanding.
- wrong website, go back to Reddit and Xitter
- Those are unrelated, fuckwit
- I agree. Children are very impressionable and there are bad actors who will try to convince them that it's better to be trans.
  
  /s right? Because that doesn't happen. But I mean they are getting all these bad actors telling them it's better NOT to be trans. That only affects the trans kids. Telling a strait kid that it's better to be trans will be met with scoffs. Telling a trans kid that being trans is bad somehow will fuck them up.
  
  I agree, there are tons of bad actors out there. I can't believe how much time and money is invested into brainwashing children into thinking that men and women marrying is normal. I still don't understand straight relationships, which one is the woman and which one is the other woman?
  
  If you can accept the reality of gender dysphoria, then it is reasonable to address how that condition is best treated. The consequences of not treating can be lethal via suicide so this is not an idle question. If transitioning makes the difference between life or death (or chronic substantial depression) then arguably encouraging this affected people to "be trans" is the right thing to do. Sorry if it hurts your feeling but that's the reality of it.
- I love the response you're getting. A wholesome community until you have a different opinion. This is how you know Lemmy is simply comprised of the top crust layer of Reddit. The worst it had to offer.
  
  When that opinion is deeply harmful, is directly contrary to all scientific evidence, results in actual groomers (not trans people) being able to take advantage of ignorance, and is generally used by bigots as a wedge to repress sexual education well beyond teen years--yeah this is the response you get
  
  A wholesome community until you have a different opinion.
  "Please tolerate my intolerance! You have to support me wanting people removed from the public! I'm normal!! You need to treat me equal while I don't treat people equal, or you're being hypocritical!!!"
  
  Here's an idea for you: leave.
  
  You know Garak is gay, right?