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   Joseph Riparian 🏳️‍⚧️ (holyramenempire@kolektiva.social)'s status on Saturday, 03-Feb-2024 12:45:56 JST Joseph Riparian 🏳️‍⚧️

   This isn't a subtoot of anyone, I'm just responding to something I read earlier and immediately forgot the source of:

   The reason that queer and trans people are so afraid right now is not because it's necessarily *worse* for us than it was in the 1990s.

   For me, it's worse now because it represents such an incredible backslide from the very recent past. It's also worse now because of how violent, specific, and individual the threats are.

   There is a sense that the gloves are off, and hurting us is overtly the point - the veneer of civility is gone. The fact that most people (off the Fediverse, largely) are not responding uniquely to this unique level of hostility is worrying, to me!

   There's also a demographic problem happening right now that was never present before: As we come out, and as we choose to be visible, our true number becomes more apparent. The other side doesn't seem very chill about the fact that like three queer or trans people could simultaneously citizen's-arrest every cop in the US!

   The transphobes are responding to the actuality of trans people now, not the fictional idea that someone, somewhere, was transgender. That is new, and I think it's dangerous.

   #trans #queer

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Feb-2024 09:51:01 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

     in reply to

     @holyramenempire I agree with much of what you say here, but I'd quibble about the claim that it's worse than the 1990s. First, I couldn't exist as an out nonbinary person with at least some support from loved ones in the 1990s. Second, until the arrival of protease inhibitors, HIV was a death sentence and made you a leper to much of the world. What we're experiencing now sucks, but in part it sucks because the veil of shame was pierced, and I won't trade it. Your experience can differ.