A message for the strong
A great many of us have been groomed in to resilience by a hostile world. We have been blessed (if you choose to look at it that way) with a cockroach exoskeleton and a white hot zeal to live loudly. We shout back, we don't comply, and we never bend or break. You may not feel that is true, you may feel it's simply the result of a hard life, you may hate to feel this way.
Well, that's not what our vulnerable think. That newly out trans person, the one who just felt their life fold inwards, they don't see you that way. They don't look at you and see your rough edges, they see a force bending light around itself. They see a whole new world, a better world, because of you. It's not just the newly out, it's the same of the unconfident, the scared, the soft, the traumatized or simply those not cut out to go down kicking.
I lied when I said we never break. I broke today. I read the guidance start to finish, then I cried. This is going to harm our most vulnerable. The girls and boys and NBs and every other wonderful kind of person you can think of. The 16 year old tgirl crying in to her blahaj, the 44 year old tboy having an extra drink tonight, the 20 year old NB who's thinking about about going back in the closet.
We cannot fail them. We lived a hard life in the hopes theirs would be softer. Well, the world, this government, this hate movement, they're trying to make it impossible. I will never accept a world that forces trans people to live my life as default. I will never accept a world that prunes our softest leaves. You have the power to spare them the shear, to let them grow old, comfortable and happy. This is a time for solidarity. Please, reach out to your vulnerable, your anxious, your scared. For many, the strong are their only shield. Let them know, as many times as it takes that no matter what, there is someone strong and immovable standing between them and harm.
Let them know, let the world know: Trans people will always exist, trans people will always protect each other, and no matter what they do we will always walk in the sun, hand in hand, forever.