On finding a path forward for trans rights
For the good of our community and those still to come, now is the time to do a strategic reset.
Mara Keisling is a senior fellow at Searchlight, the founding executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, and author of the memo The Path Forward for Transgender Rights.
It has been a very hard, very bad year for trans people. Leaders at the federal and state level are trying to erase us, and public opinion is not currently on our side on a host of key issues.
Importantly, this isn’t the fault of trans people. Sure, any time a movement or issue moves as fast as we have over the last two or three decades, there is likely to be a backlash. But most of the blame lies with President Trump and others who have used us—often with brazen, deliberate cruelty—for political advantage.
And still, I do not despair.
I have lived and advocated as a trans person in a world, not that long ago, in which Members of Congress refused to meet with transgender people. Where presidential candidates dodged photos with trans individuals. And where public figures flinched and backed away when I shook their hands.
What we have now ain’t that—much to the credit of every transgender person who came out and did the hard work of educating and winning over their family members, friends, and neighbors.
Notwithstanding the cruelty felt so sharply right now, we are nonetheless far from where we started, and there is reason for hope. Recent research by the Searchlight Institute shows that 70% of the public is still largely supportive of leaving trans people to live their lives free from discrimination and bullying.
There is still massive support among the public for protecting trans people from discrimination in housing, access to credit, employment, and (for adults) to access the health care they need. The education that we leveraged to shift our community from pariah to semi-accepted is still paying off in certain ways, and we should not take that for granted.
A path forward
Still, for the good of our community and those still to come, now is the time to do a strategic reset. Policy-wise, I propose in the immediate term that we focus on cementing protections in employment, housing, access to credit, and health care for adults, as well as making sure transgender children are treated with respect in school and are thriving.
While we will need to still protect ourselves from backsliding, we should concentrate on issues we can win and temporarily defocus on issues we cannot. 59% of the public support policies requiring athletes to compete on teams matching their birth sex. A similar number (61%) believes that puberty blockers and hormone treatments should not be available to those under 18. Educating the public on the specific policy needs of our community will take time, no matter what we hope.
More importantly than policy priorities, though, we must obviously stop doing things the way we have and start building a stronger foundation of familiarization. That means real people talking to real people.
The most effective advocacy most any trans person will ever do is educating the people around us—our families, neighbors, coworkers, or people with whom we share religious beliefs. I know this from personal experience in nearly 30 years of fighting for trans people.
Searchlight’s polling revealed that 88% of people who know a trans person say that they should be free to live their lives free from discrimination and bullying. Like most of us, at times I have been frustrated and scared and sometimes unsure of what to do. But even in this moment, where policy advocacy seems futile in Washington, DC, and much of the country, transgender people can still tell our own stories and educate those closest to us.
One school of thought among activists argues that the targets of misunderstanding, disrespect, or micro-aggressions shouldn’t have to take responsibility for educating others — that people should educate themselves. If you share this feeling, or if it’s unsafe or a burden for you, then by all means do not engage. But by and large, people generally want to understand more —especially about people they know or love. They’re usually just afraid to ask. As much as there is risk in telling your story, there is also great risk in asking someone else to tell theirs. We must be bold together.
The past is instructive. This really is how we started last time. Building an even stronger foundation today means we can win more solidly — more permanently —the next time our opportunity comes.
It starts with us
I want to speak directly to my fellow transgender Americans: I would love to see every trans person, who feels empowered and safe doing so, educating the people around them — not strangers, but your families, friends, coworkers, and people with whom you worship or socialize. For most of us, it won’t be making a video, but if that’s your thing, do it. Most of us will just have conversations or write articles in newsletters.
Tell them what they need to know about you as a person. Use language and concepts that are common between you and them, not academic gender jargon that makes it hard for them to understand. Do not speak as an activist, but rather as a sister or a coworker or a fellow veteran. Try educating them about yourself, not about trans people as a whole. In other words, talk to them as one human speaking to another. It is harder to attack — or tolerate attacks against — someone you love or know.
And importantly, don’t worry about what other transgender people are doing. Assume they are doing their best, and you do yours — no one else’s agenda and no one else’s story but yours.
While improving public policy may seem like a long shot right now, it is so important that every one of us introduces ourselves to the people and policymakers who represent us. Some will be uncaring or even hostile, but many will learn to humanize you and other constituents, and grow to protect us.
If every trans person meets people their own way, educating respectfully and with grace, we will build a stronger foundation on which to advance trans rights for the generations still to come.
We have not come this far to only come this far.
Read Mara’s new memo on the path forward — featuring a year’s worth of polling on trans rights and acceptance in America. The findings reveal the need for a reset in trans advocacy, public education, and policy development.
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This is a wise and sane course. As a gay woman in my late 60s I have personally been offended by the attitudes of very young Trans kids who have no clue what others went through before them and whom they make assumptions about and whose movement they co-opted in some ways. Most gay people have ZERO gender identity issues, and the connection feels false. I have much empathy but also much Anger about the way the T has been added, without the consent of the LG community! We are not a collection of letters, and our identities are also unique and not necessarily wholly connected to the Trans community. I resent being asked my pronouns and being given a label ("cis") which to me is an insult. No thought was given, frankly, to how many decades gay people people fought and how we did it. Also, I fear the inadvertant harm to gay kids who are confused and exploring, who are now frequently being told they must be Trans. Don't be like Trump in Iran!!! Tread carefully and thoughtfully and listen to others. I wish everyone peace, but that has not been to nature of the Trans movement I've seen! I can't even safely go into a gay bar these days, and gay people and the Democratic party have lost important ground as the radical and rigid Trans movement ate away at years of progress. Stop vilifying people who can't accept you--yet! It takes time and tolerance ON BOTH SIDES.
The Democratic party must take a definitive and unambiguous position on the plight of trans people and eliminate the Republican party's use of this as a wedge issue. First, it must separate human rights issues from social issues. That is, trans people must have the same fundamental rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" as everyone else. That includes being able to marry whomever you want. Second, the Democratic party must agree that if you were born XY, you cannot compete in female sports at any level, regardless of any medical procedure. Third, the Democratic party must develop a position on whether there should be a minimum age to begin a transition. This last issue is undoubtedly the most controversial for trans advocates, but it is at the point of the wedge.