For someone relatively tech illiterate like myself- how does this compare to something like telegram and signal? What’s the benefit?

Do harm reduction voting if you want. I do that to- I voted for Biden. But it’s not enough. Trans people need help now. If you read my article’s call to action (which, despite you claiming to have read it, you repeatedly demonstrate that you haven’t by bringing up electoralism), I advocate for direct action. Doing things like showing up to your local school district’s board meetings (fascists like moms for liberty are already there, even if you’re in a blue state. Don’t let them monopolize the conversation.). I ask for people to show up and counterprotest when fascists target drag shows. I ask for people to participate in protests of civil disobedience, as well as to lend their couch to the their local trans person at risk of homelessness. That has a much more tangible real life impact on trans people right now than virtue signaling by democratic politicians.

I did leave home. My parents kicked me out of the house, but friends allowed me to stay with them. That’s the only reason I survived. If you read my article, I advocate primarily for direct action and tangible things you can do to help us. The comparison I draw from the quote I gave you is about your idea that we just need to wait a few years. We just need to go through a few more election cycles, and everything will be fixed.

I think that’s ridiculous. We can take action now.

If you have a trans friend that’s about to be homeless, or hell, any friend who is about to be homeless, you can let them sleep on your couch.

If Moms for Liberty or other fascist groups are coming to your local school board meeting (they are, I promise you), you should go over there and speak in support.

If fascists are threatening queer people at the local drag show, you should show up with your friends and stand up for what is right, because the police won’t. In fact, they’re most likely there out of uniform.

Vote for democrats if you want. I don’t care. I do harm reduction voting too. But it’s not enough, and I’m just begging allies to care enough to show up in real life where it matters. If you read my call to action, I say exactly this.

Wow, awesome reading comprehension. Wanna have another go at the article and try again? This time, you should try reading it the whole way through instead of getting mad at the insinuation that democrats could do better. Once you’rw done, please point to my call to action and decide whether or not I call for electoralism or advocate for allies to join us in direct action.

That’s a really easy call to make when you’re not the one experiencing these things. The foster care system is fucked up too, and is also a place trans kids, and, well, frankly, kids in general are horribly abused under. The trans kids in shitty homes don’t care whether or not you “feel bad for them” if they can’t live through the abuse long enough to become adults. I’m one of the “lucky” ones. Ever think about why the average elder (more than 7 years of transition) trans person is capable of putting up with so much bullshit? Because the ones of us who weren’t able to are dead already. 40% of trans people attempt suicide.

To quote Martin Luther King Jr. in his Letter from Birmingham Jail:

“First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”

This sounds a whole lot like “Shut the hell up and be greatful you’re even getting this much help!”. Democrats are not doing enough. They could do way more. It wasn’t that long ago that they had the house, senate, and presidency. They don’t because they think it will hurt their election chances. Should I and my other queer friends be grateful that no matter where we are, red state or blue state? lots of us still experience conversion therapy? Or that so many of us are homeless? Or that sex work is one of the few reliable sources of income (yet highly criminalized, leading to hugely exploitative conditions!) for trans people?

Interesting, so you’re blaming trans people now for, as you say, “setting things on fire?” i-e, the discrimination and oppresive social norms and laws we’re up against?

At the end of the day, if you have a parent that neglectful towards their children that them transitioning would be dangerous for them, trans children should be able to relocate to live with a supportive family member, or, if none are available, relocate to a found family, such as with a nearby friend or with families who volunteer to house trans youth. The other alternative to staying with parents who don’t support us is years of trauma, and the 40% number will stay the same. That’s what I had to go through.

However, found families are also often illegal. The only state to my knowledge with a similar law to what I’m asking for is Washington: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/transgender-minors-protected-from-estranged-parents-under-washington-law.

This is a great step in the right direction. But not enough states have these laws, and even still, there aren’t enough transitional services for trans youth entering adulthood. Meanwhile, trans children stuck in red states are basically completely screwed.

You didn’t read my article. My critique is that the democratic party is not doing enough and too quick to capitulate. There are plenty of things they could be doing, and in some ways they have minimized harm on a state level, but it’s not enough. One example I gave was that Joe Biden was happy to compromise in his executive order.

Additionally, I talk about the framing of transition as a decision between “parents, doctors, and their children” as something that inherently deprioritizes the self-actualization of trans children and trans people more broadly, as, historically and currently, parents and doctors have been some of the main figures capable of abusing trans people. I talk about my own abuse by doctors, being subjected to completely legal conversion therapy and the troubled teen industry.

Though I’m originally a trans refugee from a red state, I now live in a blue state and many of my trans friends have gone homeless as children and most have dealt with severe abuse from their parents. Even here, some of my friends have gone through conversion therapy as a minor, where it is technically supposed to be illegal. Democrats have not done enough to help trans children not just from hostile republican laws, but also from abusive doctors and parents. I encourage you to actually read my article and engage with it fully.