free software resistance

 the cost of computing freedom is eternal vigilance

### trans-rights-in-usa-and-uk *originally posted:* aug 2025 trans rights are human rights, and trans people are being used as a sort of distraction from all the problems the right is having, but trans rights matter more than ever. whats really pathetic is that even the pretend "left" will use trans rights as an excuse for the problems theyre having. the argument itself is right wing, reactionary and steps on the needs of vulnerable people to pander to the centre. no one who does this deserves to have a career in politics- not even a trans politician who sells out the rest of the community. yes sadly, every group has sellouts. this isnt news to real progressives. i dont have a lot of resources about that to share here at the moment, i do have this list of allies that ive been maintaining: => list-of-trans-allies.html list-of-trans-allies and one of the best websites for news about trans rights is part of 19thnews.org at this link: => https://19thnews.org/topics/lgbtq/ probably followed by lgbtq nation: => https://www.lgbtqnation.com/ im quite fond of erin in the morning, though she has moved to a platform which is both awful for trans people and awful for your browser. if she moves off substack i would love to link to her again. i realise that quite a lot of people dont care about trans rights. thats a shame, its really similar to not caring about black people or not caring about gay rights, even though these are also different issues. if you dont care about trans people, you can rest assured that i have no respect for you. on the other hand, some people have been on the wrong side of this issue and changed their mind when they stopped reading or watching bullshit, or when their kid came out as trans like eminems kid did, or when they had a close friend who came out. sometimes people will surprise you. finally, you dont have to be a COMPLETE idiot to get this wrong. some people have just been targeted with a lot of really idiotic and misleading information. the great thing about learning is that you can step away from what you didnt know, and grow as a person. science really has weighed in on the side of trans people. there is a bit of shoddy science here and there, and a lot of people dont REALLY care about the science, theyll take any self-proclaimed authority for their word, but for example the cass report? its shit. people knew it was shit, its been taken apart, its not science. its a fucking joke. but anyway, if you dont care either way, youre probably going to find it easier to listen to the liars and the haters. thats sad, it hurts innocent people, but you really cant be a good person if you dont care about people. i dont make the rules. here are some questions and answers about trans people and trans rights, based on common misunderstandings and real experiences: ### why do we need activists and people with "agendas?" cant you just solve transphobia with patience, politeness and education? education definitely helps, but it doesnt work on everybody. people who dont want trans people to have rights will censor, misrepresent or ignore education, calling it things like "indoctrination" when the core message is human rights and better understanding. not everyone is honest, not everyone cares, education cant make people honest and it cant stop everyone from being bad people. but it helps a lot on average. ### isnt it a question of religious freedom? its funny how people hide behind religion to justify anything. no, discriminating against people isnt a religious issue- if youre a racist and you hide behind god to justify it, theres something wrong with you. more and more people have learned that about discriminating against gay people, and they have recycled every bullshit argument about them to go after trans rights. ### what about the lgb movement? the farcical "lgb" movement is using homophobic arguments against trans people. some of them really believe that this wont turn back around against gay rights, and some know it will and dont care. already this has turned into dropping bisexual history from the stonewall memorial, on the tail of censoring history to erase trans people. it doesnt surprise everyone when the people fighting against trans rights keep fighting until they start to erode gay rights, but it shouldnt surprise anyone. you can pretend to separate the communities, you can wish to separate the communities, but an attack on one lgbt group is an attack on all lgbt groups, even if some people pretend theyre separate. the fact is, they never were separate. as for feminists, the history of feminism has always excluded some group at first, before eventually integrating them. "gender critical" feminists like to harken back to the suffragette movement, which excluded black women- then later feminists who included black women excluded lesbians, now some lesbians (not most actually, but definitely some) exclude trans people. its a pattern that has lasted- but also improved several times, since the 1800s. ### but the bible says... people also use the bible against gay rights, which is actually easier to do. im not saying its valid, im saying if you go by the traditions and laws of orthodoxy, there are fewer (hopefully more than none, im not a scholar) ways to one-up someone trying to use the bible against gay rights. the best example of this is orthodox rabbis in israel being willing to perform marriages for trans people. there are rules in leviticus for example, which would also possibly apply to any woman wearing trousers, if it were possible to enforce, but it isnt- which appear to make it forbidden to dress as another gender. so how can (orthodox) rabbis put trans rights first? the answer is pikuach nefesh, which states that saving (mortal) lives is more important than the law itself with VERY few exceptions. trans rights arent one of those exceptions. but okay, maybe youre thinking "whats that got to do with me? im a christian and i dont follow rabbinic laws". right, so you probably didnt realise that jesus teaches pikuach nefesh in matthew 12:11. and most christians dont seem to know that. trans rights save lives, which follows an even higher law taught by both jews and by jesus. churches are influenced by secular politics, and secular politics are influenced by bigoted and ignorant people, some of whom take inspiration from the bible. that doesnt mean that its holy or good or pleasing to god to discriminate against trans people, but that wont stop religions authorities who dont know better from suggesting it is. ### but what about the... what about him? i mean, look at the history of religious interference with political progress. i cant help every authority figure be on the right side of history. thats more of a them problem. ### but i consider trans people a threat to... to what? statistics show that trans people pose less of a threat on average. even if they didnt (they do) there are disproportionate statistics on other groups based on biases and double standards in the system itself. this doesnt result in any proof that trans people are a bigger threat to women, or a bigger threat to children, or a bigger threat to anyone, but if people repeat a lie enough times, a lot of people will believe it. people who WANT to believe it dont even require convincing. ### still, why should i care when this wont affect me? it might not, particularly today. you might have a trans kid who isnt safe with you because they fear you. you might have a trans relative you already care about who knows they cant come out to you because you dont understand. you may have lost friends, or opportunities for everyday, ordinary friendship with a trans person because they knew you discriminate against people like them. you might have friends who arent trans but do care about trans rights (or fans, if youre any kind of semi-famous or well known) who walk away from you because of your hate or failure to support more vulnerable people. and you might not care. but just because you dont realise its your loss, doesnt mean its not. you would think that someone who claims to follow (or simply claims to be) a figure with compassion, love and great wisdom, would welcome an opportunity to be more compassionate, more loving as a person and more wise- but it doesnt always work out that way. it might be "their loss" today, it could be yours for a whole lifetime. ill tell you one thing, i used to really adore one particular person, whose books i bought several of, whose films i saw many of, who took that money and used it against the rights of people i care about personally. i will never support her in anything she does ever again. i will never support people who work with her (from this point onward) again. because she has turned into a monster, and people have tried to tell her the truth, and she does not care. and the hate and ignorance she spreads- she funds- is killing people. being on the wrong side of history is your choice. as is getting this right, learning more, and bettering yourself as a person. but there are people spending their literal billions of dollars on telling you that bettering yourself and following the teaching of pikuach nefesh is evil and harmful. those people are liars, some of them- idiots, many of them. and at the VERY best, quite mistaken. also even if you do care about trans people, there are self-proclaimed "activists" (bigotry isnt really activism, but painting it that way certainly helps it to get more mainstream attention) working very hard to come up with pseudointellectual "gotchas" and tricks to fool otherwise innocent people. apart from typical false dilemmas, straw man arguments and bald-faced lies, rational wiki has this EXTENSIVE list of "terf" scams against public understanding, some of which i hadnt even heard of before. bigots really do stop at nothing to bullshit you day in and day out. note that some of these terms will be entirely unfamiliar or possibly even incomprehensible (some of it really is simply nonsense) to you, and thats ok- its best to just avoid repeating them or being taken in by them: => https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/TERF_glossary license: 0-clause bsd ``` # 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 # # Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any # purpose with or without fee is hereby granted. # # THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES # WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF # MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR # ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES # WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN # ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF # OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. ``` => https://freesoftwareresistance.neocities.org