Cutting to the chase:
I propose that on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024 (the first day that both the House and Senate are back in session), all of us who are invested in this issue and have a platform (whether it be a blog, newsletter, column, podcast, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc.) publish a piece with the shared title: “LGBTQ+ People Are Not Going Back.” Yes, I know, it’s a cheesy title, but it holds Democrats accountable to their own talking points and makes it clear that backsliding on LGBTQ+ rights is nonnegotiable for us.
So… a blog post and social media campaign.
No fucking wonder we aren’t getting anywhere. This is some tragically weak-ass protest action.
We need to get creative and we need to get into people’s faces.
We need to set goals and consider sidelining a few issues that we’re getting beat on.
We need to show our allies how they can help. Hitting ‘like’ on a social media post doesn’t count.
We need to show our allies how they can help. Hitting ‘like’ on a social media post doesn’t count.
That’s all an ally has ever been good for. You’re looking for accomplices.
Check the top post in this community, horizontal organising is the only real way to fight back against the state.
We need to get creative and we need to get into people’s faces.
Agreed. Do you have any suggestions? I do also think it will be easier to mobilize people if there is a successful social media campaign.
I have been pushing for Black Panther styled militia building. I am starting the process for that on my end, but the paperwork takes a wile
That’s going to be damn-near impossible. The Black Panthers existed in a social setting that is completely different from the physical and social reality of trans people here in the early mid 21st century.
Black panther organizations were extremely local affairs. They were based in black neighborhoods and were built around engaging with those in the immediate area. That’s the kind of setting that an armed militia actually makes sense in. The Black Panthers existed in dense, urban, majority black neighborhoods.
Compare that to trans people, who are a scattered 1% of the population. There are no “trans neighorhoods.” Even the broader LGBT “gayborhoods” of the 20th century are now mostly memories. Now, if discrimination against trans people really did get bad enough, history suggests that you might actually start seeing some trans-specific neighborhoods form. But we’re a long way from that point.
I mean, just think of the logistics. So you want to get a group of trans people together and form a militia. You find a group of people; they live scattered across a broad suburban metroplex. Where exactly are you going to patrol? What neighborhoods will you seek to protect? Where exactly, physically, is the home you’re supposed to all be defending?
That’s the problem with this. An armed Black Panther-style movement really needs to be confined to a certain geographic area. And there is no such area for the trans population.
People don’t seem to find it hard to protest
A militia? Seriously? Gtfo with your violence-pushing agenda.
Violence is only allowed to be perpetuated against the lgbtq community.
It’s not about starting shit anyway, just showing that violence against the community can be returned. People are willing to stand up for themselves
That’s how you get trans people killed.
Black people spent decades just being killed until armed coalitions formed. Then the people in power were real interested in negotiating with the peaceful protest crowd
The oppressors don’t give rights “because they feel like it”, they give it after the oppressed fight for those rights. This is one of those cases.
You mean like all the trans people already killed?
If anything, it’s past the time for armed resistance.
So the plan is to boycott the Democrats because of all the terrible things the Republicans are doing, and keep boycotting the Democrats until they succeed in stopping the Republicans from dismantling trans rights?
Protests are how you try to push the party to do what you want. If the only thing you do is vote then the only thing they need to work for is the bare minimum to get your vote. As you imply, democrats are the best for LGBTQ+ people, so they don’t really get a voice when voting. In order to be heard you need to do more than just vote.
I don’t know how common your idea of voting being the only form of civic involvement is, but it’s horribly misguided. You hold your nose a vote for the best option, but you hold them accountable and try to get your goals furthered outside of voting. This is how it’s always been. Please, do not tell people to stop asking for more again.
Your idea of not voting being the only form of civic involvement is breathtakingly counter productive. The more the right wingers win, the more the Democrats move right to win back what passes for centrists in the USA’s horribly twisted version of democracy.
I said that people should vote. Damn dude. You can’t even build a strawman properly.
Your idea of not voting for the Democrats being the only form of civic involvement in democratic policy is breathtakingly counter productive. The more the right wingers win, the more the Democrats move right to win back what passes for centrists in the USA’s horribly twisted version of democracy.
I said people should vote for democrats! Man, you really suck at this. Are you just trolling or are you really this fucking stupid?
You honestly sounded to me like you were advocating for withholding your vote and my one and only point was that that is counter productive. If you don’t disagree with that point, I feel you could have made it far, far clearer.
So no, I’m not trolling, and I don’t think I’m stupid, but I did fully believe that you were disagreeing with my point about witholding votes achieving the opposite of what I believe are our shared goals. So now I think you were just unclear and unnecessarily combative.
There’s nothing in anything I said about voting being the only useful thing we can do, that was all in your head.
I said we should protest. Voting is a minimal action and isn’t that effective, especially if the party knows you’re already essentially obligated to vote for them.
This was in response to your comment essentially implying the protests that this post is about shouldn’t happen and democrats should have unconditional support. If you agree the protests are good then I guess we both could have communicated better.
The plan is to only boycott them if they ignore the campaign to pressure them to continue supporting LGBTQ+ rights.
The planned action is first to demand Democrats hold the line and continue supporting LGBTQ+ rights, and to threaten withholding votes if they don’t comply.
From the article:
I am but one person and cannot speak for our entire community. But here’s what I propose in the spirit of Queer Nation, who in the 1990s carried out myriad protests under the same banner but with no singular leader or directive.
I propose that on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024 (the first day that both the House and Senate are back in session), all of us who are invested in this issue and have a platform (whether it be a blog, newsletter, column, podcast, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc.) publish a piece with the shared title: “LGBTQ+ People Are Not Going Back.” Yes, I know, it’s a cheesy title, but it holds Democrats accountable to their own talking points and makes it clear that backsliding on LGBTQ+ rights is nonnegotiable for us.
What you write or say or express in your op-ed or article or video or podcast etcetera is up to you. I encourage you to make it personal and feel free to tailor it to your audience. My only request (other than all of us using the same title) is that you implore people to contact their Congressperson and Senators (and perhaps even local politicians) and tell them that 1) you will not tolerate any backpedaling on LGBTQ+ rights whatsoever, and 2) if they fail to strongly stand up against these attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, then you will take your vote elsewhere next election.
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Just wanted to say I get that; I’m not fond of the Democrats but I tend to vote for them as a lesser-evil situation (not that it matters, I live in a place where my vote is irrelevant). I am not a single-issue voter, I think there is a role for LGBTQ+ voters even if both parties are against us (after all this was how all elections were until very recently), but I would participate in an organized campaign to show Dems that they need us, including refusing to vote for them if it came to that. Still, we need to realize that alliance-forming is necessary for survival and good outcomes, and that means finding ways of working with non-ideal people and holding your nose and voting for the lesser evil sometimes.
Voting definitely made sense and continues to make sense if Democrats will make a stand for something.
Right now we have a party that did not stand up for Democracy. Article 14 of the Constitution section 3. They are not fighters but they need to be if they ever wish to have any relevance again.
If Dems dump LGBT, you are asking people who have had forced sex changes, forced divorces and are likely to be dead or homeless if not political prisoners to make sure they vote for the party that will not take a stand for them or Democracy itself.
It is likely that this doesn’t matter as Trump is back after an attempted coup in which he denied election results for 4 years and now has the legal authority given to him by the Supreme Court to do anything including assassinations with absolute criminal immunity.
Not to mention he has all branches of government and got rid of Republicans like Pence and Cheney who respected democracy. Vance was chosen because he will not certify votes on a future Jan 6th.
They have also bought out legacy media and social media networks, and are banning books and bringing politics and religion into schools to raise a new generation that will vote for them anyways.
I can’t currently imagine a situation where MAGA didn’t do election fraud or deny any future loses. After all they won this election denying the previous election. This is something that happens globally. Just look at the recent stolen elections in Venezuela.
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-14/section-3/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/06/venezuela-election-maduro-analysis
sounds like business as usual to me.
It’s more or less something like this.
