“We are not gonna rest … until trans ideology is entirely erased from the earth. That’s what we’re fighting for, and we will not stop until we achieve it.”
These words are from a recent speech by Matt Walsh, one of many public figures obsessed with the existence of trans people. What does this sound like to you?
To me, it sounds like a call to wipe out a community of people who are already targeted at a chilling rate. Trans people are four times more likely to be targets of violence.
We are talking about villainizing and destroying a group so small they struggle to build communities where they live. As of 2022, about 0.6 percent of people aged 13 and older identified as trans in the United States. This is such a small number but politicians and even random Billy Bobs talk about trans people constantly.
It’s easy to make a monster out of people they don’t know personally. Unfortunately, for a certain type of person, this is just in their nature. What is the easiest way to maintain power? Create an enemy for everyone to be afraid of and then promise the masses you can protect them.
There is this fear trans people are taking over. First off, more trans people existing isn’t hurting anyone, but also that just isn’t happening.
The fear comes from two places. First, more trans people feel comfortable coming out. There are more support systems. People are tired of hiding. This is a good thing. As Emma Serena Lavin recently pointed out to me, “How will doing whatever you want to do to trans people make your life better?”
As touched on earlier, the other fear comes from the unending tirade of propaganda. Some people actually voted based on this single issue.
Who is really this impacted by trans people that they are ignoring every other issue and instead voting to eliminate an innocuous group of their fellow humans?
The answer: no one.
I’m a Black man who lives in the Southeastern United States. You can imagine the “moral” values and political views that surround me. I’ve cut off most of my more hateful family and friends, but I still have a few who make questionable statements mostly out of ignorance.
I occasionally open my messages to find a video ranting about trans people. They are usually silly when compared to the grand scheme of things, but they still effectively and efficiently spread hate.
In most recent memory, these videos were women complaining about trans women stealing men, trans women claiming to be more of a woman than cis women, or a trans woman claiming to have a period.
These videos are transphobic. Some of them may stem from other places, like the difficulty of finding a partner, but trans people are once again made scapegoats.
Oh, and don’t get me started on the term cis. I’ve met otherwise reasonable people get upset about this word. I don’t get it, but based on discussions, they feel as if their womanhood is being taken away from them by being labeled a “cis woman.” I try to explain this isn’t the case, but I am not a woman and don’t feel doubling down on something I can’t experience. I concede the point, but it is frustrating this idea feeds into the existing hatred.
In 2019, Matthew Rosenberg wrote an issue of Uncanny X-Men in which he tried to capture the violence experienced by trans people. In the issue, Wolfsbane, one of the X-Men, chooses to leave the team to live a normal life.
She is approached by a group of men who hit on her before realizing she is a mutant. The men then beat her to death with Wolfsbane, a trained superhero, not fighting back.
Although this issue was universally hated by most people, including trans people, I understand what Rosenberg was trying to do here. He was trying to place the ignorant into that experience.
All the superhero fans who were oblivious to what trans people went through could walk in their shoes for a moment. It was a misguided and failed attempt, but empathy is a step toward change.
Gay and trans panic are legal defenses in which the defendant claims they “lost their mind” after learning the victim was part of the lgbt community. This defense protected violent acts and even murder. The American Bar Association called for a ban on this defense in 2013 but most states still allow it.
Gwen Araujo is one of the most famous cases in which the defense lead to some success. Several men attacked the 17-year-old after learning she was trans. After multiple trials, most of the men served less than ten years in prison. This 2002 case did lead to some changes in California, but unfortunately in 2024 many states still lag behind.
Some people actually find these actions justified, and when laws support them, they are only more likely to react this way.
Equally disturbing is the uptick in violence against children. Is this the world we really want to live in? We really want to have kids beaten because they are different? Are we still doing this in America in 2024?
Don’t answer that. I know we are, but for those who receive some type of joy from Walsh’s words, I want you to own them.
Go look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. What do you get from people being hurt and murdered? What do you get from kids being attacked at school just because they are different?
Look in the mirror and answer those questions. Face who you are.
I’ve spoken to people who are terrified by the state of America. Imagine having a popular figure stand on stage and call for the elimination of anyone like you.
I send out love to anyone who is in pain and feeling alone right now. The hate is loud and overwhelming, but the love is there. People are people. We know that as children, and some of us forget it along the way.
Some of us remember though.
I’ve spoken to so many people who are ready to fight. It isn’t over yet.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of LG Ware's work on Medium.