Ask Lemmy

It is not about people's lives being privileges, I resent you saying that. I thought I made it clear that I support trans people and do not tolerate bigotry. Everyone matters. Even if in a theoretical situation "just" 1% of the population is getting genocided, it is still genocide. I don't value you or anyone else less than anyone else. I simply disagree with your premise, which I believe to be a false dichotomy. The statistics do indeed say there is a higher percentage of suicide rates for trans people. And why is that? In my opinion from looking at the evidence, I do not believe it is primarily or even very much at all related to bottom surgery being expensive. A lot of trans people are not even interested in that at all. It is because trans people are under a spotlight and a microscope, often scapegoated, and it really wears on somebody to be hated all the time and not know where it is safe to be themselves. And why is there such a spotlight? Part of it will always be bigots and right wing politicians deflecting blame. But part of it is self inflicted.

And that's what I mean by the "taking over spaces" part of my comment. You are perfectly welcome in Lemmy as far as I concerned. You shouldn't have to "hide" that you're trans or avoid talking about issues that concern you. That's not what I'm trying to say.

Think about it like this: imagine the trans spam was literally anything else. Say like...it was about India. I have Indian friends and coworkers, Indian food is great, Hinduism is kinda foreign to me but I find the concept and ethos very interesting, traditional Indian clothing is pretty and cool. Positive opinions, neutral at worst. Now imagine if Indian people refused to shut up about India. Screenshot of a movie with a character wearing a white shirt, orange light from a sunset and green grass "OMG GUYS THE COLORS OF THE INDIAN FLAG, ARE THEY IMPLYING THAT THIS RANDOM CHARACTER IS ACTUALLY INDIAN?!" Every food or cooking sub is taken over by Indian food, people comment on non Indian food "why not just make Indian dish?" Any random brown person "yeah it's giving Indian vibes" Comment on a pretty girl's Instagram : "So cute! Glad to see a fellow Indian be loud and proud" "Actually I'm not Indian" "Not yet ;)"

I think you can imagine people would start to have more negative opinions on Indian people if this were the case, or at the very least find them immature. Except this actually makes a lot more sense because there are literally a billion of them, and there are nowhere near that amount of trans people.

This, combined with the false dichotomy makes the movement come off as immature teenagers to a lot of people. I have not found that to be the case from trans people i know in real life, but that is the perception.

Even if I were to believe the false dichotomy of "pay for trans surgeries with taxpayer money or trans people will die", that's not any more convincing than it was when my ex girlfriend threatened to kill herself if we broke up. Me having sex with her is not healthcare because of her potential actions. I think it is important to be precise with language. And to be clear, I would vote for covering trans stuff with universal healthcare if it got on the ballot, as long as there were legal protections from something like a mentally ill parent forcing transitioning on their child.

Lastly, you say "politically convenient" as if I'm running for office. As previously mentioned, people die every day because they can't afford healthcare, and it's only getting worse. I know someone who divorced his wife so she won't have to pay his medical bills after he got cancer. After burning through his life savings that he worked hard on and made sacrifices for, for THIRTY YEARS. Not only does he not get to enjoy any of the money he saved by working overtime, but he can't even die young in peace knowing that his wife will be supported. He now has to worry that debt collectors will sue her after his death if they suss out that their divorce was due to debt. That is dystopian, a nightmare. And that is not "my problem vs your problem". It can happen to you. And it is probably more likely to happen to you, as transitioning can be hard on your body. I'm not a fan of politics, I just recognize the reality. To some, people, being trans is an affront on god himself. It sure is stupid, but they will vote against their own self interest just to spite you. There is no universe where we will be able to jump to "trans people should get whatever they define as healthcare paid for by someone else." from absolutely nothing being covered. Not anymore than we should have campaigned Frederick Douglas for president of the United States before we, you know, got rid of slavery. Could he have been a good president in a vacuum? Yes, he was an intelligent and wise person. But you knowing that, and me knowing that doesn't mean it would have been a good idea. And NOTHING exists in a vacuum. Ever.