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It Is No Longer Possible for Me to Be Apolitical.
Until recently, I strove to make my writings apolitical because I teach Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) courses focused on LGBTQ+ issues as a freelancer. Not wanting to alienate potential clients, I have always concentrated on the science of queer topics and interpersonal interactions. I can’t do that anymore because the times won’t let me.
When I started, people would listen politely or pretend to. Today though, people will sign out of meetings and announce that they are doing so whenever the science I present contradicts their political stance. In the past, I would distribute a link to a survey after presentations to receive feedback about my performance. That stopped when someone leaked the link to an anti-trans group that flooded my survey with 1s and hateful speech invalidating the results. Comments on my Medium page often consist of anti-trans rhetoric and accusations of things I’ve never done or beliefs I do not hold.
Frankly, I don’t mind the comments on my writings. They are more often than not a reminder that anti-trans posters have a lot of weird beliefs, and for some reason, they can’t spell very well. The things they say are comical. They’re trying to be mean, but I find it impossible to take them seriously.
More concerningly, right-wing politics have turned decidedly against transgender…
