I almost put this in c/neurodiverse because it's such a weird ramble thing. Where are you supposed to put stuff when you do stuff???
Anyway
The bear website was very slow the other day, so I sorted by "Most Comments" and started scrolling past mega threads. I liked the over-1000 comment thread from six months ago, that was pretty cool. I was surprised to see a thread about a Leslie Feinberg book, however, and this is where I discovered the rare lore of who TC_69, TransComrade_69, actually was: a based individual <3
I haven't read anything like enough theory; it's probably more than the average person but like, three books tops. And Combat Liberalism because lol lmao. When I stumbled upon this thread angrily yelling at me to read Beyond Blue and Pink or else be branded a lib, I figured I probably should, since TC_69 said so and all. Most of it's not that new to me, I'm pretty waist-deep in trans liberation ideas and stuff, and a lot of the fiction I read is related or adjacent to it--I first heard of Kate Bornstein from Nevada--but I feel deeply enriched for reading Blue and Pink.
It's not just that gender markers on passports and other forms of identification should be removed because they're a mechanism by which authorities oppress people based on their gender. Or even that Trans Liberation refutes the weird, shitty idea that crossdressers and drag queens/kings/etc are exaggerated performances, or worse "blackface for women!" which is something I have actually heard people of my generation really actually say. We still need Leslie Feinberg. The theory end of the experience is really great and the primary point, obviously.
But I think I like our history the most.
Reading these old 1990s queer theory books, with their references to even older queer events and people and shit, it's actually really nice! Sometimes it can feel like the current queer movement is floating alone and divorced from anything else, having randomly sprung out of like, late 2000s websites. Susan's Place is not always the type of history I wanna remember... Reading about the thoughts and the activism of our forebears though, that's fucking rad. Leslie Feinberg was so goddamn cool. I get a sense that instead of living in relative comfort purely because I am under the radar, I'm doing so as the benefit of hard work done by people like me, who came before me. Who weren't so different from me, despite being around to witness the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.
It really irks my shit when the average liberal queer person in many queer spaces doesn't seem to acknowledge any of this history we share. I guess it's stupid to think that every single queer person ever should read theory and be politically engaged(?), but the struggle for our rights & liberation is still very much an ongoing battle, and I feel like it's kind of very shitty to just disregard our history of activism. Type of USamerican queer person who figured "gay rights" was over in 2015.
I don't wanna bitch too much though, when instead I can be saying how much I appreciate receiving the words of our elders. It's pretty rad, for pretty much the only time in my life I feel a sense of, I guess heritage about it. Somethin' like that. I dunno what you'd call it because it's so rare that I do not feel 100% alienated from everything and everyone. It's nice not to for once. Thanks, TransComrade_69, wherever you may be.
Uphold TC_69 Thought
