Member-only story
A Bigoted Premise Sparks an Ideology
For some, transphobia and homophobia are first principles
LGB! T! Different! Yet Also Linked!
Yes. There’s an LGB and a T. LGB is about sexuality. T is about gender. They’re distinct but linked in a special way: These sexuality labels (LGB) are based on considering the genders of people in relationship with each other, and this gender label (T) begins to describe a person’s gender which will in short order contribute to understanding their sexuality.
The reactionary transphobes pretend that they are the first ones to notice this: the similarity, the difference, the balance, the tension, the reasons why these identities should and shouldn’t be grouped together in different contexts. Sexuality and gender! Different, but also linked! Imagine! In their depiction of reality, they are the first to notice this complex phenomenon. The first ones ever! Trans people, they say, could never have noticed it! Nor could lesbian, gay, and bisexual people who are cisgender— as long as cis people “suffer from” a basic acceptance of trans people—have noticed it. In the reactionary transphobes’ self-assessment, they are the only ones who can notice these things.
Transphobia has unfortunately become an ideology for many. It’s become a lens through which they see the world. Though a person may never have noticed or questioned certain phenomena before, they may begin those interrogations through the lens of transphobia. Their own transphobic (pseudo)intellectual practice leads them to believe that transphobia is the only possible lens through which one can ask deep questions about the world. They believe it is their own skepticism of trans people that has opened their eyes to the fundamental meanings of LGB and T. They have no idea how anyone could possibly philosophize about sexuality and gender without first striking the mental match of transphobia. Transphobia is their philosophical first principle, and they don’t want to hear about other philosophies that don’t start from there. Acknowledging that trans people can think too would call their own anti-trans thinking into question.
