When Their Rights Are Sacred and Yours Are Optional

I am absolutely, unapologetically, and without exception pro transgender rights...

If Susie Izzard, born Eddie, wants to compete in women’s figure skating, she should be able to. Same for girls sports in her K-12 schools or college. If she wants the correct F gender marker on her license or passport, she should have it. Full stop.

If she needs the women’s restroom, she is there to pee and check her lipstick. I am not worried. Why are you?

If twelve year old Susie comes out to supportive parents, they should have access to puberty blockers and an affirming therapist as she begins her journey. If she comes out in grammar or high school, the school should use her correct name and pronouns and allow her to use the correct bathroom for her stated gender. Same if she works at Quantico.

If she wants to continue a family tradition and serve in the Marine Corps, why shouldn’t she be able to?

If she is a felon, do not put her in a men’s prison unless your goal is to see her assaulted repeatedly, both beatings AND rape. And do not take away her hormones unless you are prepared for the consequences of that cruelty.

And here is the part that exposes the double standard. The same people who insist that Susie’s rights should be debated, restricted, or put to a vote will defend their own rights with absolute, immovable certainty. They will fight tooth and nail for their gun rights. They will argue that any limitation, any regulation, any inconvenience is an attack on their freedom. They will say that rights are not up for negotiation, not subject to public opinion, and not dependent on whether someone else approves.

Yet when a transgender person is simply trying to live her life, doing no harm to anyone, those principles suddenly disappear. The idea of inherent rights becomes conditional. Public opinion suddenly matters. Freedom suddenly has exceptions. The same people who insist that their own rights are untouchable will turn around and treat someone else’s rights as optional.

If you want to put her rights up for a vote, then put cisgender men’s rights up for a vote too. Propose a law where cisgender men are no longer covered under the bill of rights and cannot speak freely, own a gun, be safe from warrantless searches, or be safe from having a ten million dollar bail set, among other rights of every person in the country. If that idea horrifies you, maybe examine why you think your rights are sacred while hers are negotiable.

It is wild to me that some people will fight all the way to the Supreme Court for the right to refuse to bake a wedding cake for a gay or trans couple. They insist that their freedom means they cannot be compelled to participate in someone else’s life or happiness. Fine. They have that right. But somehow those same people are perfectly comfortable watching transgender people lose their basic human rights. They defend their own freedoms with absolute ferocity while shrugging at the fact that others are being denied the ability to live safely, authentically, and without harassment. Their rights are treated as sacred. Trans people’s rights are treated as optional. That is the hypocrisy I am done pretending not to see.

I am sick of the anti trans rhetoric and the policies designed to strip people of their dignity. When the same people pushing this agenda find their own rights disappearing through executive orders and court decisions, we will see how they react.