Would you like to contribute to a collective document on the topic of how we are being in solidarity with trans folks? This is your chance! Either respond to these questions here, or send an email with your stories to sostarselfcare@gmail.com.
This project includes two community conversations (one on December 11, and one follow-up in June 2023), and will result in a collective document (a little zine) and contribution to the Dulwich Centre's 'How we are trying to avoid misgendering others' project (https://dulwichcentre.com.au/misgendering/).
The responses to this form will be included in the collective document, and contributions will be anonymous unless you ask to be credited. You will only get an email from me if you tick 'yes' to receive the collective document (each draft as it is created).
Please feel free to share this invitation with anyone you think would be interested.
Between December 2022 and now, the intensity of anti-trans activism and legislation has escalated significantly. I think this makes the relational practices of not misgendering even more critical, because it is within these relationships, in the spaces where people are being actively and intentionally affirming and supportive, that trans folks can feel a sense of dignity, visibility, and acknowledgement. I want to focus on this relational piece in this project, especially because I think many trans folks will be feeling more and more isolated as being publicly trans becomes more dangerous and fraught.
In this document, I hope to focus on what we hold onto when the situation gets more dangerous:
- What helps us stay in solidarity when things are especially hard? (Hard on a wider social scale, yes, but also hard personally - how do we stay in solidarity when our family may not understand or be supportive of this? How do we stay in solidarity when our workplaces are becoming more hostile to trans folks? How do we stay in solidarity when it feels like a risk? I know that this part of the conversation will be messy and vulnerable, but I think that's important to acknowledge in this project. My hope is that this project will invite other people to also be in solidarity at this critical time, and acknowledging the messiness is part of what makes an invitation feel welcoming - there is no expectation of perfect allyship here.)
- What helps us hold onto actions of care as meaningful and worthwhile in the face of immense and overwhelming injustice?
- What keeps us connected to a sense of relationship and care, even when the context wants to push us apart?
- What are the small, personal actions of solidarity that we take when it is not possible to be more openly or publicly vocal? (For example, how do we stay in solidarity with trans folks who are not 'out' or who are becoming less 'out' in skillful response to the escalating hostility?)
This project will be one part of a larger collection of work that I'm co-creating in response to what's happening to trans folks right now, and in response to two specific losses - Bekett and Theda - and this project does feel like an important part of the wider collection of work.
This project is about highlighting how and why to be in solidarity with trans folks, and it will be the first piece of work completed in this larger collection. I like the idea of beginning with solidarity and care. Starting with the small, personal, relational actions, which is exactly what we're doing when we take care to use people's names and pronouns, to let them know that we want to see them the way they want to be seen.
This project was started in honour of Bekett Noble.
