Distraction is so easy nowadays.
So while I was doing four things that weren't working, sleeping, or writing a post I meant to over a week ago, Aimee Stephens did indeed die. And another event from today has joined with some things I wanted to say about this in my mind, but we'll see if I get that far because I think I'm going to start typing and stop when I don't feel like it anymore rather than trying to make this properly composed.
All I can think about with this case is the limits of the legal system and how... belittled I feel at the grand political level because of it. Aimee's case was taken up by the ACLU, meaning she never had to directly financially contribute to the case. But her entire life was still consumed by it, and she fell into financial ruin whilst waiting due to the demands that made of her. She died waiting for a justice that we all know will never come. Honestly I expect roughly a 7-2 decision on the question of the case.
And even if it had, the path for those coming after would be little better. Suing for discrimination damages is a rich person's game. Trans people are amazingly disproportionately likely to live in complete poverty. The sort of family safety net that enables people to go after lawsuits are usually denied us. Employers are pretty good at just not acknowledging why they fired someone and giving themselves plausible deniability. And yet... no one cares, in politics. Because we're expendable, and aren't concentrated enough anywhere to affect a single election in the nation, so we get vague, TERF-ass "support" as long as we understand "legitimate concerns" and that means we can just wait on the good graces of the courts that will never come unless Democrats win every election at the national level for 30 years on end. And if it ever came it wouldn't do anyone any good because god forbid this country have a safety net for healthcare or housing or direct financial support.
And that's the thing. I think a lot about this question: what does the average liberal think "Trans Rights" would look like, really? I look at Obergefell and realize oh, they'll just say "We did it!" after one big court case and not take the slightest interest in what sorts of issues trans folk have on the ground, or how easily the spirit of such a ruling could be subverted by bad actors. Like... god, I don't know if there's a fucking informed consent clinic in a hundred miles of me (I certainly haven't been able to locate one from the internet), and the list of requirements to get a changed gender marker here are comical. And god knows if my insurance would cover anything should the time come I actually leveraged it for such things.
Granted that assumes the average Democrat isn't actively hostile to trans rights. Watching them vote for Biden I'm less than certain anymore. Hard to read someone who's said he would oppose multiple programs that the bulk of trans folk have pushed for winning the nomination, especially considering how basic and universal they are, as anything but packs of boomers wanting us to die.
Another one for that pile of cynicism: so this dropped today.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/jane-roe-confesses-anti-abortion-conversion-all-an-act-paid-for-by-the-christian-rightAnd I'm seeing so much anger at her over this from liberals. Traitor to all women and all that. Sure. But y'know... this woman didn't get her abortion. She was homeless at the time. In a lesbian relationship. Baby she never wanted and was forced to care for. So after all that, and that being where she was left after this landmark case for 20 years before the religious right offered a lot of money, an absolutely comical amount for someone with that life... are they actually mad at the betrayal? Or are liberals upset because she wasn't a good little martyr who did her bit then went away forever because she was politically inconvenient. Knowing what I know of the history of 2nd wave feminism... I can't dismiss it.
And fucked if I don't think a lot of liberals didn't breathe a little sigh of relief that Aimee Stephens is no longer with us.
