Daniella's Ramblings

I penned this short ‘bloglet’ on Twitter, but I thought it deserved to be preserved in a slightly less ephemeral medium, so here it is (slightly edited and amended for the less restrictive medium).

Public Service Announcement:
For those of you who were very antsy during lock-down, who wanted to go to a restaurant or coffee shop with friends, who wanted to go to a clothing shop and try on some clothes before buying them, those of you who missed being able to attend a concert, or a sports match, the gym or whatever social event of your choosing.

Consider this. As long as there are people like JK Rowling, Graham Linehan etc, who wish to exclude trans women from society, who want to prevent us from using women’s toilets and women’s change rooms and other ‘female only’ facilities, that experience you just had and hated so much for a relatively short period, that is our permanent lived reality: by excluding us from these facilities you exclude us from society.

Now think how that felt for you over the last 100 days. That is our life if we are unable to participate in society. Now add to the frustration, depression, and sense of alienation that you felt as part of the broader collective, the additional burden of being specifically targeted for being who we are and feeling the resulting sense of hatred, discrimination, alienation and isolation so intensely and personally.

Does any of that sound fair? Does any of that sound just? Does any of that sound right?

Does it seem to you that we would choose this?

To those who already ‘get’ this, thanks for being the great allies that you are.
To those who do not ‘get’ this, please consider how you felt and how we feel. Exercise some empathy.
To everyone reading this, this is not a cry for sympathy or pity. It is simply a request to reflect. If it touches you all that we ask is that you stand with us as we stand against bigots and prejudice. Support us as we fight for the rights that everyone else enjoys everyday. Understand that we do not do this to get ‘extra’ rights. We do not do this to encroach on your space. We do this simply because we want to exist in society as you do.