Truly baffled by “transitioning does not make you trans” if like, we also all agree that you don’t need dysphoria to be trans and this person also said that closeted trans people are trans. What makes you trans then. If you don’t have to feel bad about your gender assignment and don’t have to do anything about it and don’t even have to tell anybody that you identify as trans then what makes you trans. Someone who doesn’t feel bad about their assigned gender doesn’t feel dysphoria does not change their gender presentation socially or medically in any context of their life part time or full time and does not outwardly verbally identify as trans to anybody but themselves.. then what is left???? Surely you need to do or feel or think something to be trans. Do you have to at least privately consider yourself to be trans to be trans or is that invalidating trans people who haven’t realized that they’re trans yet
If the question is “who is valid” or “who belongs in the support group” then sure whatever I don’t care about gate keeping someone who actually wants to enter the trans space or identify as trans. Like that really is quite immaterial to me and I don’t care about the crucial importance of accurate labeling like label yourself whatever it doesn’t matter.
But for there to be any coherent political analysis then we must at some point for the purposes of the analysis say that you must do or be something to be trans right? Because I can’t actually describe the political situation of a group whose definition has been entirely nullified. If we do not say that there is something that defines belonging to the trans community then transgender ceases to be a political class that can be discussed. It becomes impossible to actually make the argument that trans people are structurally oppressed/marginalized or to identify solutions and changes that would improve our material conditions as a class.
I don’t think you need to feel dysphoria to be trans because if you are altering your gender presentation anyway then I don’t care about your motivation for doing so. You transitioned. I don’t think you need to be diagnosed as trans to deserve to live your life how you want to live. It’s totally great to do it just because you want to and not because you can’t possibly imagine doing otherwise.
If they are joining the trans community and joining trans spaces then they are trans enough for me. I would condition that an active choice to affiliate with our community. That is an action. They are choosing to side with us and be one of us and to fight alongside us. I will not require any specific steps in their transition to be taken beyond that as long as they are not making themselves our enemy and working towards our active oppression.
I am not setting a high bar here. I’m not saying you have to take hormones. But you absolutely have to do something to in any way affiliate yourself with the community. Even if you’re closeted and donating money to TLC and privately supporting trans rights. You have to be on our side somehow. I’m not going to accept the transness of someone who is literally identifying as cisgender and voting for transphobes. Like what kind of bizarre philosophical zombie have we created here.
