By Dakota Hensley
Content Warning: This piece discusses growing up in a strict Christian household (purity culture, gender policing/dress codes) and references Nazi Germany and white supremacist ideology as political analogies. The author, who is cisgender, also expresses personal discomfort with neopronouns and nonbinary identities. His views on this point don’t reflect GFS’s official position.
I’m an unusual fit for Gender Freedom Society. I’m not trans nor do I have any trans friends or family, I’m a Christian, and I’m not the most progressive on the issue. I’ve never been a fan of neopronouns or the idea of genders beyond the traditional gender binary. Despite all that, I find myself to be a passionate defender of trans rights.
My strident defense comes from a single belief: If the rights of the least are taken away, the rights of the most are soon to follow. Trans people are an easy target for authoritarian governments. Once they’re gone, the government will move on to another group and then another and then another. A fundamental misbelief among people is that the government serves human interests. It’s composed of people after all. In reality, the state is a creature of its own, neither human nor artificial. It is something else entirely. It serves its own interests and will gladly eliminate humanity bit by bit, group by group, to accomplish its goal of attaining more power and growing exponentially.
That’s the left-libertarian in me coming out, but I think anyone who thinks that the oppression will stop at trans people is deluding themselves. White supremacists stupidly believe that the government will eliminate the minorities they hate and never think of turning on them. Nazi Germany saw the German people as little more than cattle fit for breeding or sheep fit for serving. It gladly sacrificed them for its own purposes.
I’ve also always had a love for those willing to go against society. It probably came from the environment I grew up in. I come from a Christian rural community and, while I love it, it also had some things that annoyed me. My school library, for example, couldn’t give out Harry Potter because the nearby churches would be mad. You had to request it like you were renting an adult film from a video store. All the adults around me were the goodiest goody two-shoes (it didn’t get any better as I became an adult). They only watched Christian TV and only listened to Christian music. It was like living in the Stepford Wives. Many women only wore skirts. Yes, really. In high school, I had a friend who decided she didn’t want to wear the skirt anymore and my pastor friend anguished over it like she became an atheist. Growing up in this kind of environment made me sympathetic to and appreciative of those who break the rigid rules of society. Who are trans people but those who violate the ultimate rule of society: Men are men and women are women.
Finally, my support for trans rights comes from a deep compassion I’ve always had for those on the bottom rungs of society. I grew up poor, living in a trailer park in a drug-afflicted rural community. Because of that, I grew up wanting to help people in any way I could and one group that needs the most help are trans people. I see them attacked every day in the media, by politicians, and even by so-called allies. They are neglected and ignored by mainstream society. I couldn’t forgive myself if I just ignored their plight.
I may be an unusual fit for Gender Freedom Society and my support for trans rights may come from an unconventional place, but I don’t love it any less. I’m very proud of the work I do and will continue to help in any way I can.
