A few weeks ago, JK TERFling and a few other bigots scrawled their names on a diatribe of hate filled propaganda. Many of those who “signed” were well past their sell by date, irrelevant, or had the lost the plot about right and wrong.
In response, 200 British and Irish writer wrote another open letter in support of Transgender people. Twelve hundred writers signed in support, with over 1500 names in total.
Stephen King, Margaret Atwood and Roxane Gay champion trans rights in open letter
Stephen King and Margaret Atwood are among the signatories to an open letter offering support to the trans and non-binary communities of the US and Canada, as a bitter divide over trans rights continues to split the literary world.
The message from writers and members of the US literary community follows a similar letter from authors in the UK and Ireland. Both letters come in the wake of a fierce row over JK Rowling’s comments on trans rights, including her comment that “if sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased”.
On 30 September, more than 200 British and Irish writers including Jeanette Winterson and Malorie Blackman sent “a message of love and solidarity for the trans and non-binary community”. A day later, more than 1,500 names in the publishing world joined them in asserting that “non-binary lives are valid, trans women are women, trans men are men, trans rights are human rights”.
The US letter, has been signed by more than 1,200 members of the literary community, including Roxane Gay, Neil Gaiman, John Green, NK Jemisin and Angie Thomas.
When will the bigots realize they’re on the losing side?
“When will the bigots realize they’re on the losing side?”
From what Ive seen in my short 65 years, never. We can only make their group smaller and smaller by increasing the numbers of those who have learned tolerance thereby robbing them of any power. They will never learn because they dont think they are wrong. Sometimes, you just can’t fix stupid.
I think you’d be better off accepting that they aren’t discouraged by being on the losing side. Everyone likes winning, and if they win they aren’t going to complain. But the Christians who push hardest for discrimination in the US & Canada (don’t know who pushes hardest in the UK & Ireland, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Christians there as well) have fetishized so-called martyrdom. The fewer people agree with them, the most special & the more holy they believe they must be in order to adhere to what they think is their god’s word in the face of such unpopularity. (Which unpopularity, again, they believe is morally equivalent to being nailed to a hunk of wood and left out in the sun to die of exposure, exhaustion, and ultimately anoxia or heart failure.)
Some people will change their minds, some people will be discouraged and give up without changing their minds, but the core group that funds & organizes on behalf of bigotry will remain for as long as I’m alive, and probably much longer.
That brings a smile to my face.