Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
From Western colonialism suppressing third-gender identities to the struggles of trans people of color at the Stonewall Riots, transphobia and the desire to erase trans identities are deeply rooted in racism and white supremacy. The Trump administration is far from the first to take steps to remove trans people from everyday life through executive orders, but he has successfully spun his voter base into this old moral panic.
A Community Historically Targeted and Scapegoated
This strongly resembles how the Nazis took steps to preserve the German way of life during World War II. Nazis held massive book burnings of materials unapproved by the party, including those related to being gay or trans.
Many of the books burned were from the Institute of Sexual Studies, the first ever clinic to offer gender-affirming surgeries. This included works from the Jewish sexologist Hirschfeld that discussed gender non-conformity and same-sex relations. In their eyes, the existence of queer people was a threat to German identity. Today in the US, many books regarding same-sex couples and gender non-conformity are being banned from public library shelves. Queer visibility is still seen as a threat to white values and trying to erase that visibility is seen as a necessity to protect white children and the future of white people.
Credit: Wellcome Images, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Transgender Existence Challenges Restrictive Values
According to an article from Truthout, this panic is an extension of the fight against abortion access, as gender affirming care is seen as a threat to the “potential to give life”. Ashley and Buchanan of Truthout point out the similarities to the neo-Nazi slogan known as “14-Words.” It declares that the most important thing is to protect the existence of white people and their children. The foundation of these anti-trans policies is that the traditional values of cisgender, white heterosexual couples having cisgender, white heterosexual children are being replaced and, therefore, they need to protect their children from being “made trans” to protect those white cishet values. It’s another “Great Replacement” (where white supremacists believe they are being replaced by a minority group) theory in action.
Trans Women Are Women: Protecting Them Protects All
Today, this intersection of transphobia and racism is best seen in women’s sports, especially during the 2024 Olympics. Anti-trans headlines flooded the news after cisgender female boxer Imane Khelif won after only one punch. According to the Associated Press, many questioned her biological sex and used her victory as a way to call for a ban on trans women in women’s sports. Women like Khelif who don’t fit the typical feminine and Euro-centric beauty standards are far more likely to be targeted by transphobes and asked to go through steps to prove their biological sex. Female athletes from the Global South, in particular, face higher levels of scrutiny around their biological sex than their white peers, showing that current gender norms around appearance have an inherent “whiteness” to them.
It’s critical that allies are aware of the intersectionality of transgender and racial struggles. It shows us the importance of forming more intersectional perspectives. This new perspective allows us to better call out and protest against anti-trans laws that reinforce racism, aiding in the creation of a more inclusive world.
Credit: Chabe01, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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