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Federal judge rules Utah city violated first amendment when it refused permit for drag show (boingboing.net)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/news@beehaw.org
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[–] 30 points 3 years ago (3 children)

It's terrifying to witness active dehumanization in a nation that supposedly wants you to live your best life. They'll try to convince the whole nation that trans folk aren't people, aren't human, we can't let them. Once they're not human, they can get away with anything they do to them. If you see these efforts to dehumanize any group, no matter where you are, try to be brave because you never know when you're next.

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  • [–] 13 points 3 years ago* (2 children)

    As a trans woman it's really fun getting to be the minority that it's totally okay to just openly hate and dehumanize, the right's newest whipping girl ;-;

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Especially when so many pedojacket us which in turn causes trans folks to infight.

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  • [+] 5 points 3 years ago (1 child)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago

    I remember in my university's then-Gay and Lesbian Association (getting the "B" added was a whole thing) we got leafletted by the North American Man/Boy """Love""" Association (spit). Had to make a motion to reject them entirely, which is gross it even needed to happen. Happily it was unanimous.

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  • [–] 12 points 3 years ago (1 child) 
    First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
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  • [–] 11 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    It's freaking amazing, and terrifying, how quickly the right wing wackos have been able to demonize a group that almost nobody has even thought about in forever. It's like a case study in finding some marginalized group to vent rage on/about.

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  • [–] 13 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Definitely terrifying and can be surprising, but I think it's easier to demonize unfamiliar groups than to demonize a well-known one. I think demonizing and dehumanizing relies on some degree of the unknown to make all the hysteria and fear plausible. If the group is well known by the general public, it's easier to say "now wait a minute, I happen to know many trans people and they're very kind." It creates a strong base of informed allies to speak up on the group's behalf. It's not impossible to demonize a well-known group, I just believe it's easier when your target has no personal interactions to check against the fear mongering.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Definitely terrifying and can be surprising, but I think it's easier to demonize unfamiliar groups than to demonize a well-known one.

    This is also why "colleges indoctrinate students" is wrong even though college students do tend to get more liberal. When college students leave their home towns and go to college, they run into people of differing backgrounds. Stereotypes get challenged and broken to pieces. The college kids return to their home towns unwilling to engage in the demonization because suddenly it's not some faceless Other they are railing against, but an actual person that they have interacted with.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago

    Even worse than the demonizing is how they dehumanize trans people. Don't get me wrong, demonizing a group is bad, but dehumanizing is so much worse.

    I learned this lesson during a trip to the Holocaust Museum in DC. I walked through one of the train cars and tried to picture fitting as many people in there as the plaque said were crammed in. I couldn't. Then, I realized that I was trying to fit people in the car. Even though these were imaginary people existing solely in my head, I was still treating them like people. I switched to trying to cram that many human shaped objects in the car and realized it was easy to do.

    The right is pushing dehumanization of people they don't like. Once you've accepted a group of people as "not human," all sorts of horrible options open up to deal with them.

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