We Must Not Let Cancel Culture Silence the Trans Community | Trans Realist #10

If a big trans celebrity can be canceled for a small controversy, what hope do we have?

Welcome back to Trans Realist, a project where I have a conversation with my fellow trans people, about what could be done to make our lives better in the real world.

Recently, trans actress Hunter Schafer was attacked by what I can only call a cancel culture mob, after interacting with a controversial Instagram post coming from another trans person. The post in question basically blamed non-binary people and certain forms of gender activism for Florida's decision to strip Medicaid coverage of transition related health care. Schafer commented on the post with several exclamation marks, which some people understood to be agreement. (Schafer has since stated that she is "not a transmedicalist", and does not hold any disdain towards non-binary people.)

Let me make this clear: I do not agree with the sentiment of the post in question. There is clearly a new movement aimed at making accessing health care difficult for trans adults, and it does not have anything to do with non-binary people. Also, while postmodern gender activism has been unhelpful for trans acceptance, I'm sure that people like Ron DeSantis would still be anti-trans even if it didn't exist. However, what I think is the more important thing here, is that Schafer found herself in a major controversy just for supposedly liking what another trans person said. If a trans celebrity is to receive such a level of backlash, because they appear to side with a controversial opinion, then everyday trans people would surely feel even more pressure to hide their unconventional opinions from the rest of the community. What hope is there for free speech and free thought within the trans community then?

As I recently said, trans people desperately need legal recognition and protection right now, and we won't win these things without truly resolving the concerns of various stakeholders in wider society. The only way we can get there is with free speech and rational debate. The current culture of silence is only going to maintain the stalemate in trans rights, which, as I previously explained, could ultimately put our access to transition related health care at risk.

To embrace free speech and free debate would mean allowing controversial opinions to be heard, and dealt with in good faith, whether you personally think they are correct or not. Even those of us who don't agree with the original post itself can surely acknowledge that it was coming from sincere concern. Opinions on various trans issues that come from the wider community often get much uglier than that. We need to have realistic expectations about the upcoming negotiation process with wider society, including the fact that our feelings are going to get hurt again and again. People will even deliberately upset us to make a point, but we will still have to keep calm and be the adult in the room. This is why, the trans community needs to learn to have mature discussions over issues like this, if we are to have any hope of getting trans rights back on track any time soon.