Non-Negotiables
The things we can't give up on.
This one got long. Click on the title of the newsletter to read it in your browser so nothing gets cut off. Or don’t. Whatever.
In general, I am of the belief that history does not repeat itself, but that it does rhyme.
Today, we’re talking about history definitely repeating itself. So, as a fun Election Day treat, let’s talk about what’s coming. Spoiler: it’s bad.
The Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (the Institute for Sexual Research) opened in Berlin on July 6, 1919. Its founder, Magnus Hirschfeld, was a pioneer in sexual health. At a time when homosexuality and queerness was classified as mental illness, Hirschfeld “argued that a person may be born with characteristics that did not fit into heterosexual or binary categories and supported the idea that a “third sex” (or Geschlecht) existed naturally.”1 Part of this research and interest was into what we would now call the trans and gender non-conforming experience. German law outlawed homosexuality (and trans persons were included in that definition) and Hirschfeld campaigned tirelessly to overturn the law. When he was unable to do so, he was able to get the government to legally authorize ID cards with the identification “transvestite” to protect his patients from being arrested for dressing or living as the opposite sex.
By the 1930s, the Institute would perform, and draft the protocols to guide, male-to-female surgical transition. The library at the Institute was vast and full of wisdom and groundbreaking information on the science, psychology, and experience of the gay and trans community and experience. It also served as a safe space for Hirschfeld’s patients who were still not fully accepted by society.
Careful readers will notice the decade this is taking place in and that this story must take a turn. Adolf Hitler was named chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. I don’t have to tell you that eliminating Lebensunwertes Leben, or “lives unworthy of living” from German society was among the core aims of his regime.
On May 6, 1933, the Nazis came for the Institute. Troops stormed and ransacked the buildings and kicked off one of the most iconic symbols of early Nazi power: the book burning.
The carnage flickered over German newsreels. It was among the first and largest of the Nazi book burnings. Nazi youth, students and soldiers participated in the destruction, while voiceovers of the footage declared that the German state had committed “the intellectual garbage of the past” to the flames. The collection was irreplaceable.
You’ve seen this image. I know I have. But I was never told what was being burned here: the library stolen from the Institute.
The loss of research would be bad enough, but you know that’s not the end. Homosexual and trans people would be persecuted throughout the Third Reich. The Night of Long Knives (also called the Rohm purge) occurred on June 30, 1934 and the persecution of the LGBT community would be in full swing.2
Estimates are that at least 100,000 people were arrested by the Nazis for homosexuality and that upwards of 60% were executed. By any definition, a genocide.
I’m going to post some tweets and news clippings. You know, apropos of nothing. Just random stuff…
I was going to keep going. Pulling together the anti-trans takes I could and putting them here. I’ve been working on this piece for a couple of weeks and had this plan that I was going to establish the parallels between now and 1933 and really carefully construct an argument that the times are very similar to underscore the danger. I was going to work really hard on it. Believe me, there are plenty of stories and tweets. The oppression being faced by gay and trans people is reaching a really terrifying zenith.
Then Ye happened and the whole of the right wing lost their fucking minds.
Bonus! Kyrie!
You. GUYS. This is overt Nazi shit. Before Kanye, I thought I would be trying to get people to gird their loins against a genocide against trans people. Now we’re looking at two separate attacks on the humanity of marginalized groups.
I feel like I’ve been screaming about fascists for a minute here and elsewhere. But now we have a full-frontal assault on the rights of women, a campaign to erase trans and gay people, AND good old fashioned anti-Semitism. Once the disabled start being hunted in the streets, I think I’ll have my bingo card covered.
And this is pretty mainstream. Alex Jones or Nick Fuentes being crypto (at best) anti-Semites was one thing. But Kanye went on Tucker Carlson. Ben Shapiro AGREED with him in some respects and still employs Candace Owens (who is partially responsible for Kanye’s insanity).
And what kills me is that the Democrats are going to cut and run on this (especially trans people) because they think it’s too tough an issue. That the GOP has too much headway. But in order to be a legitimate anti-fascist force, or at the very least defend marginalized people, they have to mount a defense. Defending dehumanized people should be non-negotiable. Doing what is right is non-negotiable. Because taking an unpopular opinion is NOT what keeps you from being elected (broadly speaking, ALL of the GOP’s policies are unpopular). But claiming to stand for something and then caving when the chips are down is what makes you unelectable.
There’s also this:
And this (this thread is a good read about how the infrastructure on the right is perfectly made to spread disinformation and propaganda (i.e. hate speech) and there is nothing on the left to counter):
And this:
And this (what the actual fuck; like all my headlines, you can click the image to go to the story):
I mean, my god.
Hey! I don’t have the space to do a whole breakdown on fascism, why it’s bad, and why this is what this is. So here are some great videos (and one article) that do that for me.
How to Recognize a Fascist by Contrapoints
The Alt-Right Playbook by Innuendo Studios
Trumpism is a Synonym for Fascism, Trump Isn’t Hitler, and If You Don't Want To Be Called A Fascist, Stop Supporting Donald Trump, A Fascist by Some More News
[Article] The perennial favorite: Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco
Hey? You wanna know what I actually WANT to talk about? How, after nearly two decades of her being in the public eye and multiple albums, I was finally affected (read: wrecked to a thousand pieces and sobbing) by Taylor Swift’s music (despite Jack Antonoff being a hack and a fraud). But, no. We can’t do that. Because we live in this universe.
It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem, it’s me.
I’ve been trying to make a header image for the newsletter, but it’s not been working. So enjoy this masterpiece: A worried looking anarchist robot drinking coffee on the deck of the Titanic while a bear sleeps nearby.
I’m pulling research liberally from a very good Scientific American article. You can find that here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-forgotten-history-of-the-worlds-first-trans-clinic/
I mention this for a very important and ultimately fucked up reason: Ernst Rohm was publicly gay, having been outed by opposition parties years prior. Hitler very much had Rohm (the head of the gang of street thugs known as the SA) killed in order to consolidate power and shut up Rohm’s desire to redistribute wealth, but this has led many, including members of the American Right, to draw the conclusion that the Nazis were all actually gay and that gay depravity is what drove them to be Nazis. I wish I was making this up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Nazis_myth.