First, I am unaware of any trans movement messaging that says it is not ok to be gay. I do accuse LGBTQ+ of failing kids, but certainly the "official" Rainbow stance is it is ok for kids to be gay, and trans would risk losing their most effective political alliance by employing explicitly homophobic messaging.
Second, gay is less stigmatized than trans, not more stigmatized. Marketing trans as the more acceptable alternative to gay would be fail the laugh test.
Being trans is a shitload of hassle. You think kids look forward to having to discuss their sexuality with pshrynks and endocrinologists? Kids are just not as stupid as your narrative would require.
I have always been concerned about parents who might prefer a trans daughter to a gay son. That's why I argue for leaving it up to the kid to decide. I am not the one saying let's give parents a veto. I distrust parents, distrust doctors even more (I would provide blockers w/o prescription for exactly that reason), and distrust government most of all (government, at the highest levels, is pushing the blocker bans and often using "grooming" rhetoric straight from the pedophobic playbook to do so).
But parents are not stupid, either, and they know perfectly well that a gay kid can get a job most places without his sexuality being an issue while trans kids (in, for example, all the US states that are banning blockers) will likely face discrimination. So I am very skeptical that this happens much. I am especially skeptical that it happens much in Christian families, which has been suggested. The blocker bans are actively promoted by fundamentalist Christians. Confronted with a gay or trans kid, they are often rejecting or focused on "cure." (Blocker bans are in fact being promoted as a "cure" for trans, on the theory kids will grow out of being trans when they hit puberty. We recognize this as a homophobic theory when it's applied to gay kids. Gay kids don't think they are gay and grow out of it. Neither do MAP kids. Why would trans kids be the ones who are deluded?
Don't save the kids, trust them!
Being in favor of the blocker bans violates all three of the basic principles of our movement, as I understand them.
1. Sex is good. Unless you are trans, in which case that's bad.
2. Boys decide. Except if they decide they are trans, in which case we know they are wrong and we decide.
3. No sex police. And how exactly is withdrawing an established health care practice for trans kids not policing their sexuality? (Because it's policing their gender, and this is better?)
(In my chart below I list transboys and tomboys as potential allies. Nobody is lining up to be our allies, and the trans movement is among those not lining up. But are there trans MAPs? We know there are. Not many here, because of all the hostility, but posters familiar with forums that skew younger have reported here that some of those are less hostile and younger trans MAPs are a recognizable demographic there.)
hugzu ;-p
| Thesis | Antithesis | Synthesis | Norm | Adjacency | | Sex is good | Rape culture | Feminism | Gender | Sex workers | | Boys decide | Grooming | Youth liberation | Age | Transboys/Tomboys | | No sex police | The nanny state | Anarchism | Identity | RSOs/SVPs |
Click on the table for a larger version and brief explanation
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