Non-Political: Politics, Escape, and Identity
I’ve been called an advocate, courageous, brave, really just for existing. I do not seek to play the game of politics, but as a non-binary person living in today’s world, I don’t have that right.
We’re taught to live with acceptance of each others differences: our gender and sex, our ethnicity, our sexual and romantic orientation, our religion, our age, or any number of other identities that people have been marginalized for over the course of history. Often, I find people try to lump politics into the fold of differences we should be willing to accept in our peers. Why should you cut someone off just for voting for a different party last election? Are you claiming that there are no nice or well-meaning *gasp* Republicans?
The questions are ignoring the fact of the matter that politics, of course, is a moral question in and of itself. There are undoubtedly some political differences with friends that can be overlooked particularly if that opinion is held genuinely and with humanity. I say that as a disclaimer because as a matter of reality, politics is a stance on whether you believe that a society truly exists to protect everyone and what that society should look like.
Politics is exhausting. I came in as a political science major. Technically, I still am, though it’s now an anecdote to being a philosophy major (where I am now working on my capstone on queer and trans philosophy). I envy the people who can with a straight face describe themselves as non-political. I envy to feel confident and safe enough to not have to care about the political beliefs of my friends and people in my life or be worried about who wins the next election (and we’re definitely not talking AUSG here).
In an ideal world, my life is non-political.
That’s not the reality. I will never be able to outrun my SPA roots. I live a political life, but I did not make my life political, politics did. More specifically, members of the Republican Party did. I’d say it’s not personal, but it is. There have been to date 493 anti-trans bills introduced in house legislatures this year, 25 of which have been passed. I don’t think it needs to be said which party is responsible. Best case, a continued affiliation with the Republican Party is indifference or ignorance, a prioritization of other alleged values over the most basic of human rights, existence. At worst, it’s severe malice and hate. In any case, politics have moral consequences.
If autonomy, if free will, and if care and respect aren’t values that are fundamental to your worldview and by extension your politics, it will never be self-respecting for me to tolerate it. I am speaking as a genderqueer individual on Trans Day of Visibility. I sometimes take a step back and am terrified of the direction things are headed, but in the grand scheme of things I have it easy. I live in a city that for the most part affirms queer and trans rights surrounded by friends and family who are supportive of my autonomy and identity. Elsewhere, trans and genderqueer individuals are facing bans on gender-affirming care, being able to use the bathroom in public, and drag bans that could be interpreted in a way that prevents them from wearing the clothing they feel most comfortable in. Women in states that have passed abortion bans are being prosecuted for miscarriages. There have now been over 125 mass shootings in America since the start of the year. Black Americans and other people of color continue to face the systemic inequalities that have plagued this country since its inception. An unlucky few face the legislation of their bodies in multiple or every one of these ways. It should go without saying it’s not respecting them to tolerate it either, whether that be out of indifference, ignorance, or malice.
This is not a defense of the Democratic Party. Democrats have been too timid in fighting back on behalf of transgender people for fear of political retribution. They have a long history of not taking action or a stand on any number of issues as well (most recently climate change).
It should also be known that this isn’t truly about political parties at all; it’s about the individuals who hold the views, and those who endorse those views through indifference, ignorance, or malice. Political parties are only relevant in the way that one's political affiliation and (more importantly) who they vote for in practice are either an endorsement or preference for those individuals’ values. Alas, in the barest of minimums, the Democratic Party at least acknowledges my existence as valid.
All politics are personal, and so I remain in the political arena: for myself, for my peers, for my values, but definitely not by choice.