Which Side Are You On?
“In the United States before the Civil War, any position other than abolitionism was collaboration. The same thing is true when it comes to transgender issues.”
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona.
No Moral Middle
They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there.
You’ll either be a union man
Or a thug for J. H. Blair…
Which side are you on?
I’ve always loved this old labor song, which dates back to the Harlan County War of 1931-1939 and the coal miners’ struggle to organize a union. I love how it frames the conflict as a stark moral choice: “You’ll either be a union man or a thug for J.H. Blair.”
Many conflicts in life are more nuanced than the participants would like to admit. Many are matters about which reasonable people could disagree, matters about which family members and friends often do disagree. You don’t stop being family because of that type of disagreement.
Some conflicts are not like that. Between abolitionists and slave owners, there was no moral middle ground. Between the Nazi regime and the Resistance, there was no moral middle ground. The center, in such conflicts, is a position with no moral integrity.
In Nazi-occupied Europe, any position other than resistance was collaboration. In the United States before the Civil War, any position other than abolitionism was collaboration. The same thing is true when it comes to transgender issues.
Eight Against One
Imagine you’re walking in the park with a few of your friends, not bothering anyone, just enjoying the sunlight and the fresh air. Enjoying the company. Suddenly, two young men appear and start calling you a “pixie,” mocking you because you don’t dress or act the way they think you should.
Now imagine they’re both armed with sticks.
You start to run, knowing that if they catch you, these hate-filled boys who are suddenly hunting you, they could beat you to death with those sticks they’re holding.
How would you feel? What would you do?
This happened to my child, to my loving, intelligent, and creative child who is just about to turn 14. At an age when they shouldn’t have to be afraid of anything, they were literally running for their life – for no other reason than our society’s hatred for transgender people. And it wasn’t the only time.
Just a few weeks later, while waiting for their mother to pick them up from school, my kid was surrounded by a group of eight boys. The boys kept circling them, demanding they sing the song “I’m a Barbie Girl.” Demanding, in other words, that they affirm their femininity in the most degrading way their imaginations could conceive of.
In the first of those incidents, my kid suddenly found a stick, picked it up, and turned around to confront the cowards who were chasing them. Those boys turned and ran the second they realized they were facing a fight, even though they still had the advantage of numbers.
In the second incident, my kid refused to sing the song, despite the terror of being outnumbered eight to one. As the attackers gave up and wandered off one by one, the two most aggressive boys remained and continued to insist that they sing the Barbie Girl song.
Suddenly, my child took off their backpack and said, “You’d better back off or I’m going to fuck you up.”
“You can’t do that,” said one of the boys, not knowing who he was dealing with. That’s when my kid came in swinging.
This is the world transgender youth live in every day. A world where they can never feel safe, where they can never afford to let their guard down.
A world like that is like the Harlan County War; there are no neutrals. You’re either one of the people helping my child be a little safer, helping them feel like they have a place on this Earth – or you’re one of those people circling them, telling them to perform gender correctly or take the punishment for their defiance.
Which side are you on?
Christopher Scott Thompson
is an anarchist, martial arts instructor, and devotee of Brighid and Macha. Photo by Tam Hutchison.