It Starts Here but Doesn’t End Here
Why do I speak so often about trans rights?
Besides the obvious answer — that it’s the right thing to do, and that I care about human rights — there’s a less obvious answer I want to share with you. Because I believe you should care, too.
Trans people are almost always the first to be erased, the first to be targetted. Because they’re visible. Because they’re vulnerable. Because not enough people stand up for them.
Right now in the U.S., we’re watching trans people being systematically removed from broader LGBTQ+ protections, spaces, and even history. This includes revisionist efforts to erase trans involvement in the Stonewall Riots—where trans women of colour were at the front of the resistance that helped ignite the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
But here’s the truth: trans people may be first, but they are never the last.
History shows us this pattern again and again. When authoritarian movements rise, they begin by scapegoating the most marginalized—Jews, disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, and especially trans people. Hitler did it. Stalin did it. So have countless fascist and nationalist regimes. It starts with scapegoating. With silence. With looking away.
That’s why this matters, even if you don’t think you know any trans people (though chances are, you do). Because if we let it happen to them, it will happen to others. And eventually, to you.
As the famous quote goes:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist....
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
— Martin Niemöller
And here’s another fundamental truth: we can’t only care when it’s happening to us. We have to care for each other, especially those most at risk — or we lose our humanity.
So pay attention. See the patterns. Speak up. Show up. Stand up. Because the “T” in 2SLGBTQIA+ isn’t optional. It’s essential. And right now, they need us.
And we need each other.