Lately, it’s been heartbreaking to see members of our own community tearing each other down in the comments section. We should be lifting each other up, not breaking each other apart.
The words we use carry weight. They can heal or harm. They can empower or destroy. Just because someone doesn’t share your exact view doesn’t make them any less valid. Diversity in thought doesn’t have to lead to division.
Inclusivity means no one gets left behind.
Not the femme, not the masc, not the loud, not the soft-spoken. Not the ones still figuring it out. Not the ones who’ve known all along. We are all part of this fight, and together we stand—divided, we fall.
Beyond those words, I see fear. I see pain that has been in us for so long. Pain that stems from years—decades—of rejection, ridicule, and having to constantly defend our right to exist. That kind of trauma doesn’t disappear overnight. But it’s time. It’s time to move away from the pain and the ridicule. It’s time we stop projecting that pain onto each other and begin healing as one community.
Trans women are women. Let’s start from there.
If you don’t share the same belief, at the very least—listen. Listen without attacking. Learn without mocking. Disagree without dehumanizing. You can’t claim to be for equality and then draw the line where your comfort ends.
We’ve all felt what it’s like to be silenced, invalidated, erased. Let’s not recreate the very same systems of exclusion inside our own spaces.
Let’s educate ourselves, listen more, and judge less. The goal is progress, not perfection. We are all learning. Let’s build a community where we can grow and evolve together, with respect, empathy, and love at the center.
Because if we can’t stand for each other—who else will?