Don’t Just “Protect” Trans Youth, Actually Support Them
“How does it feel to be a problem?” This is the question that the eminent sociologist and socialist W.E.B. Du Bois posed to his fellow African Americans in his 1903 masterpiece The Souls of Black Folk. Today, the same question could be posed just as easily to transgender young people, who find that their very existence has become a lightning rod for all sorts of cultural and political conflicts taking place in the United States and elsewhere. While the experiences of African Americans in the early 20th century can’t be mapped neatly onto those of transgender youth today, the question itself speaks to a shared reality. Both groups have been stigmatized, pathologized, singled out, and “othered.” They’ve been treated by politicians, media figures, and for transgender youth particularly, by many in their own communities as first and foremost “a problem.” And unfortunately, far too many who see themselves as progressive LGBTQ “allies” have been far too fearful of further offending the perpetually offended “parents’ rights” crowd to prove themselves proactive advocates for these vulnerable and oppressed young people.