Lindsey Graham takes grilling after being spotted at Disney World amid shutdown

[QueerDuck]

31. One can oppose a war hawk without using bigoted language...

Using someone’s identity as a punchline doesn't make anyone a better "warrior for peace." Instead, when anyone does that, it just sends the message to every trans or gender-nonconforming person in this community that support for them is conditional. Using misgendering or identity-based slurs as a weapon only serves to reinforce the idea that a person’s identity is only valid as long as we like them.

This isn't about being 'nice' to one politician... it’s about the collateral damage. When we use bigoted tropes to attack our enemies, we’re still validating the bigotry itself... and that hurts the vulnerable people on our own side far more than it hurts LG.

We don’t oppose misgendering simply because the target deserves respect --- we oppose it because we have standards. If our commitment to trans rights or gender identity is conditional (if it's based on whether or not we actually like the person) then it’s not a deeply held principle. That's when it becomes a performative hobby.

I think it's important for me to re-state the obvious: It's possible to loathe his politics and loathe his ethics, or to just hate him personally... but WITHOUT resorting to the same kind of identity-based attacks we fight against every day. After all, we manage to loathe Clarence Thomas without using racially-charged words like "uppity" and "boy"... so it shouldn't be too difficult to also oppose a war hawk without misgendering him, or insulting him with "lady" or "miss" or "diva."

I’m genuinely disappointed that basic consistency on human rights is even a point of contention here. I’ve said my piece, and I’m not interested in a back-and-forth over whether bigotry is useful, or whether the target "deserves" it.

I’m not going to argue the "merits" or the "exceptions allowed" when it comes to using identity-based slurs. Either we have principles or we don't. I'll leave it at that and won't be responding further.

Bye. Have a nice day.