Quick follow up on Jey McCreight

Back in April, trans rights activist Jey McCreight was violently assaulted in Chicago. Jey escaped, but, but had to be hospitalized, and needed surgery. (Details in the linked story).

Jey, who used to be a member of Freethought Blogs, recently founded BeyondXandY to advocate for transgender rights and show that biology is non-binary. They had been promoting the launch prior to the attack.

Today, Jey is recovering and has a GoFundMe to cover their medical bills and lost income. As of today, it’s about $10K short of the goal.

In an interview, Jey said they would keep working on BeyondXandY. Considering all the hate they’ve endured, going all the back to the founding of Atheism+, I’m impressed with their resilience and dedication to social justice.

I wonder what happened to the coward who attacked Jey?

Jey McCreight is an old friend I’ve known since they were a an undergraduate studying biology in Indiana. I’ve been happy to see their accomplishments over the years: grad school, a post-doc, landing a job at 23andMe as a genomics expert. They were also an activist in the atheist movement — Jey was one of the minds behind Atheism+, and we all know how well that effort to incorporate more humanism into atheism went. Now they are still an activist, founding the organization BeyondXandY arguing that biology is nonbinary and that people are more than their chromosomes. Jey clearly is bold and optimistic enough to take on noble causes in spite of all the haters, and doing the right thing as a trans man has got to be one of the braver things they have done.

Last month, this happened:

McCreight said they had been advertising the event with flyers across the city that included their photo and had also appeared in the local LGBTQ+ publication, Windy City Times. They assume the event’s publicity is how the attacker recognized them.

“I’m telling this story now because I’m finally in a place where I can talk about it without really freaking out badly,” McCreight said, explaining that there are still a lot of gaps in their memory of that night, but they think they were walking home alone from getting food.

The attacker asked if they were McCreight, and McCreight cheerfully confirmed, assuming it might be someone who appreciated their work.

“He very quickly pushed me to the ground and started repeatedly punching me in the eye,” McCreight said. “Afterward, I thought he had maybe hit me with a brick or something because it was so painful. I had never been beat up before in my life.”

McCreight said the attacker also used a pocket knife to cut them all over their body, but not deep enough to leave permanent damage.

“It was very scary. He even tried to strangle me briefly with something that thankfully didn’t work well and just kind of left an abrasion on my neck.”

McCreight said they don’t remember how they got away or if the person eventually just let them go. But somehow, they got home. It took them over a day to realize they needed an ambulance because they were in such a daze.

But on May 1, McCreight recounted, they realized they needed help. An ambulance took them to Chicago’s Advocate Health Center, where they said they received excellent care, which included emergency surgery on their eye. After that, it took weeks for their vision to return to normal.

“I think it’s really important for people to know that this is the reality of being trans in the United States,” they said. “I’m a non-violent nerdy cat guy who likes talking about science and wants to be the next Bill Nye, and because of that, someone basically tried to kill me or at least beat me up bad enough to scare me into silence.”

They said for a little bit, they considered giving up their public-facing activism in the wake of the attack. But then, hospital staff of all kinds – from doctors to nurses to the people bringing them meals – all learned about McCreight’s work and told them to keep going.

“They all told me not to give up on my dream.”

Horrifying. That some guy would just turn and attack a friendly, nerdy fellow walking down the street because they are trans is appalling. Listen to them telling their own story, and support BeyondXandY.

Bolingbrook braces for massive global ‘transquake’ (Fiction)

Will a trans rights group unleash a powerful global earthquake on April 25? Bolingbrook officials aren’t taking chances.

“Sure, it sounds preposterous,” said John, a village official who didn’t provide his last name. “But this country has been at war against the trans community since the second Trump administration started. It’s only a matter of time before they strike back.”

A new group, Beyond X and Y, announced (or threatened) to unleash a worldwide “transquake”  on April 25. Its leader, Dr. Jey, attempted to unleash a “boobquake” back in 2010. On 4/26/10, Dr. Jey encouraged women around the world to wear immodest clothing. Officially, the event was an “experiment” to test Iranian religious scholar Kazem Rajabi Seddiqi’s claim that immodestly dressed women cause earthquakes. A major earthquake occurred during that day.

“We were lucky they didn’t unleash a global Earthquake that day,” said John. “But Dr. Jey has had years to prepare for this quake. So we need to be prepared, too.”

The official purpose of “Transquake” is to “test the right’s hypothesis that trans joy is too powerful.” While the official event is in Chicago, countless unofficial events will also happen on that day.”

“Maybe nothing will happen,” said Pam, another village official who asked not to be identified. “Maybe Chicagoland will collapse into a massive hole. Why take the chance?”

Both officials urged residents to stock two weeks of canned goods and buy survival gear. If the quake occurs, they suggest residents get outside, instead of standing inside a doorframe. However, they don’t expect Lake Michigan to produce a tsunami that could reach Bolingbrook. 

Dr. Jey denied that Transquake would unleash a global disaster. “The real global disaster is transphobia. Beyond X and Y believes trans joy is natural, while transphobia is learned. It’s time to stop teaching transphobia.”

Bolingbrook Mayor Mary Alexander-Basta would neither confirm, nor deny, if the village was preparing for a global disaster on April 25. “Bolingbrook is a great place to live, but we always plan for the worst.”

Also in the Babbler:

Negotiations between the Space Pope and JD Vance break down
Residents say Iran-US war is ruining their weekends
Palatine cat wins award for ‘best late-night party animal’
God to smite Bolingbrook on 4/27/26

 

My games of the year 2025

I play 50+ video games every year, so why not make a list of the best ones? People like listicles, right?

Personally, I don’t have much interest in Game-of-the-Years.  Usually, the games at the top of these lists are games I already heard about, because people had been talking about them!  So for my list, I’m doing things differently.

  • I’m only including games I played in 2025. That disqualifies Expedition 33, Silksong, and Hades 2! Older games are eligible if I happened to play them in 2025.
  • I am presenting the list in reverse order, with the top games first.  The top games are already widely recognized.  But a bit further down the list is where it gets more interesting, as I talk about obscure games that appealed to me personally.  I’d like to talk about these games without trying to claim that they’re actually the best games ever.

[Read more…]

Discolology: Nirvana II

This is the second part of my track by track review of Nirvana’s discography.  See the first here.

According to Kurt’s letter, he didn’t feel like writing or performing music, hated it, and thought that faking it was a disservice to the fans.  That’s interesting he felt any obligation to us at all.  We didn’t know him; he didn’t know us.  What does an artist owe to the people who consume their art?  How does that math change if the artist is toiling in obscurity like our FtB writing man William Brinkman, versus selling platinum records?

I don’t know.  Certainly no artist owes anybody their life.

–

Incesticide (1992)

When I reviewed the discography of The Dead Milkmen, I had to omit a dozen self-released tapes, to avoid spending a year on the subject.  Likewise, with Nirvana I chose to not even look at most singles and compilations.  Big exception made for this one.  I didn’t even know it was a compilation.  To me, this was the album in between Nevermind and In Utero.

It makes sense that Incesticide was a compilation.  It is, overall, weaker than the other albums, and has more cover songs.  Even so, I listened to this one a hell of a lot, way more than Unplugged.  When my oldest niece was somewhere between one and two years, she used to “dance” to this album by running in circles in my bedroom.  She called it “The Ducky Song” because we flipped the CD insert rubber ducky side out.

That young lady went through a lot of hell, and was a conservative christian last time I looked.  I hope she isn’t hurting anyone, and I hope she’s OK.

Classics

***** “Been A Son” returns to the unintentional trans undertones from “Negative Creep.”  This one could be read transmasc or transfemme, tho leans hard toward the former.  “She should have stood out in a crowd, she should have made her mother proud, she should have… been a son.”  Well, what if she turned out to be a son?  Wouldn’t that be just as shitty of an experience for the child in question?  In the transfemme version, the song isn’t misgendering our heroine.  She shouldn’t have become a daughter, she should have remained a son, right?  Neither of these interpretations was remotely intended.  It’s a basic early ’90s male feminist track, and that’s cool.  Thanks for trying to be a good boy, Kurt.  Still, if anybody wants to feel trans about this song, nobody’s going to stop you.

***** A Devo cover, in my grunge album?  It’s more likely than you think.  “Turnaround” somehow totally works with the Nirvana treatment.  I never would have guessed this was a Devo song in a million years, as much as I might have guessed it was a cover, eventually.  I never did guess -I found out- but it is unusual enough that I might have.

***** “Molly’s Lips” is the second of three cover songs in a row on this album, and they’re all bangers.  After Devo we get two songs written by The Vaselines, this and the next.  The Vaselines are like, how do I say this?, dark twee.  They are excellent songwriters.  Their original songs are brilliant, but like I always say about a well-written tune, they cover well.  Nirvana made these rock, and that rules.  Similar theme to “Sliver” (see Good Stuff below), but the druggy teenager version?  I don’t know if it’s romantic or infantile or diseased.  Cool.

***** “Son Of A Gun” is romantic with no trace of darkness in sight.  Nirvana deserved to have at least one song like that, even if it had to be a cover.  Again, The Vaselines low key improved by making it rock.

***** I have a feeling many of you have never heard “Aneurysm,” the last track on this album.  It is one of Nirvana’s best.  I wonder if I can find a good cover…  How about these very sweaty dudes?  I think they’re Indonesian.  The laziness fits the spirit of the song well, the way he just doesn’t bother with bits when he’s taking a breather.

Good Stuff

**** “Dive” ain’t the power kickoff of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or “Blew,” but it is a really good song, and sets the mood for this album.  It’s a compilation album, yes, but it hangs together extremely well.  This song kinda manages expectations.  You know it’s not going to be an album of big bops or aggressive speed, more of a fuzzy grind to soothe your grungely spirits.

**** “Sliver” is like my big poasts about childhood bullshit; it is an acknowledgement of the sickly confusion and social bondage that all human larva must experience.  It feels like Kurt’s take on a Vaselines song (see Classics).

**** I have no idea what “Stain” is about, but it rocks well.  “He never bleeds and he never fucks” reminds me of “I don’t piss I don’t shit” from a Dead Milkmen track, but has no relation, I’m sure.

*** “(New Wave) Polly” just speeds up “Polly” and amps the drums.  Like the original, I recognize this is a very good song, but don’t enjoy it as well as I could have.  Give me themes of self-destruction, not destruction of another.

***** “Downer” has some ingratitude toward god, which I always appreciate, and includes the lyric “don’t feel guilty masturbatin’,” which is also agreeable.  Cranky little teenage man of a song, but excellent.

***** “Hairspray Queen” don’t make a lick of sense and may well be even more diseased than “Mexican Seafood.”  I fucking love it.  A favorite.

**** I don’t know what “Big Long Now” is about, if anything, but it feels important, miserably soulful.  Well placed near the end of the album, and right before an epic rocker – “Aneurysm” (see Classics above).

Filler

***** “Beeswax” is pure nonsense, pukey delivery, good rock.  I like it a lot.

**** “Mexican Seafood” is probably a racist title by intent, pukey delivery, and a sicker flavor of rock than its fellows in mid-album ignominy.  “It only hurts when I pee, It only hurts when I sing.”  Mexican seafood is pretty cool actually.  Maybe Kurt always got his from the worst gagwagon in Tijuana.  Still, it’s a fun song.

*** “Aero Zeppelin” ain’t bad at all.  The album benefits from this trip downtempo, still I can’t help but rate it less than the rockity rock.

Garbage

Nothing!  No garbage.

–

In Utero (1993)

Part of what made Kurt’s death so shocking and disappointing was that this album was fucking amazing, and that was it.  No more.  That’s a venal thing.  Of course it was a terrible thing for the usual, human reasons.  One cannot help but wonder, as good as this was, what could Kurt have achieved with a full life?  I wonder that, but more I just feel bad that another victim of depression lost that fight.  It’s personal for me; lot of at-risk people in my vicinity.  Also, his death happened when I was seventeen, so I went through the stages, y’know.

Classics

***** “Scentless Apprentice” did not feature Kurt in a writing credit, but these lyrics really feel like his.  Maybe he just wanted his name off of it for some reason.  Had to be some sour experience with the process, or just that artist’s temperament.  The pounding drums, the ill lyrics.  This could also provoke trans feels of a non-biney nature, despite the he/him pronouns – “he was born senseless and sexless.”

***** If you had MTV at the last gasp of its withered worth, you remember the video for “Heart-Shaped Box.”  Epic song, strong visual art.  One of a number of songs on the album sharing the theme of human reproduction as corrupt and diseased, as a biological process that embodies exploitation and abuse.  Is that cool with you?  One could take it as misogynist, but that would be facile.

***** “Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle” introduced me to the story of that young actress who was railroaded into confinement and mistreatment in the psychiatric system.  I saw a small part of a biopic about her randomly on AMC one night, had to do some chore or go somewhere before it was over.  Anyway, “She’ll come back as fire to burn all the liars, leave a blanket of ash on the ground.”

***** “Dumb” is one of those alternative songs that refer to inhalant abuse as heavenly.  “My heart is broke, but I have some glue.  Help me inhale, mend it with you.  We’ll float around, hang out on clouds…”  Compare to The Dead Milkmen’s “Would you like to come and sniff some glue?  We’ll fly to where the skies are blue.”  This reminds me of an article I read in a Seattle weekly newspaper about gas huffing from a former huffer.  It reminds me there was a second-string alternative band in the 1990s called Gas Huffer.  It reminds me of how I heard street kids in the Philippines huff rubber cement, and how I heard there was a documentary about the plight of indigenous people in Canada that included a scene of reservation kids huffing and screaming about how they want to die.  It reminds me of selling a homeless dude a can of compressed air when I worked at walmart, and how I watched him take turns with his friend going into the bathroom to inhale.  My husband used to sit at the lunch table with boys who went from gas station to gas station huffing until they got kicked out, then going to the next down the block.  Reminds me of my old home boy Try-Anything-Once-Todd doing a game where you make yourself pass out, how he collapsed like death and his sinuses instantly drained.  I’ve never done these things, but I feel this song.  It’s beautiful, even if it’s up to no good.

***** “Very Ape” fucking rules.  It does have Kurt being snotty about fame, which is a bad look for rock stars, but the rocking is so good.

***** “Milk It” might be my favorite song by Nirvana.  I don’t know.  It again hits the theme of biological relations as corrupt and nightmarish.  But, y’know, “DOLL STEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAK, TEST MEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAT.  Look on the bright side is suicide, lost eyesight I’m on your side, Angel left wing right wing broken wing, Lack of iron and/or sleeping, Protector of the kennel, Ectoplasma ectoskeletal, Obituary birthday YOUR SCENT IS STILL IN MY PLACE OF RECOVERY!”

There is probably a beautiful and amazing cover of this song, but instead check out this sweaty freak.  He’s a really good dancer.  I recommend keeping a hand on the volume slider for when he starts singing.  In fairness, his vocals might be less yikes with good mixing.

***** “Tourette’s” opens with one of the dudes (Krist?) saying “moderate rock” in a pharmacy DJ kind of voice, before erupting into bargling pandemonium.  Great shit.  I don’t understand one word of it.

***** “All Apologies” is the last song of the last album, really.  You probably know the “MTV Unplugged” version better.  A gentle groan, an emotional crescendo, a goodbye vibe.  Completely classic.

Good Stuff

**** “Serve the Servants” is the opening track and it’s excellent, but this album’s strongest songs don’t do it any favors, in one to one comparison.  A lot of great lines, and you can actually understand them, so that’s cool.  One in particular could be the theme of the album: “Teenage angst has paid off well; now I’m bored and old.”  But, y’know, in a best-album-of-all-time kind of way.

*** I don’t love “Rape Me” because of the subject matter.  I know; I go in for other edgy content he sings, so why not this?  I don’t know.  I recognize it’s a strong song, just can’t rate it better.

*** “Pennyroyal Tea” is folk abortion medicine.  This is a first person song about giving yourself an abortion, and seems to be judgmental against our heroine.  Or is it?  I dunno.  Feels preachy in a way that is successfully uninteresting to me.  But I recognize it’s a very good tune; YMMV.

***** “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” is a great fast-paced rocker from late in the album.  Really shows off Kurt’s mastery of using guitar like a necromancer.  “What is wrong with me?,” he asks.  In the middle of this hard rock, he makes me sad.

Filler & Garbage

Nothing.  No filler!  No garbage!  This album is too good.

–

MTV Unplugged in New York (1994)

I have never been any kind of fan of live music, so I avoided this one – except for the tracks you can’t get elsewhere, the covers.  I don’t mind the rest of the album at all.  Maybe it’s the motherfucking MTV branding that pushes me away.  I don’t like that shit, or the fact this was released a few months after Kurt died.  Feels scummy.  But it is essential listening.

Classics

***** “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam” is a Vaselines cover, bringing the Nirvana’s Vaselines cover total to three.  Big influence for Mr. Cobain, it seems.  The original of this song has bitter gay energy that lends it power Kurt doesn’t quite possess, but it’s still a very worthy cover of a great song.  It’s what it says on the package.  Jesus doesn’t like me.  Fuck him.

**** “Dumb” is a great song.  This version is alright, but I ding it a star.  Some people like the off-kilter fragility of live tracks like this.  It can work on me, in the right mood, but usually I prefer the original version.

***** “Plateau” is the first of three Meat Puppets covers in a row on this album, and they had a genuine Meat Puppet or two on hand for the performance.  None of these are better than the original songs, but if you want Kurt’s voice, accept no substitute.  The Meat Puppets were clearly a huge influence on him.  Check them out if you like Nirvana.  The bands have much more in common than Nirvana has with the other big grunge names.

***** “Oh Me” is my favorite of these three Meat Traxx.  Just desolate.  Perfect sadness.

***** “Lake of Fire” is the showiest of the three Meat Traxx, with fancy guitar licks and an edgy, ambling, witch-house spirit like a Fleischer cartoon about hell.  If the abrahamic faiths are right about the afterlife, the world is even shittier than it looks from our current and deeply shitty vantage point.

***** “All Apologies” is bringing up the end here like it did on In Utero.  Did they do the standard concert fakeout where they leave the stage then come back for one last song?  I don’t remember, not looking it up, just noting there’s one more song after this on the album, tho this one was played with a note of finality.  The frailty works well on this track.

***** “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” is what they call a standard – a song with no clear origin, tho the earliest known recording is likely by Lead Belly.  An essential Nirvana track, only available on this fuckin’ MTV branded album.  Get haunted tho.

Good Stuff

**** “About a Girl” leads off the album, which is cool, because more casuals got to become acquainted with the song.  You know Cibo Matto did a cover of this?  The Japanese accent is intense on it, haha.  Anyway, original Bleach version still the best.

**** “The Man Who Sold the World” is a David Bowie cover.  Kurt said, “I will fuck this up,” then he did, but it was alright.  It’s a good performance but worse than the original.  Still, if you prefer Nirvana to David Bowie, you win here.

*** I don’t like “Pennyroyal Tea.”  The arrangement on the live version works well for the song but still, it’s not for me.  I recognize the qualities others may appreciate more than I do, so it’s on Good Stuff list.

Filler

*** “Come as You Are” does nothing to improve the Nevermind version, feels like it’s just here because it’s one of their classics.

*** “Polly” likewise, and I didn’t love the original.

*** “On a Plain” likewise.

**** “Something in the Way” is a song about being broke down and sad as hell, so a live performance is a good way to communicate the feeling.  More than that, this gets props for not being any kind of hit, just being something they included because they wanted to.  Artists know what’s important in their material.  Still, I’m not sure it works for everyone.

Garbage

Nothing!  No garbage!  Everything I’ve ever heard from Nirvana was at least good, if not great.

–

I wonder why, in reviewing the works of Nirvana track by track, that I found less fault than I had with the worse tracks of The Dead Milkmen.  Perhaps it’s because the punk rock novelty act of the latter just opens them up to more failure – something ventured something lost, bravery is sometimes rewarded with booboos.  Nirvana, as out there as they may have seemed compared to mainstream rock circa 1991, were still making music that was about the music, not about the lyrics.  I rate the few Nirvana songs with shitty lyrics (that I could understand lol) more highly than DMm songs with the same weakness, because the music was the larger part of the experience.

Even adjusting for that, it’s interesting to be reminded that yeah, I really love this band.  Nirvana was great.  Kurt didn’t have to be a genius to have a beautiful voice and a beautiful guitar style.  Might not be the beauty most seek, but if it works for you, it really works for you.  You don’t have to say requiescat in pace because there’s no afterlife, but you feel the need to say something.  We loved you, dude.  Good night, again, from a million unthinkable ridiculous years in the future.

–

Merry Darwin Day!

Today is the 215th anniversary of Darwin’s birth, so I’m wearing an appropriate t-shirt for the occasion.

This was a design created by Jey McCreight to memorialize our visit to Answers in Genesis’s Creation “museum”. Fifteen years ago. Way to make me feel old, Jey.

An excellent commencement speech

JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, gave the commencement speech at Northwestern. It’s pretty good.

The best way to spot an idiot? Look for the person who is cruel. When we see someone who doesn’t look like us, or sound like us, or act like us, or love like us, or live like us—the first thought that crosses almost everyone’s brain is rooted in either fear or judgment or both. That’s evolution. We survived as a species by being suspicious of things we aren’t familiar with.

In order to be kind, we have to shut down that animal instinct and force our brain to travel a different pathway. Empathy and compassion are evolved states of being. They require the mental capacity to step past our most primal urges. I’m here to tell you that when someone’s path through this world is marked with acts of cruelty, they have failed the first test of an advanced society. They never forced their animal brain to evolve past its first instinct. They never forged new mental pathways to overcome their own instinctual fears. And so, their thinking and problem-solving will lack the imagination and creativity that the kindest people have in spades.

Then the summary:

Be more substance than show. Set aside cruelty for kindness. Put one foot in front of the other even when you don’t know your way. And always try and appreciate the good old days when you are actually in them. And remember what Dwight Schrute said, ‘You only live once? False! You live every day! You only die once.’

I was wondering what that stench was

I have been informed that the Slymepit is dead. The Slymepit was an online forum that was set up in the wake of Elevatorgate, when a small group of atheists decided to set up a base from which to hurl racist, sexist, homophobic slurs at Social Justice Warriors like Rebecca Watson, Stephanie Zvan, Jey McCreight, and many others, including me. It was one of the uglier sides of the internet, although its fans viewed it differently.

The Slymepit, a long-running atheist discussion board heavily involved in the A/S activism ‘Schism’, is shutting its doors after a ten-year run. Creator and host, ‘Lsuoma’, decided that the conversation, often humorous, insightful, and informative, but also at times pugnacious, scurrilous, or garrulous, had strayed too far from the site’s original purpose of “exposing the stupidity, lies, and hypocrisy of Social Justice Warriors.” Live commenting has therefore been shut down, with ten years of comments and user-created artwork archived.

(If you’d like to see examples of the Slymepit’s creativity, RationalWiki has you covered.)

OK, fine, you get to elide over the Slymepit’s many sins during its funeral. Goodbye, you won’t be missed.

Although I’m immensely amused by this comment:

The Pit’s greatest strength was always that it never took itself seriously. That really frustrated those who so fervently hated and obsessed over us.

Dude. The pit was frenetically abusive, regularly focused howling obscenities at individuals who dared to think social justice was an important cause, and took itself painfully seriously. You were on a mission to destroy people.

As for the “obsession” part — your little clubhouse of haters rotted out and collapsed six months ago, and no one, other than your fellow bigots, even noticed until now.

If anyone wants to find the Slymepit gang today, they’re usually hanging out on Jerry Coyne’s blog.

Happy Trans Day of Visibility

Human development is a fascinating topic, about which I know little. If you want the science, PZ could tell you infinitely more than I, but from what I do know, the whole process is fantastically complex. At every point in the development of pre-birth development, there are a myriad of things happening simultaneously, most of which could, in theory, go in a number of ways. Eye color is an obvious one, but there’s also hair color, facial features, vocal chords, the development and function of organs, and so on. Then, after someone’s born, there are all sorts of thing that influence how they develop as they grow up. All those experiences they have, the lessons they learn, the people around them – it all shapes the development of their brain, and while the brain may be considered “developed” in the mid 20s, most people keep learning and changing throughout their lives. Given that incredible plasticity and variation, it seems very, very unlikely to me that the one area of human development that is always consistent would be the division of humanity into precisely two sexes, let alone precisely two genders.

Take eyesight, for example. In addition to the array of eye colors, there’s also a wide spread of functionality. It’s not like the options are “can see” and “can’t see”, there are people who lose sight over their lives, and others who could never see to begin with. There are people who can see fine, but only at the very center of their vision, or people who can only see around the periphery. There are people who can’t see the difference between certain colors, but have excellent vision other than that. I admit that this is an argument from incredulity, in some ways, but the reality is that people who fall outside this miraculous gender binary that we’re supposed to have, have always existed, and have always made their presence known. There is ample evidence that trans people are who they say they are, and that they represent no threat, as a group, to anyone.

The problem is that, despite those facts, there is still a hate movement that is attempting to erase trans people from public life, and to that movement, facts do not matter. I’m absolutely certain that many of the people who are pushing this genocide forward are genuinely operating out of hatred and disgust. At the same time, they very demonstrably lie all the time, and it apparently makes no difference. I think it’s fair to say that they are, as fascists have done in the past, using hatred of a politically powerless minority as a way to rally support, justify extremism, and seize power. It’s been pointed out many times by now, but it bears saying again – this is, pretty much word for word, what the Nazis did, and it’s not a coincidence that this movement seems to share a lot of other rhetoric and “enemies” with Hitler’s party.

So, simply stating the facts is not enough. I suppose my “irrepressible complexity” argument is an effort to get some people to open their minds, if only a little, to a different perspective. Unfortunately, that’s also not enough. They’re coming for trans people right now, in some parts of the United States, which means those of us who want to be considered allies need to step up, however we can. Thankfully, some people have been doing just that, which lets me give some examples of how someone could help.

People have been speaking out at school board meetings and other public events. Legislators and activists have worked to speak against legislation targeting trans people, and to amend that legislation to reduce the harm that it can do. Teachers are working to provide a more thorough understanding of the complexity of sex and gender throughout nature, and people are showing up all over the world to oppose the leaders of this hate movement. Local communities are rallying to defend the targets of fascist hate, and to stand in opposition to fascist rallies, and (which is relevant to today) publicly showing support for the trans community.

We all have limits on what we’re able to do. Not everyone is able to be a frontline warrior, and not everyone has the power or ability to affect legislative change. As far as I can tell, while there’s always a strong need for those willing to put their bodies on the line, liberatory movements tend to understand that it takes a village to raise a movement. There’s a need for all sorts of people, with all sorts of skills, doing all sorts of things. I’m a cis guy, so I wouldn’t presume to speak on what people should do, or what counts as “enough”, but the message I’ve seen for this trans day of visibility, including from FTB alum Dr. Jey McCreight, is that the very least we can do is publicly support trans rights, and publicly show our love for the trans people in our lives.

I’m bad at making myself do actual activism these days (it’s something I’m working on), so this is me, doing the bare minimum. As far as I know, there’s zero chance that this will cost me anything, socially. My immediate family and social circle seem to all be pretty cool people, with trans friends and loved ones of their own. They, like me, have seen the joy of trans people being able to just live, without constantly having to perform a lie, and that makes it easy to understand why that’s a right worth fighting for.

An official “Day of X” generally serves to draw attention to an issue that really ought to be on people’s minds all the time. When it comes to this issue, I’m willing to bet my readers think about it at least as much as I do, so while you probably don’t need my two cents, here’s my advice to myself: Look for ways to help, especially where you are. Even if there’s not an active effort to oppress trans people where you live, there are probably still groups working to build and organize support for trans rights. If you find yourself with money to spare, look for activist groups that are fundraising, or even just trans people who need help making ends meet. Keep an eye out for events like the one in Dublin that I missed today. It’s good to show up for events like that, and they’re a way to network with other activists if you’re looking to do so. If you want to be considered an ally, show yourself to be one through your actions.