How hard is it to say something like this on the trans issue?

[Prairie Gates]

33. Not to mention that the Civil Rights movement was ALL ABOUT DEBATING humanity

What were the "I am a Man" placards if not a claim to humanity that you were willing and able to defend in public discourse.

This idea of late that one will "not debate our existence or humanity" has done nothing but cede the ground completely to the fascists while seeming to (just seeming to) violate general principle of open speech in the public sphere (i.e., one can defend their position in public). I understand all the arguments about how this is exhausting, and there's privilege to not having to, and the principle of rational-critical debate favors the status quo, etc., etc. Our critical theorists and public sphere theorists have made these arguments for 20 years and we all know them now. But they are strategically wrong-headed.

If you're not engaging in public debate on issues of public concern, YOU'RE LOSING. That's manifestly the case now. The fruit of "I'm not going to debate my humanity in public" is the complete eradication of trans and blackness from the federal government. It is a manifestly failed strategy that should be abandoned.