I think this is useful rhetoric to target at liberals, absolutely. The hypocrisy angle.
I do think that amongst ourselves, we should also recognize that this is how liberal bourgeois class rhetoric has always worked: an embrace of "freedom" that is limited to casting off the bounds of things like feudalism or amorphous governments "telling you what to do", but in fact forces of domination persist and are reinforced by capitalism. Another relevant trope that has been used for ages is to recast oppression as defense, a way to justify and empower the forces of reaction that can't be swayed (yet) by outright hatred. Every progressive cause in the US has been reacted to as an unfair attack on traditional moral values, this is known to be good PR at this point. Slavery, women's suffrage, workers' rights, (partial) civil rights for black people, gay rights, trans rights. The inconsistency was and is always there. None of these things imposed limits on the American public's "personal freedoms". And yet there they were, successfully building campaigns of reaction premisrf on the idea that two people from different races marrying was, in fact, a violence done against you, personally.
Underneath it all, these are just flimsy excuses, mechanisms to hide the monstrosity of the reaction underneath it all. Regardless of when the proponents are cognizant of it, the effect is the same: marginalization of those targeted and cover for the ruling class factions to take action againsy the marginalized. And destruction and fear when they gain ground.
The harder question is what we do about it, irl, to protect ourselves and each other, and in the US that largely depends on where you live. In liberal cities, we need to be joining and working with orgs that materially protect trans people, including trans kids, by providing them with housing, food, school, and travel away from dangerous situations. In more explicitly reactionary areas I'd like comrades to understand that they can do the same thing but will be takinh on significant risk, so i don't want to push anyone in that direction without them understanding that.
I think this is useful rhetoric to target at liberals, absolutely. The hypocrisy angle.
I do think that amongst ourselves, we should also recognize that this is how liberal bourgeois class rhetoric has always worked: an embrace of "freedom" that is limited to casting off the bounds of things like feudalism or amorphous governments "telling you what to do", but in fact forces of domination persist and are reinforced by capitalism. Another relevant trope that has been used for ages is to recast oppression as defense, a way to justify and empower the forces of reaction that can't be swayed (yet) by outright hatred. Every progressive cause in the US has been reacted to as an unfair attack on traditional moral values, this is known to be good PR at this point. Slavery, women's suffrage, workers' rights, (partial) civil rights for black people, gay rights, trans rights. The inconsistency was and is always there. None of these things imposed limits on the American public's "personal freedoms". And yet there they were, successfully building campaigns of reaction premisrf on the idea that two people from different races marrying was, in fact, a violence done against you, personally.
Underneath it all, these are just flimsy excuses, mechanisms to hide the monstrosity of the reaction underneath it all. Regardless of when the proponents are cognizant of it, the effect is the same: marginalization of those targeted and cover for the ruling class factions to take action againsy the marginalized. And destruction and fear when they gain ground.
The harder question is what we do about it, irl, to protect ourselves and each other, and in the US that largely depends on where you live. In liberal cities, we need to be joining and working with orgs that materially protect trans people, including trans kids, by providing them with housing, food, school, and travel away from dangerous situations. In more explicitly reactionary areas I'd like comrades to understand that they can do the same thing but will be takinh on significant risk, so i don't want to push anyone in that direction without them understanding that.