Rewriting HIStory: The erasure of trans and queer people of color

While it is probably not necessary to start my paper by explaining 500 years of exploitation, erasure, and colonization, I feel that I should reiterate that this history is yet to escape us. Colonization and domination provides privileged groups the unbeatable opportunity to rewrite history in their benefit. In the US we are still benefiting from the erasure and the exploitation of people of color, queer, trans and gender nonconforming folks. Reading Queer (In)justice was the first time that I had learned about non-binary societies that were a part of the first civilizations in America. When you can’t see yourself represented in a struggle for liberation and justice it leads to the false association that you do not belong in that movement because it was built without you. POC, queer and trans folks have for a long time have resisted state and institutionalized violence against their communities even though it is apparent that the popular gay liberation movement has tried to dismiss their contributions.

The Stone Wall Riots were in reality initiated by lesbian, queer and trans people of color, yet many have attempted to rewrite the story to exclude them. The Gay Liberation movement often attributes its origins to the riots at Stone Wall, yet much of the progress that the popular movement has accomplished does little to nothing for these communities. Queer (In)justice recounts numerous cases of state initiated violence and hate crimes that specifically target queer and trans people of color, yet these issues have largely been ignored or even condemned as distractions for the larger gay liberation movement. White gay male “activist”, David Marcus, publishes a proposal in the Federalist to remove the “T” from LGBT claiming that trans folks are “so radical and alienating….that it will harm the community as a whole.” Translation: fighting for the liberation of trans folks will put at risk the privileges that we have gained by buying into the system. Equality for Marcus is the ability to participate in state and social institutions, but it ignores and attempts to forget about the damage that these same institutions are doing to communities that still experience violent marginalization.  

By excluding the voices of further marginalized trans and queer people of color from popular movements, gay and lesbian folks who have been accepted by normative society are in effect justifying and perpetuating violence and dehumanization of these communities. To justify his stance on segregating the trans community from the “LGB” movement, David Marcus states, “Gay/bisexual men and women just ARE—we don’t need medicine or surgery to help us become who we believe we are,” and goes on to say, “And then these self-applied labels are used to create a competition of oppression.” This hatespeech disguised as an op-ed perpetuates the fallacies that trans identity is made up and that their struggle isn’t real. Rewriting history to erase a group from a movement is never done nonviolently. The erasure of a group from history is one of the most violent forms of oppression because it does not allow for future generations to identify themselves in the struggle and it allows the oppressor to rewrite their story for them.

Regardless of what David Marcus and other transphobic people think, trans and POC community are facing a very real crisis. As of November 21 there 22 trans women have been murdered in the United States with 19 of them being Latina or Black. The year is yet to end and these numbers have already far exceeded murders in past years. The authors of Queer (In)justice attempt to bring to light some of the stories of devastating violence that trans and queer communities of color face at the hands of the state and normative society. While some are declaring victory and celebrating an end to homophobia, queer and tans communities of color continue to face the imminent threat and fear of state and institutional violence.

Lesbian activist, Urvashi Vaid, feels the need to declare the obvious fact that those fighting for liberation and justice should fight for the liberation of all people in her essay “What brown can do for you” because that is clearly not the current reality. In her essay she states some of the benefits of promoting an intersectional movement that allows that includes the voices of all marginalized peoples, but I think that it will be hard to convince those who have gained access to privilege. The power to oppress others seems to be the most intoxicating drug that has been manufactured by our society, and despite countless struggles for liberation it seems that we cannot shake the addiction. Once a group has gained the ability to rewrite history and delegitimize the struggle of those who still face oppression by the same institutions that had previously oppressed them, the reaction seems to be instinct. Are we bound to become the same monsters that we are trying to fight?

Trans, queer POC have resisted disappearance for centuries and their survival is a testament to their power.  I believe in the power of my community and all marginalized communities to preserve our stories. Telling the stories of the marginalized and learning from the stories of our ancestors is the biggest tool that we have to fight those who attempt to convince us that trans and queer people of color don’t matter—that they don’t exist. We will not allow for HIStory to be rewritten because we have power, queer and trans people of color have power, and their stories have power.