#BeNoisy

They're not shutting up and neither are we.

Dear friends,

I'm the first to admit that I live in a happy little bubble of people who generally share my views and values. Most people I know agree that Nazis are bad, genocide is bad, rapists are bad, and cruelty is wrong. We also all seem to be on the same page about what we consider to be good in this world - equality, kindness, compassion, human rights, food and housing for everyone, environmental protections, democracy... But every now and then my bubble pops to the grotesque sound of right wing, tiny-minded rhetoric, and I am reminded that there's an entire demographic out there, loudly spouting hateful noises. Unfortunately, we all know that these people aren't about to shut up anytime soon, so it seems that we just need to be louder.

Our voices matter.

Anyone who knows me may be surprised to learn that, despite my terrier-like barking, I've always been quite concerned about not offending others, avoiding conflict, and just trying to play nice. Consequently, I've gone through life with a self-imposed rule that I should only voice my beliefs to those who share them, and do my best to avoid engaging in conversation with those who hold opposing views, lest it lead to conflict in which I lose my footing.

Well! Since I started writing to Republican senators in February, I've obviously strayed from my self-protecting guidelines, and have started loudly asserting my position on what human decency does and does not look like to 'the other side'. I have lost friends by publicly decrying the Israeli government's genocidal assault on the people of Gaza. In times like these, we do not have the luxury to stay quiet or play nice. In times of fascism, we make our voices heard. Right wingers never hesitate for a minute to shout and scream their toxic nonsense, so it's our job to use our voices to drown them out.

It's been a particularly noisy week.

I try hard to ignore the rightwing noisemakers, but it turns out we're no longer allowed to not know who the hell Charlie Kirk is anymore. It was a bad week for this racist, misogynistic, transphobic, rightwing, violent, young hate monger. The moment his death was announced, a million voices rang out condemning his murder. An extraordinary number of Democrats and left-leaning liberal types, swallowed their bile and managed to cough up some words of compassion for this horrid little man and his family, despite the danger he posed to anyone who did not subscribe to his horrific world view. By far, though, the loudest cries came from the orange menace and his cult of loathsome idiots who instantly lay blame on "the radical left", particularly the trans community (because the incompetent and unqualified head of the FBI is too fucking stupid to correctly identify the markings on the ammo at the scene of the crime), and, lickety-split, they've called for war. The possibilities of civil unrest that the sudden demise of this nasty man might cause is terrifying. It is terrifying how fucking stupid and violent the orange menace and his spiteful followers are, how quick and ready they are to escalate this gun death (ignoring the daily mass shootings of children) into all out war on an entire demographic who had nothing to do with it and who has been calling for gun reform since forever. It is deeply disturbing how they refuse to acknowledge that the shooter was one of theirs (shocker!).

Our voices don't just matter, now we MUST be heard.

By all accounts, Kirk was a notorious transphobe (fuck transphobes!) who made it his mission to make life as dangerous as possible for trans folk (fuck that guy!).

Ten years ago my youngest child informed my husband and myself that they are trans. Since that day, my world has been extra blessed while I've walked this journey with them, learning about trans lives (the joys as well as the worries they experience just trying to be themselves in this scary world), expanding my world view beyond the binary, and enjoying 'mom-membership' in this beautiful community that I was previously not engaged in. I have had the opportunity to cast off many of my dreary old, patriarchal assumptions while embracing expansive new ways to view the world. I discovered that I can be the fiercest mama in the world when I see the safety of my child (now 24 years old, but always my baby) or any trans person under attack. And, let me tell you, friends, our trans fam are under threat from some of the stupidest people on earth.

I don't know (and have no desire to know) all the gruesome details of who the hell shot Kirk, but it looks like the authorities have caught their (CIS, STRAIGHT, WHITE) man - a 22 year old, gun-loving, ultra-right, non-trans (shocker!), little schmuck. Meanwhile, the maggots and their willing mainstream media toadies had over 24 hours to recklessly point their nasty little fingers at the trans community, falsely accusing them, and thus, putting them in great danger.

Jay Kuo has been breaking down this gawdawful mess for us as it's unfolded. In his Friday newsletter he laid out these helpful facts:

But based on a study of 4,147 mass shootings since 2018, PolitiFact found that only seven were perpetrated by transgender people, meaning a rate of 0.17 percent, far below their estimated percentage within the population of 1-2 percent.

First of all, the fact that there have been FOUR THOUSAND, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN mass shootings in 7 years and no significant gun control laws passed is beyond mind-boggling. The fact that four thousand, one hundred and forty of those were committed by CIS DUDES (I don't think I've ever read any reports of women being responsible for these atrocities, but do correct me if I'm wrong), needs to be massively amplified just now.

We know which American demographic is most prone to blowing their fellow citizens away with all-too-easily acquired firearms, and it is not the trans community. But now they are MAGA's main target for revenge, so it's up to us to be bold, loud, highly visible allies.

Some ways to support our trans friends.

• Wear clearly visible ally pins, t-shirts, hats, etc. everywhere, every day.
• Slap Pride flag stickers on everything everywhere.
• Write letters to the editor setting the record straight on who is actually using firearms to murder people.
• Talk to people openly about how much you love your trans friends (I have opened lots and lots of confused and curious minds by talking about my wonderful trans child).
• Make a habit of adding your pronouns after your name.
• Check in on your trans friends and ask if they need anything from you (a hug? a meal? company?).

CM from small town Georgia shared this with me this week:

Yes! It’s so important to be a visible ally in the world right now. I wear rainbow eyeglasses from Zenni’s “Pride collection.” A few weeks ago, while we were shopping in Home Depot, a young woman approached me and whispered “Are you an ally?” I nodded and she asked if she could shop with us for a while. She didn’t want to talk about what was going on, so we just shopped with her and then walked her to her car. She thanked us and thanked me for wearing the pride glasses and said, “As soon as I saw them, I knew I would be safe with you.” Oh my heart! I bought the glasses because I wanted to be supportive of the LGBTQ+ community, and I thought they were cute, but I didn’t give it much thought beyond that. They’re just one of several pairs of glasses I own, but they are the only ones I wear in public now.

So many friends and neighbours are under attack just now, and it's incumbent upon those of us who are not obvious targets of this hateful regime to step in and do whatever we can to protect the threatened members of our community. I know this to be true as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. I know this to be true as the mother of a trans person. I know this to be true as a caring human being.

They may be loud, but we can be so much louder!

The rightwing idiots are fired up and shouting bloody murder at the top of their lungs. They are not about to shut up any time soon. Our job is to be louder in our cries for peace and justice and beauty.

Should you be feeling that your voice is not being heard in this fight for decency, here is a nature story to inspire you to keep being noisy. Recently, when I was walking home from running an errand, I passed a construction site crawling with enormous machinery making the usual deafening, offensive noises. But, on the other side of the street stood a pair poplar trees reverberating with beautiful bird song. The birds were too small to see, but their collective singing came close to overpowering the thunderous noises coming from the construction site. Collectively, those tiny little birds, all sweet and soft, almost drowned out the almighty ruckus of the cumbersome, ugly machinery. So, let's combine our softness and sweetness, and raise our voices together to drown out the explosive right wing cacophony that was unleashed this week.

Here is a beautiful hummingbird painting my amazing trans kid made for my birthday this week. I hope it brings you joy!

With love and solidarity,

Jessica (she/her)