'Changing Gender' in a Time of Backlash

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Mina Kim (1:36)

Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. The Trump administration has taken sweeping actions against trans people. Rescinded federal LGBTQ plus equity and non-discrimination orders dissolved the White House Gender Policy Council and is now seeking to restrict gender affirming care for young people.

Our antagonists are actively gunning for us, writes historian and activist, Susan Stryker, in her new book, Changing Gender, and the world mostly still couldn't care less. Stryker has documented and helped shape the trans movement as the author of Transgender History, which is in its third edition, and with her film Screaming Queens, The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria. And Susan Stryker joins me now. It's really a pleasure to have you back on Forum, Susan.

Susan Stryker (2:21)

You know, it's great to be here, thanks for having me on.

Mina Kim (2:23)

You know, you write in your new book, Changing Gender, the world's become an increasingly abrasive place for many of us, and as someone who's been so dedicated to and even shaped the trans movement, what has this moment been like for you?

Susan Stryker (2:38)

It's bizarre, I have to say, you know, that I'm, as we were talking about off microphone just a moment ago, I turned 65 recently, and, you know, I remember as a child that trans issues were just not on anybody's radar screen. I remember my sort of working life as an adult, you know, between my 30s and my 60s, feeling like I was able to use some of my skills and training as a historian to say, trans, it's not a new thing, and, you know, it's like it's been around, and, you know, we're people.

And to just watch what has happened over the last decade has been breathtaking and disheartening, but also energizing in the sense of, like, there's a very clear target to push back against, against the people who are targeting us in these really pernicious and completely not grounded in reality ways about, you know, the supposed threat trans people pose to society at large.

Mina Kim (3:41)

Yeah, you actually described this political moment as one without precedent. What do you mean by that?

Susan Stryker (3:49)

Well, I mean, trans folks have never had an easy walk through life. I would say there are, you know, challenges to overcome. There's incomprehension or ignorance or prejudice or just, you know, people not being familiar with the issues and some of the ways that being trans can complicate your life.

But for the most part, I would say trans people have been malignantly neglected rather than actively targeted. And what's new, I think, is the way that weaponizing, demonizing trans issues has been taken up by one of the major political parties in the United States. You know, some very well-funded anti-trans people, or some very well-funded people who would like us to have a different form of government in this country, who have discovered that trans issues are sort of a hot button topic, that they can flame the fans of, fan the flames. You can flame the fans too, but it would be a very different project there.

Mina Kim (4:54)

Yeah. You know, you have characterized the federal government's actions also in this way, which I thought was really interesting. You said to make the lives of trans people administratively impossible. Talk about that.