Bash Back!
For a united front against queerphobia and transphobia
Over the past few months, queer and transgender people in America have experienced an unprecedented number of attacks — both legal and illegal — against their rights, freedoms and security. With a record-breaking number of anti-transgender bills being proposed, and a series of far-right attacks on gay and transgender pride events, many are worried by the fact that very little is actually being done by the federal government to stop these gross violations of the civil liberties of queer and trans people.
Against my greatest wishes, all the evidence points to these fears being well-founded. Recently, Hillary Clinton said in an interview that defending transgender rights should not be the main priority of the Democratic Party, and that winning elections is more important. However, some were given hope when President Joe Biden signed an executive order which would direct funding towards pro-LGBTQ initiatives in order to “counter 300-plus anti-LGBTQ laws introduced by state lawmakers over the past year.” Though it seems like a step in the right direction, the reality is this executive order is too little, too late. The ball has already started rolling. Dozens of states have already passed anti-transgender laws, and right-wingers of all stripes have already begun their assault on queer programs meant to educate youth.
Obviously, something needs to be done. But what? It’s clear that we as queer and transgender people cannot rely on the support of the government, which is flimsy at best, and openly hostile at worst. There is only one true solution; all oppressed, exploited and marginalized people of the United States must come together and struggle mercilessly against queerphobic and transphobic bigotry and violence. It is in the interests of all oppressed people to fight for the rights of queer and trans people. Once the fascists have outlawed gender-affirming medical care, made education about queer and transness illegal, and have legalized the breaking up of queer and trans friendly families, they will come for everyone else next. Every marginalized person, every working-class person, must come together and fight the fascist menace.
When the fascists take power, there will not be enough time for everyone who needs it to get a passport and leave. There will not be enough time for everyone who is unarmed to arm themselves. And even if there was, you can be certain that they will do everything in their power to ensure we are isolated and unarmed. We must begin organizing today. We must begin to arm ourselves today. Everyone on the left must come together in defence of queer and trans people — anarchists, social democrats, democratic socialists, communists — we must all come together and fight. In his essay For a Workers’ United Front Against Fascism, Marxist theorist and revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky appeals to the left-wing workers of Germany; “worker-communists, you are hundreds of thousands, millions; you cannot leave for any place; there are not enough passports for you. Should fascism come to power, it will ride over your skulls and spines like a terrific tank. Your salvation lies in merciless struggle. And only a fighting unity with the social democratic workers can bring victory. Make haste, worker-communists, you have very little time left!”
Fascism in America is rising rapidly, and its main scapegoat has become queer and transgender people. We must act now if we wish to stop the fascists from seizing power. The only way to do this is through strong working-class organizations, with disciplined, educated leaders. In other words, the only force that can stop the shock troops of fascism is an organized revolutionary socialist party. Right now, as it was in Germany, the strength of the fascists lies “not so much in their own army as in the schism within the army of their mortal enemy.” That is to say, it is the disarray in which the workers’ movement finds itself that lends the fascists their strength. However, “it is precisely the reality of the fascist threat, its growth and proximity, the consciousness of the necessity of averting it at any cost, that must inevitably push the workers toward unity in the name of self-defence” (Trotsky, The Struggle Against Fascism in Germany).
Now more than ever is the time to form queer, working class organizations in every state which are capable of meeting the fascists in the streets at a minute's notice. Now more than ever is it necessary for every class-conscious worker to arm themselves with both knowledge and weaponry, because only these two forces combined are capable of putting down the fascist beast once and for all.
And to all the non-queer workers in America, it is important that you remember one thing; the moment the fascists take power is the moment you lose all your rights as a working person. The labor unions will be outlawed. Your right to bear arms will be taken away from you. Your right to protest and speak freely will be torn away. How do I know this? Because the historical task of fascism is the crushing of the organized working class and its power. To once again quote Trotsky, “when a state turns fascist, it doesn’t only mean that the forms and method of government are changed in accordance with the pattern set by Mussolini — the changes in this sphere ultimately play a minor role — but it means, primarily and above all, that the workers’ organizations are annihilated; that the proletariat is reduced to an amorphous state; and that a system of administration is created which penetrates deeply into the masses and which serves to frustrate the independent crystallization of the proletariat. Therein precisely is the gist of fascism.”
