ghost rights activist

Love that time I brought up how "transvestite" used to be a term du jur (not the only term, but a well-known term) before it fell out of favor for transexual and then transgender and was immediately given the "um actually it's always been a bad word sweaty :)" routine when like

[Image Description: the Wikipedia page for Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries". The opening paragraph says "Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) was a gay gender non-conforming street activist organization founded in 1970 by Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, subculturally famous New York City drag queens of color. STAR was a radical political collective that also..." the screencap cuts off the rest of the article. End ID]

To drive the point home, it later changed its name Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries to reflect the changing terminology preferences but Jesus fucking Christ learn your damn history

(This is also why terfs and other transphobes claiming that Marsha P. Johnson was "only" a transvestite in order to de-legitimize trans involvement in queer history, activism, and liberation is such bullshit because that was the fucking term back then and had Marsha not been murdered there's good chance she'd be calling herself transgender now. Or not, there are trans elders who still call themselves transvestite and proudly so.)

The word was coined by the German LGBT pioneer Magnus Hirschfeld in 1910 and was used as an umbrella term for anyone who’d wear clothes that didn’t fit the gender they were assigned at birth.

He’d also issue so-called “transvestite certificates” for them that allowed them to wear those clothes in public without being arrested for public nuisance.

There was a magazine called “Das 3. Geschlecht” (The 3rd Sex) aimed at them, which was the first trans magazine in history. You can read the English translation of three of its issues here.

The lesbian magazine “Die Freundin” (The Girlfriend) also openly included transvestites and came with an insert called “Der Transvestit” at times (The Transvestite).

Guys this was a correct term IN MY LIFETIME. I'm only in my forties, come on. Remember your history, I'm begging.

a draft I've never posted

@echofromtheabyss @fierceawakening

Yup.

And “transgender” meant “someone who does not modify their body but defies gender norms” and if you meant someone on hrt you had to say “transsexual,” but now no one says “transsexual” and everyone says “transgender,” so in order to say “what are you doing here, you’re insufficiently oppressed” you say “gnc” now, and…

@jewishvoiceforpeace

"Today marks one year since the death of the People’s Bubbie Shatzi Weisberger. Before she passed, she said, “I’ll fight like hell for a free Palestine until the day I die. Then I’ll keep fighting. Your queer ancestor is with you.”

If you’ve been rising up in solidarity with Palestine these past two months, your queer ancestor is indeed with you, along with countless other antizionist Jewish ancestors. For many, family and community rifts may be especially painful right now. No matter what, you are not alone. Remember that you have a long lineage of elders and ancestors at your back.

Last night, Israel resumed its brutal bombing of Gaza and has already killed dozens of people. Shatzi would encourage all of us to do everything we can right now for a permanent, lasting ceasefire. To mourn the dead and fight like hell for the living.

Shatzi died on World AIDS Day, which was b’sheret ("destined”) because in addition to being a lifelong organizer, she was a nurse for 47 years who cared for people living and dying with AIDS.

From ACT UP’s organizing to end AIDS to the movement for Palestinian freedom, we honor the ancestors and movements who made us possible."

We will be forever grateful to the ancestors who paved the path before us. May their memories fuel us to work towards freedom for all people — no exceptions."