Making Sense of the Trans Right - The Gay & Lesbian Review
glreview.org

TRANSGENDER PEOPLE are typically associated with left-wing politics, but a vocal few have become breakout celebrities among the political right. Buck Angel, one of these new faces of right-wing gender discourse, has acquired increasing attention for his incendiary advocacy against other trans people. Angel gained fame as a pornography star and left-wing activist. He is perhaps the last person one would expect to align himself with white supremacists and Trump-supporting Republicans. His vocal calls to ban transgender youth healthcare, criminalize trans women for using women’s rooms, deport undocumented migrants, jail student protesters, and end diversity initiatives may be shocking in the context of his trans identity. Nevertheless, Angel’s narrative charts an increasingly common path into far-right circles.

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  • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
    9·
    13 hours ago

    It may be shocking to see someone work directly against their own interests this way, but it shouldn’t be especially shocking that they’re trans.

    Gender-normativity never had and never will have a monopoly on opportunists, trolls, and morons.

    • GalacticSushi@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      12·
      12 hours ago

      The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality found that only two percent of trans people were Republicans. By 2022, a large Washington Post / Kaiser Family Foundation poll found the number had risen to ten percent, suggesting that Angel is part of an ongoing trend.

      This is the more shocking part of the article. Any sufficiently sized group will have some subset of assholes. The fact that the percentage of assholes has quadrupled in 7 years is troubling.

      • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
        9·
        12 hours ago

        Agreed, the trend would be troubling, especially if the explanation is that trans individuals’ political ideologies are shifting right. But there are other explanations we might entertain first.

        For example, it’s not unlikely that the cohort inclined to identify as trans on a questionnaire has become not just larger but more ideologically inclusive via nascent mainstreaming. Meaning the trend could be mostly or entirely explained by recently affirmed gender identities, people who now feel ready/comfortable/safe to identify who didn’t before.

        IIRC mainstreaming of homosexuality saw similar trends; e.g., more openly gay republicans, leading to similar speculation of a rightward shift when it was really just an expected statistical artifact being misinterpreted.