Hello everyone !
We, from Queer Pride, welcome you here at König*innenufer and look forward to a militant demonstration. Wa want to start our speech about queerphobia and patriarchy with a quote from Simone de Beauvoir: “one is not born a woman, one is made one”
Why that quote? It sums up a fundamental problem we have with patriarchy.
Because the capitalist patriarchy classifies us in two genders. Out of this separation attributions, enforcements and oppression arise. That’s how women are held responsible to perform reproductive work, such as cooking, doing laundry and providing care for relatives. Meaning everything that’s needed complementary to productive work to keep the capitalist exploitation machine running. Conveniently, all this home- and care-work is declared an individual private matter. Conveniently for the capital, that also saves any payment for it.
Closely linked to the binary gender system, heterosexual relationship is considered as the norm, because in this state the division into paid wage labour and unpaid reproductive work functions best.
Assigned gender roles evolve along with the development of capitalism. But still with each adjustment they succeeded to pass as the most natural subdivision of humanity. That’s how the gender hierarchy and the capitalist exploitation based on it maintain each other.
But what to do with us queer people?
I’m stating everything here in a very simplified manner, knowing that non only cis men are gay and not only cis women are lesbian. But explaining every detail would take all day, and there are a lot of good other speeches coming.
Discrimination against gay men in particular presents homosexual men as less masculine. It is supposed to leed men to define themselves in distinction to femininity and degrade femininity at the same time.
Discrimination against lesbians, on the other hand, has the feature of being directed against women who defy heteronormative reproductive logic. It also seems to be a personal affront to some unsecure men, that women might even dare to find them not attractive. (poor fragile men).
And now for the new hot topic of conservatives and reactionaries: trans people.
I will first refere to different experiences from trans women, trans men and nonbinary people. At the end I’ll mention the current transphobic backlash. Our very existence threatens to expose the arbitrary nature of patriarchal gender separation. That would be catastrophic for the symbiotic pact between capitalism and masculine chauvinism and that’s why it has to be stopped.
Similar to homosexual people, trans masculine people are often framed as a danger of the extinction of humanity. Then they get called out for performing quote “irreparable damages” to their capacity of getting pregnant. We want to say clearly: even if you get sterile by transitioning, don’t give a shit to the pope’s or the state’s concern. Just like with abortions, we claim self-determination over the body!
Out of ostensibly feminist circles, trans men sometimes are accused of wanting to gain “undeserved privilege” by transitioning. This accusation doesn’t only ignore the fact that it doesn’t work that way in reality. Moreover it also ignores allthe feminist work done by trans masculine people.
In order to oppress trans feminine persons, there are often essentialist stereotypes getting served. First it is claimed that men are inherently dangerous and violent, next trans feminine people are equated with them. They are then considered an inherent threat for cis women as well. In reality, studies on the topic have shown so far that trans women are no threat to cis women. Truth be told, trans women are at increased risk of being victims of sexualized violence in spaces dedicated to men (such as men toilets, changing rooms, prisons etc.). So a request for our exclusion from women’s spaces is an indirect request for violence against us.
And again, homophobia and the massive insecurity of hetero cis men plays a major role in discrimination towards trans feminine people. Hetero cis men apparently are in panic of finding a trans woman attractive and by that endangering their privileged position in the gender hierarchy. Trans feminine people are exposed to that in their day to day life by insults and violence.
Last but not least, nonbinary people are also confronted with the compulsion to be gendered. They are met with a lack of understanding, they are put into binary categories in order to maintain the arbitrary gender division. Both in people’s heads and on a sociaty-wide level. That’s how nonbinary people are often denied medicine for transitioning, because they don’t aim for a quote “proper” change to man or woman. Absurdly enough, non binary people who don’t want a medical transistion are often accused of just superficially jumping on a trend.
It’s a pretty amazing trend: who doesn’t want to be asked about their genitalia all the time? It’s quite hip to have to read up on hormonal changes to the body yourself, so that at the next doctor’s appointment they won’t propose the wrong treatment again, isn’t it?.And all the fancy discriminations in public administrations, old-fashioned people only can dream of, right?!
To sum it up: the goal of transphopbia is to deny acces to self determination of gender, in order to preserve the patriarchal social order.
This transphobia regularly leads to physical violence. Only recently it again culminated in a murder in Great Britain. On 11th of february the 16 years old girl Brianna Ghey was stabbed by two 15 years old fellow pupils in a parc.
But transphobia is also happening in plain sight right here. The head of youth psychiatry clinic of Dresden University was interviewed in a transphobic article in the SZ. We as Queer Pride wrote an open letter regarding that. The NPD whips up hatred on the streets of Döbeln, while their comrades from AfD in the state parliament are inquiring about the numbers of trans people in saxony. Surely it’s only by running lists again, that the perverted and transed Volkskörper can be saved.
But I stand here as the person I am. I’m showing myself. I won’t hide and I won’t hush. I can do so, because not everyone in this society is transphobic. The people who hate are few. Unfortunately, they are often the loudest. So I thank you all, who are standing up against the hate right here.
All over the world, the capitalist patriarchy wants to maintain its power – but everywhere in the world the bright colours of feminist resistance are blowing back at it. We all want to live with dignity in a just and peaceful world. Therefore: let’s stand up for each other and unite our struggles.
The 8th of march and this manifestation are a wonderful expression of this union. We are standing together in the fight for equal rights and the end of discrimination, exploitation and war!
For freedom, self determination and international solidarity!