Nobody but queer people can save queer people.

It is true that a lot of cishets are good people and sympathetic and can be allies.

And they'll side with us eventually.

But the hard work we need to do first is ours to do, because the cishets will not do the heavy lifting.

This is not related to anything big happening in the world today. It's related to something small. A personal conversation with a closeted trans person I barely know.

You need to grab another trans person's hand and pull them onto their feet, once in a while. You need to stick together. You need to talk.

And you need to reach to those of us who do not realize this yet. Because a lot of people, and as a trans elder (what a set of words to self-apply...) I see that it's true for young people in many cases, have been conditioned to forget solidarity, loyalty and community.

And the unfortunate thing is that you don't rediscover those things on your own. There are people who will ignore the hand that reaches out to them. There are even a few who will bite that hand.

You can't stop reaching out. If you're the kind of person who throws people out in the cold when they're being difficult, you need to stop that shit.

Sincerely, a mentally ill person who was thrown out of its most cherished trans community over an altercation that was in large part provoked by someone else.