I mentioned at the outset that I dislike the term .” This is because the phrase seems to suggest that our identities (rather than the marginalization we face) is the most salient feature of our activism. Indeed, this is probably why those who oppose IP-umbrella activism seem so fond of calling it identity politics” in the first place…. In contrast, within IP circles, the term is often reserved for a specific brand of single-issue activism that completely precludes perspectives from those who do not share the identity in question.
People usually gravitate toward single-issue activism because they are unconcerned about forms of marginalization that do not personally impact them.
I would love to live in a world where the word transgender” serves the same simple purpose?—?a mere sharing of information about my life experiences?—?but unfortunately, it doesn’t. On top of being a descriptor, the word transgender” is also politically loaded. But that is not my, nor other trans people’s, fault. As discussed in the last section, there’s a long history of people hating, ostracizing, and criminalizing us, and much of this history took place before words like transgender,” transphobia,” and analogous terms even existed. In fact, those terms were created in response to that marginalization, not the other way around. And even if I were to relinquish my trans identity, those people would still exist and continue to discriminate against me for supposedly being a sinner, or freak, or deviant, or for being delusional, or whatever other rationales they might concoct in order to justify their bigotry.