If you’ve ever been to Washington, D.C., you’ve likely noticed the all-caps slogan emblazoned in a stark, striking blue on each of the city’s license plates: “END TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.” I’ve seen my fair share; tracing much of my own roots to neighbouring Montgomery County, Md.
It’s an age-old tagline, intended to protest the District’s longstanding lack of representation in government—the city gets no elected officials in the Senate nor in the House of Representatives, meaning residents have effectively little to no voice in federal bills and laws, among other things. A number of referendums have been held, with overwhelming majorities voting in favor of statehood, but with no official change as of yet.
About that “WITHOUT REPRESENTATION” part. That sticks with me, and I think it should apply to many more things. I think many movements, especially the trans and LGBTQ+ rights movement, could massively benefit from taking a leaf out of Washingtonians’ book.
You’ve probably been endlessly doomscrolling for the past few months through post upon post upon post of politicians and personalities shamelessly trying their very best to dictate to young people, to control every facet of our lives—how we can and cannot love our partners (if applicable), how we can and cannot present ourselves to others, whether we’re even allowed to have lives.
They claim to advocate for all kids, to be the be-all, end-all authority on gender and biology.
But think about it. When was the last time that any of the far-right members of Congress could actually demonstrate any real, non-superficial knowledge about real, living, breathing trans people? For many (if not all) of them, the answer is never. They don’t actually know anything whatsoever about the community they are trying so fervently to oppress in our schools and in our streets—they’ve never even met a single one of the community.
I propose a new slogan, riffing on that of D.C.: “No Opinionation Without Representation.”
Why should I be expected to sit here and just watch while others declare “open hunting season” on entire communities, by the average politician who has never even met one of their members? It is now clear that a more decisive action needs to be taken. The reliance on reason and stability and discouragement of “rocking the boat” by many more passive allies to the queer and trans community is, while well-intentioned, rapidly losing efficacy as the Right shows its willingness to blatantly ignore and destroy our checks and balances, and the farcical mask of “old world values” slips further and further down.
Those on the political right have refused to acknowledge our basic humanity for far too long. It is high time that we refuse to live in fear of bigotry. If there is any time to make a stand, it is now—to tell our elected representatives (who work for us, the people, by the way; in case you’d forgotten that) that we cannot and will not live in fear any longer.
If they want to make policies governing the way we live our lives, we must be meaningfully represented in the decision-making process—they must come out (pun intended) and actually listen to us. They cannot remain in their sheltered echo chambers—if they want to have an opinion about trans lives, they need to actually meet a trans person, to get acquainted with the community, to actually know what a trans life even is.
We must be loud. We have a moral duty and responsibility to ensure that, at the very least. We owe it to Nex Benedict, to Sam Nordquist, to Pauly Likens, to River Goddard and to the thousands upon thousands of other queer and trans youth and adults in whose murders our nation remains shamefully complicit. Those in power can no longer be allowed to pull wool over our eyes, nor close their own.
This is, I’m convinced, the only way that a change can actually be made—by forcing those in power to actually come face-to-face with the people whose lives their decisions affect (and in an inexcusable amount of cases, end). Without this, we will keep getting attacked in the streets. We will continue to be harassed. We will continue to be victimized for our own identities in our homes and in our neighborhoods, unless the American people finally grow a damn spine.
Sabr Keres-Siddiqui is a junior majoring in Political Science and minoring in Journalism and Sociology.
