Business or Transgender Rights? I Chose the Latter
Nov 14, 2018 | By Joanna Hoffman
Recently I was referred as a writer/editor to a potential client who wants to write a book. I met with this person and ended up putting together an editing proposal for her. She told me she would sign off on the proposal once she had the money and some content ready for me to edit.
And then she posted this on Facebook on the first day of Pride Month:
After reading this, I was incredibly disappointed. Obviously, this woman does not share my values regarding transgender rights. But the hate in this post is what struck me the hardest. To be so violent towards trans people, completely unprompted, is jarringly hateful. And the repeated incorrect usage of “except” rather than “accept” further highlighted how deep this hate goes.
I have written about feminists who exclude transgender people and lean on the misrepresented science and shoddy philosophy of “gender critical” arguments. That is to say: this ain’t my first rodeo with TERFs (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists). But unlike my first rodeo, I did not want to put this woman on blast for her harmful commentary.
Having recently taken Loretta J Ross’s Calling In Course, I wanted to instead look for an opportunity to call this woman in, find some common ground, and, if I’m lucky, perhaps even help her see another perspective.
So, I left this comment on her post:
She responded with this:
More disappointment. Not only did she out herself as anti-vax and subscribing to pseudoscience, but she also did what bigots love to do: she made it clear that she is okay to “agree to disagree” about which humans deserve human rights. This commentary made me realize that “calling in” here was just not possible, that this income opportunity was too far out of alignment with my values, and that I would have to withdraw my proposal.
After some guidance and a lot of workshopping of my response, this is what I responded with:
In our capitalist society, human rights values often clash with the potential for building capital. And, I will say, it can be very challenging for a self-employed person like me with little consistent income to say no to a possible source of income. But for me, transgender hate is a dealbreaker. I cannot, in good faith, help someone hone their messaging when I know they harbor this hatred for systematically oppressed people.
I would rather be broke than help a bigot.
I’m a writer and editor for businesses and books. I am also an intersectional feminist who insists on including transgender women in women’s spaces. I seek work partnerships with people who share those values. If you want a progressive, radically-inclusive writer, contact me at anya@anyaovermann.com.