TERFs will never be Marxist

A vile mix of the fundamentalist hate preacher with a bit of annoying hippy wrapped in the guise of an overbearing suburban mother. The TERFs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) are a sect of anti trans hatemongers and the name isn't even the end of the lies and contradictions. Simply a prelude to a Pandora's box of lies and contradictions that make every trans woman's already fraught existence a living hell.

Of course just as the Nazis no longer call themselves Nazis, a TERF will never call itself a TERF. Instead they prefer to be called "Gender Critical" or more recently "Gender free", the latter often presented with flowery hippy bullshit that betrays the TERFs bourgeois feminist origins. These are the wealthy women who managed to get into university while our mothers and grandmothers were working 9-5. Both these terms claim pretensions to an ideal that they are thoroughly opposed to in reality. A deeper look will reveal that their ideology upholds the social construct of gender to an unnaturally rigid extent and simply through the semantics of calling it "biological sex" have managed to mask their bigotry in a Machiavellian web of deceit.

It all comes down to misogyny which has more to do with how a person is perceived through presentation and less to do with reproductive organs which play such a minor role in public interaction if any at all. TERFs have provided a master class in sugar coating hate that has disseminated among their allies on the political right. Right leaning social media outlets have fallen for the deception hook line and sinker believing the oppressed to be the oppressor and the oppressor to be the oppressed which is easy to buy when the much maligned transgender women being presented as the inhuman monsters we've always been presented as. But there is something more sinister when the bourgeois ideal of womanhood begins to crack under the strain of its own contradictions.

With muscle mass and bone structure proving to have too much crossover between the binaries enforced here, the focus moved to the level of testosterone culminating in a ruling where women who are judged to have high testosterone are barred from competing without hormone treatments. Of course these same treatments will still be denied to vulnerable trans youth who would actually benefit from them. No matter where the arbitrary line is drawn to exclude trans women it will always exclude a number of women who are not trans.

Which leaves only the juvenile method of kindergarten biology and even that falls apart with closer study of intersex conditions relating to external reproductive organs which is sadly obfuscated by non consensual mutilation of intersex children at birth in order to conform with the capitalist notions of gender in relation to reproductive labour upheld by capitalism in order to compartmentalize Labour and mitigate the cost of raising the next generation of workers.

TERFs will often lay claim to Marxist feminist influence and will even back it up with biased commentaries on Engles “The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State”. Of course no take from the TERF school can be truly materialist when it’s drowning in the contradictions of “We want to abolish gender but enforce the same thing rigidly under a different name”. The very contradictions of the ideology place it firmly in the bourgeois camp, a borderline reactionary oppressive ideology that seeks to oppress an already vulnerable section (Along with any AFAB women who don’t fit their arbitrary ideas of womanhood). Their claim to any form of Marxism is as weak as their claim to feminism and any so called Marxist who follows the TERF ideology is neither. And any group in Aotearoa pretending to be Marxist while promoting this ideology is a hate group.

Marxists must take a stand against Transphobia. All Marxist organisations should include constitutional mechanisms to protect their trans members and to prevent the spread of the TERF ideology through the Left. Unions and other Left organizations should also do what they can to ensure the safety of their trans members and all cisgender people within should do their bit to promote transgender rights and resist the spread of Transphobia.

Written by Eva Allan

The Rainbow Rejects the Thin Blue Line

While the French are rising up against their government and being confronted with armed police and tanks, Auckland’s queer community are in the midst of a small battle of their own.  Thursday December 6th saw the debate about whether or not to allow an oppressive force to march in full uniform in a parade commemorating the struggles of the queer community against a colonial state reach its zenith.

Last month, after multiple opportunities for community consultation, the Board given the task of organising February 2019’s Pride Parade let police know that they are welcome to march alongside the LGBTQ+ community, under the one condition that, if they choose to do so, they are not welcome to wear their uniforms.

This kicked off a series of melodramatic but necessary events which have seen the withdrawal of the Police, military, and several major corporate sponsors from the Parade.  For some reason, this is considered controversial. The culmination of this supposed crisis has lead to the overwhelmingly wealthy, white, male, cisgender members of the queer community — a group who themselves only became socially accepted very recently — to try and have the Pride Board dismissed.  Large groups of people from this side of the debate banded together to try and reinforce their argument.

Many have forgotten the not-so-distant days in which being gay was an arrest-able, sack-able offence.  They’ve forgiven those who would have arrested or fired them for stepping outside the closet doors. They’ve seemingly lost their memories of the very recent arguments about the legitimacy of their own relationships.  They’ve become so rapidly assimilated into the presentable that they’ve left behind their former comrades-in-arms, blinded by their own desire to be accepted into “polite society”.

Auckland Pride saw a massive upswing in membership registrations, with people from both sides of the debate joining to vote either for or against the no-confidence motion against the Board.  In defence of the Board, a slick video was made, while a queen from Ru Paul’s drag race sent a message of support to those of us who would stand by the victims of police and systemic brutality.  The media started on one side of the fence (pro-police, pro-white gay man), then moved to the middle, then many started to understand the arguments posed by the other side.

The Special General Meeting (SGM) to vote on the motion was held on Thursday last week.  A small group of protesters from left-wing organisations Socialist LGBT, Socialist Aotearoa, and People Against Prisons Aotearoa (PAPA) stood outside, handed out booklets presenting our argument, and spoke to the media who were present.  John Campbell appeared sympathetic. Pictures of the massive queues to get into the meeting and of the small protest outside were taken for posterity, and to enhance interest in later articles.

Comrades from Socialist LGBT, Socialist Aotearoa, and People Against Prisons Aotearoa, demonstrating outside the Special General Meeting

Inside the meeting, both sides were given the opportunity to speak.  The meeting was chaired by an independent individual, who managed to maintain tight control of what could have become an unproductive, even more highly charged, emotionally distressing encounter.

The first speaker, a well-dressed, white, cisgender male, the epitome of the pro-Police faction, spoke to the motion to have the Board dismissed.  He opened with arguments which were echoed by his cohort throughout the meeting: “if we exclude Police now, who will we exclude next?” “Exclusion fuels hate, though with People Against Prisons leading the opposition, perhaps that’s the point”.

This man, clearly never having faced a day of state sanctioned oppression in his life, used the idea of “removing barriers” to Pride.  Pride, apparently, is about the inclusion of all; it’s about celebrating and embracing who we are. He conveniently forgot that the whole reason in the first place for this division inside the queer community is that for many, celebrating and embracing who they are has lead directly to them having the proverbial beaten out of them, by the same people this man proposes to include.

The targeting of PAPA as an “anarchist group” (a hilarious accusation for those who know the politics of PAPA) of weirdos, who want to destroy the Police, prisons and justice system, was also repeatedly echoed through the night — as was blaming the Board for inadequate consultation (seven hui anyone?), and calling the Board arrogant.

The seconder to the no confidence motion was in no ways different.  Again white, cisgender, well dressed, male, though he went a step further and to try and disrespect PAPA by calling them “No Pride in Prisons”, a name no longer in use.  One speaker even suggested that Police in uniform, wearing a rainbow pin, may be PAPA’s greatest allies, a suggestion met with much laughter — clearly showing he and his friends rather miss the point.

The only non-white cisgender speaker for the motion to remove the Board was an African gay man who also self identifies as a drag queen.  He spoke of his history of being disowned by his family and his community, and used his examples of how being gay was better in Aotearoa than his country as a reason to dismiss the experiences of other members of the queer community.  There was only one woman who spoke to roll the board. She reiterated the same arguments.

There was one speaker who indicated she’d prefer to abstain from the vote. She supported the Board, but not their decision to exclude Police.

On the side in support of the Board and of defending victims of Police violence, speakers were a lot more varied.  Gay white males, with all the privilege afforded them as the socially acceptable pinnacle of queerdom, stood up beside women, trans and non-binary people, and those of colour who are also part of the community, to remind their supposed comrades why it isn’t appropriate for the Police to show up in force.  The arguments varied as much as the speakers did, in sharp contrast to the other side.

Charlotte — a member of the Green Party, not of PAPA — called for empathy in remembering the victims of Police  brutality. She asked those who have not experienced it to listen to the voices of those who have, including her own.  She stated that she would not be able to march in the next Parade, in fact has not been able to in the past, because of Police uniforms, as it was a trigger point in reigniting the trauma she herself has experienced.

Alexander — a real live PAPA member! — spoke very briefly about how if PAPA had been as successful in hijacking the Board as they’ve been accused of, then Police and Corrections officers wouldn’t be allowed to march at all, let alone in uniform.

Joel, who, like Charlotte, is also not a member of PAPA, spoke of the effects of traumatic experiences on the body.  He talked about how the idea of inclusion is an idea for the elite, and he shared his experiences of injustice and inadequacies within the justice system.  As a victim of sexual assault, and a high school student at the time of the Roast Busters debacle, he has seen first hand the lack of justice which can be served when it suits the justice system.  He reminded us that marginalisation of LGBT is not in the distant past — on the contrary, he pointed out, poverty, drug use, and homelessness are all still illegal, and far more likely to be experienced by people of colour and transgender members of the queer community.  He encouraged the Police to walk with us as equals, not hiding behind their uniform.

Sharon, who works with her local iwi — remarkably, another non-PAPA member! — reminded us of this country’s colonial history.  She spoke of the Police being the “tool of the Crown” in helping steal Māori territory and oppress the Tangata Whenua (“people of the land”) of Aotearoa by any and all means.  “I want to echo my people who have stood against the Crown and the Police”. She said that she hopes that someday all parties can march in solidarity, having acknowledged and resolved the wrongdoings of the past.  However, she made it clear, to the head shaking and denial of Pākehā in the room, that these wrongdoings have not ceased, nor have the wrongdoers acknowledged their part in the atrocities which have occurred.

The final speaker on the pro-Board side was Jenny.  She is an older, white, cisgender, gay woman, who, again, isn’t a member of PAPA, and who has fought for her own civil rights before even the Hero Parade was a thing.  She pointed out the obvious: that to include one group is to by necessity exclude another, and that that including Police was a “touchstone of exclusion” for many members of the rainbow community.

She came armed with facts which highlighted — at least, to those with compassion and a willingness to listen — that Police are hugely guilty of the ongoing discrimination which continues to this day.  Māori are twice as likely to be stopped by Police before a crime has even been committed; the Police’s own statistics from 2017 show that Māori are four times more likely to be arrested for the same offences as Pākehā, and eight times more likely to be treated with violence.  The Police are “enforcement arms of the state, and are still Colonial”. The police themselves have acknowledged that they have “unconscious bias”, and that they “go looking for a brown face”.

Her final message was a reminder that if we adhere to consensus, then Pākehā voices are the ones which will be heard, at the expense of Māori voices.  She wants us to “leave no-one behind” in casting our votes.

After a tense two hours of clapping, cheering, disbelief at the views expressed, and heartening empathy displayed by many in the room, votes were cast.  Half an hour of vote counting was brought to a close when the Chair announced, for all the world to hear, that the Board will stay!

The majority of people — 325 to 273 — had agreed with the Board’s decision that Police should not be marching in their uniforms of oppression.  Sorry wealthy white gays — empathy for those who still suffer at the hands of the state has won out over the wilful ignorance of those who would place Police uniforms above the voices of the marginalised.

The joyous response of the majority of the room was one I will never forget.

By Danni Wilkinson — Socialist LGBT member, nurses' union activist, and Co-Chair of Socialist Aotearoa

Socialist Aotearoa invites you to our end-of-year hui, 2018: The Return of Class Politics, where we will be hearing from Danni Wilkinson as well as Wayne Baker from Socialist LGBT, Anu Kaloti from Love Aotearoa, Hate Racism and Migrant Workers' Association, and Socialist Aotearoa organiser Elliot Crossan, about the successes of union, anti-racist, and LGBT struggles this year, why they give us hope, and what we must do to build a movement for transformational change going into the future. You can RSVP here.

When: 7pm, Thursday 13th December
Where: Unite Union, 6a Western Springs Rd, Morningside, Auckland

Please like Socialist LGBT on Facebook. Contact us on slgbtaotearoa@gmail.com.

You can read Socialist Aotearoa's blog here, and like SA on Facebook here.  Contact SA on aksocialistaotearoa@gmail.com.

We would like to express our solidarity with one of our allied organisations in this dispute, People Against Prisons Aotearoa, especially given all the attacks leveled at their organisation over this.  Their website is here and their Facebook page is here if you are interested in finding out more about what they do.

No Pride in Police.

 Part “Hobson’s pledge”, part “Blue Lives Matter, with a thin rainbow veneer. Their rhetoric appears to be lifted straight from talkback radio. Intimidation, gas-lighting the victims of police violence and outright assault of a Maori trans women this is what the loud majority in the LGBT community have stooped to in order to defend the right of a largely heterosexual police contingent to dominate the parade.

The core argument appears to be one of inclusion but if we want to talk about not excluding straight allies then how about we talk about not excluding Maori. During my time working with the Mana Movement I never once encountered discrimination due to my gender identity when I am a guest on a Marae even as a Pakeha my gender identity is always respected a stark contrast to the Pakeha establishment who many in the LGBT community wish to make peace with. Naturally, Maori LGBT people have expressed concern with the police marching in uniform so to include the police (who let's be honest are really lousy allies) we exclude a large portion of the Maori community who can be very valuable allies.

Perhaps it would be prudent to take a quick look at the history of the New Zealand police as an organization to remind ourselves just why so many are uncomfortable with this organization being present. Founded in the early days of colonization the organization that became the New Zealand police assisted in the colonial conflict against tribes that the settler government judged to be rebellious. Of course, the force was open to high ranking Kupapa males as it followed the model of the Royal Irish Constabulary As Maori were displaced from the land in the 20th century and moved into working class communities next to other workers. The police moved to an English model but the systematic racism remained in the background. Working class Maori communities remain the target of police violence and LGBT Maori and other LGBT workers living in these communities are subject to police violence throughout most of their lives.

At the core of this is a failure for the privileged within the LGBT community to compromise to allow wider participation in a more open less pinkwashed pride parade. The old politics of respectability where the wealthy LGBT people largely ignored the plight of the less well off in the community during the days of riots like Stonewall and Compton's cafeteria until the latter brought gains that the former stood no chance of getting. Now that they have ridden on the back of the hard-fought struggle of women like Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera to a comfortable place in the establishment. They take pride in pissing on the legacy of stonewall with rainbow Police Cars, glittery ATMs and war criminals with rainbow banners. We must bring pride back to its roots and that starts with the gay police officers leaving their uniforms on the racks and marching with us as equals something that would never be passable while representing a systemically oppressive organization.

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Updated 21/11/18

Auckland Pride Bring Shame to the LGBT Community.

Auckland pride has a well-earned reputation when it comes to ignoring the needs of the wider community in favour of the demands of the few wealthy elite within the community. With the exception of the first Auckland Pride Parade in 2013 every pride parade since has been met with controversy as members of the community objected to the presence of some (often not specifically LGBT) groups in the parade. These members of the community have been met with violence often from security guards who are (or at least should be) accountable to Auckland Pride. This sort of response to community concerns is shameful and when it is repeated every year it makes members of the community feel ashamed. Pride is supposed to be about empowering LGBT people many of whom still face discrimination in the wider community it is not about empowering organizations that still discriminate against members of the LGBT community.

Pride is an International movement that sprung from the major cities of the United States in the 1960s usually from movements lead by trans women of colour. Yet these people were so quickly cast aside as pride became more acceptable to the public. Indeed Auckland pride is following a long standing international trend where the T in LGBT is an afterthought if it is even thought about at all. the people who helped start the movement have become nothing but a doormat trans women (especially trans women of colour) are not being listened to.

Perhaps the biggest disgrace to befall the 2016 Auckland Pride Parade was the presence of government minister Judith Collins the politician that oversees the department of corrections and the New Zealand police. both these institutions are notoriously oppressive to people of colour (especially indigenous people) and trans people (especially those assigned male at birth). Both are now regular fixtures at the Auckland Pride with the blessing of the establishment within pride. but the presence of the government minister who oversees this oppression against members of our community and does not care to do anything to stop the continued injustices suffered by trans people and people of colour at the hands of these institutions is simply shameful and an insult to the community.

Pride is the feeling we get when we can be ourselves. The feeling we get when we are free of oppression. Pride is not what I feel when I attend the Auckland Pride Parade. I feel shame because the Pride movement is content to leave so many of our community behind.

Wellcome to LGBT Resistance

Hello and welcome to LGBT resistance.

We are a community lead organization that was formed by a small group of activists concerned about the impact of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement on the LGBT community.

We also believe in justice for LGBT people effected by the issues that are perpetuated by the capitalist system.

For more information please contact our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LGBTRESISTANCETPPA/