Preface: This thread is less about asking for reasons to stay/go, and more of an attempt to not feel alone.
We have the means and opportunity to leave the United States in the near future. As much as we don’t want to upturn our lives, we also want to live free.
Reasons to go:
- We are not confident that the current political order will do anything but make life worse for trans people
- We are not confident that any political order in the next few elections would try and help trans people
- Living in the USA with documents that don’t match gender identity is a red line for us
- It’s clear that the USA has been like this for some time. It just happens to be our turn
Reasons to stay:
- We live in a safe area of a “safe for now” state (Counter-counter: for now)
- We recently settled down here, thinking it would be for the rest of our lives (Counter-counter: It’s “just” material stuff)
- We have queer friends whom we’d be leaving behind
- Why should we disappear from our homeland without a fight? (Counter-counter: What kind of fight do we have the physical/mental energy to put up?)
- The places to which we can escape could just as easily turn against us
Has anyone else been wrestling with this? Most of our queer friends do not have the means to consider flight like we do. Additionally, our non-queer friends who would have the means don’t see the same danger signs that we do. It just doesn’t seem like we have anyone to talk to about this.
To where, though? The fascists are rising around the world. If you have the ability to move to the EU and get citizenship, then that’s a great option. But it’s expensive. And if you don’t get citizenship, you risk becoming basically stateless.
And again, it’s a global phenomenon. The UK’s labour party is as bad as the GOP on trans issues. France, Germany and Canada keep seeing their far-right parties make gains every election cycle.
IMO the safest thing for trans people to do is move to a placxe within the US that is trans friendly. That’s most of New England, most of the west coast, and certain midwest cities.
This is of course the case, there is no mythical land where money grows on trees and queers frollick in the glades like fairies. Metropolitan areas are generally the best bet. You can see requests for assistance for trans people all over the globe, even in allegedly good places like Sweden or Spain. Transgender rights are an evolving issue currently and you’re going to have to fight no matter where you live because capitalism and reactionary thought infest every country. In metro areas, however, you’ll be in a place with denser support networks.