This link is to a blog post my friend Amy Marsh published at her site: amymarshsexologist. Sexology, by the way, is not nearly as sexy as the name implies.
The reason I’m posting the link here is because Amy and I had a very tough conversation about Deep Green Resistance, an organization I respect and often agree with, as they are consistently on the front line of resistance to the environmental destruction taking place all over the planet and they always stand with indigenous peoples. There is no other group with such fierce and brilliant analysis about the impacts of genocide and white supremacy. However, Amy’s letter is in response to DGR’s position on the subject of transgender people.
This issue, like everything else that matters, is complex. It reaches across all social, cultural, racial and economic boundaries. Here in Hawaii, although inside the sovereignty movement there is very little gender and class analysis, which I believe is a large part of the failure of the movement at this time, although their numbers are small, transgender people are as much a part of our community as straight and gay people. I think it’s because we all need each other.
While I remain inspired by the DGR in more ways than I can count, on this issue, I stand with my friend Amy. Not just because she’s a mom who, unlike most, is navigating the volatile terrain of transgender struggles with her own child. On principle, that kind of courage alone would typically be enough to secure my support! But it’s more than that. It’s beyond one transgender’s individual need or their collective need and right to self-identify. Self-identifying is a tough, tough issue that often becomes a serious problem for native peoples who have to deal with non-natives appropriating our identities, so I am in no way glossing over that issue.
Mainly, though, I stand by Amy because through my conversations with her, I was reminded that politics can unite us or really divide those of us who should stand in solidarity against the ultimate oppressors and the machinery and institutions that gain from our divisions. I stand by Amy because I believe we have to create spaces where it’s safe to disagree and still maintain solidarity, still move forward and accommodate the goal of liberation from all forms of oppression. That is the ultimate goal, as I see it.