There are two phrases you need to understand in order to properly see the genocide against trans people that is now underway in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The first, is epistemicide. Defined here, it means

… the killing, silencing, annihilation, or devaluing of a knowledge system. We argue epistemicide happens when epistemic injustices are persistent and systematic and collectively work as a structured and systemic oppression of particular ways of knowing.

–Dr. Beth Patin

The second, is social murder, from Engels, which Wikipedia has as

an unnatural death that is believed to occur due to social, political, or economic oppression, instead of direct violence.

Any story you see about trans people needs to be red in light of these two concepts. First they want to erase us, and then they’re going to push us into the gutter and ignore us while we die. They want us to disappear.

They are already seeking to erase us, to erase any suggestion that we can exist. This program is advancing in parallel with their efforts to eliminate our health care and make it legal to discriminate against us. All of these efforts will, combined the preexisting brutality of American life, lead to increased mortality among trans people. It is social murder as a policy goal, and they will pursue ever more aggressive policies in this regard until they are satisfied we no longer exist in any meaningful way.

When you see announcements like this, understand they are part of a strategy of genocide. It doesn’t look like bombs or gas chambers or machetes, but the intent is the same. For now the tools are gentler and more indirect, but they’re trying to build consensus for stronger measures as well. They want us to kill ourselves, or to starve, or to freeze–and when that doesn’t work on all of us, I have no doubt they will select more active tactics. They want us to disappear, and for the new generations to grow up understanding that their survival depends on not being trans so they’d better stay in the closet.

This is why they want to blame us all for the actions of a mass shooter. They want to make as many people as possible okay with disposing of us. They want this to continue indefinitely.

More trans people are born every week, which means this program can have no end. If they have their way, a standing policy of destruction will be levied against all trans people, living and yet to be born, enforced by an ever-tightening winch of discrimination against those who transgress ever-more brittle gender norms.

The alternative is to accept that trans people exist, that we are who we say we are, and that we are worth fighting for. There cannot be a middle ground on this. Any compromise with people who want to dissolve our public presence and flush us down a drain will only lead to further attacks.

This problem is everyone’s problem. If you think it isn’t, try this: Think of all the times you’ve seen American conservatives freak out about something trivial. Rage is what gets them up in the morning. Without somebody to hate, they don’t know who they are. Today the Trump regime targets immigrants and trans people. Do you really believe that, once finished with us, they won’t eventually come after you?