Things were definitely far, far worse in 2016 than they are here in 2022. No dispute there.
I absolutely get you on how toxic a lot of the internet can be for the trans community. Recent example: I am a regular viewer of Steve Lehto's channel on YouTube. I was one of the people who sent him the story about the trans woman who got $1.5 million after being arrested for "jaywalking", then held for months because they wanted to claim the sand in her stress ball were drugs. Steve himself handled it with absolutely class - called her "she" and "her", used her chosen name even though the article also contained her former name, you name it.
I even sent him a follow-up email, thanking him not only for covering the story, but doing so with class and kindness and respect.
Some of the comments, though... Not so much. The usual "man in a dress", misgendering, etc. nonsense. I reported the ones I saw, but, let's not kid ourselves. YouTube doesn't have a good track record on removing bigoted comments or material.
In some of my darker days, I feel the same way. Everything's backsliding. The reason I don't feel that way all the time? People like you and others on this thread, who have our backs and are fighting by our side and pushing back against the QOP's increasingly evil and fascist bullshit. I know if they get their way, we'll backslide - all the way back to 1888, or 1850, or 1760, or even backslide the entire LGBTQ community out of existence. So, yes, it's easy to feel negative when Abbott and DeSantis won't stop punching down on us, and punching down on the most vulnerable of them all. And, yes, easy to feel negative with an awful lot of people feel perfectly safe and comfortable spewing hatred and bigotry toward the trans community online.
But unlike 1990, or 2000, or even 2016, now there are a lot of people fighting back and saying "FUCK NO" to the fascists. Thank goodness, and thank you to each and every one of you.
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