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Carcharodonna [she/her] @hexbear.net

Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue Reading Group – Week 6, July 12th - July 19th – Chapter 6: In the Spirit of Stonewall

Welcome to the sixth week of reading Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue by Leslie Feinberg!

If you're just getting started, here's a link to the thread for

We're only doing one chapter per week and the discussion threads will be left open, so latecomers are still very much welcome to join if interested.

As mentioned before... This isn't just a book for trans people! If you're cis, please feel free to join and don't feel intimidated if you're not trans and/or new to these topics.

Here is a list of resources taken from the previous reading group session:

pdf download
epub download - Huge shout out to comrade @EugeneDebs for putting this together. I realized I didn't credit them in either post but here it is. I appreciate your efforts. ❤️
chapter 1 audiobook - Huge shout out to comrade @futomes for recording these. No words can truly express my appreciation for this. Thank you so much. ❤️
chapter 2 audiobook
chapter 3 audiobook
chapter 4 audiobook
chapter 5 audiobook
chapter 6 audiobook
chapter 7 audiobook
chapter 8 audiobook

Also here's another PDF download link and the whole book on ProleWiki.

In this thread we'll be discussing Chapter 6: In the Spirit of Stonewall

CWs for this chapter: Mentions of transphobia, physical assault, and SA.

This chapter covers a speech given by Feinberg at a conference of regional Pride Committees at a hotel in Central New Jersey. The speech focuses on the topic of queer solidarity and solidarity of the queer community with other marginalized groups.

There are two Portrait sections included in this chapter:

The first is by Sylvia Rivera (pictured in the thumbnail), where she talks about her experience at Stonewall and her history of activism, including the founding of STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries), becoming a member of the Young Lords, and meeting Huey Newton.

The second is by Craig Hickman, where he describes his life and experiences as a black drag queen as well as views on gender.

I'll ping whoever has been participating so far, but please let me know if you'd like to be added (or removed).

Feel free to let me know if you have any feedback also. Thanks!

9 comments

  • Sorry for my official response to this being late again, but I especially liked this chapter and there's so much here that's still relevant:

    The sexuality of some trans people cannot be easily categorized. When the borders of sex and gender are not fixed, neither is the definition of what constitutes gay or lesbian or bisexual. That's exactly what scares some people about trans liberation. They feel like the earth is shifting under their feet: "Here we've finally established communities and a movement for women who love women and men who love men, and trans people seem to turn all that upside down."

    That's why some people fear trans inclusion. They are afraid they'll no longer have any turf to stand on. And so they fear losing those lesbian/gay borders. But it's important to remember that those demarcations do not depend on being able to clearly define each individual as lesbian or gay. These rough boundaries delineate the scope of oppression; these are the perimeters of collective fight-back.

    This seems to still be a thing among some in the queer community, though not sure how widespread it still is. I think ze makes it clear here why broad queer acceptance is so important, as opposed locking people into specific categories.

    We are not just gay, lesbian, bi or trans people. Our populations include many oppressed nationalities, people with aids, women, youths, elders, people who are unemployed, homeless, Deaf, disabled, prisoners, people dependent on welfare, SSI, Medicaid, and Medicare.

    Today we are witnessing a violent bipartisan attack on all our standards of living. This slash-and-burn policy will affect millions of people all over the country, including many lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people. Is it any wonder that we are seeing a simultaneous rise in scapegoating?

    I'm reminded of those assclowns on sites like

    who attack pro-Palestinian queers because "Hamas would hate them" or whatever. Not going to rant about that here but this chapter explains pretty well why support for other oppressed groups is so important.

    I also wanted to say that when I originally read this, it was the first time I really read in-depth about Sylvia Rivera, who I absolutely love. I was feeling pretty depressed and broken at that time and here was someone who lived through far more difficult circumstances and kept pushing forward in spite of that, which was pretty inspiring. Right after reading I ended up doing a bunch of extra reading about STAR and this compilation book of her speeches. Might be good for a reading club even at some point in the future, if anyone else is interested.

  • WEEK 6 THREAD IS HERE!!!

    Let me know if I missed anyone!

  • An injury to one is an injury to all! When we allow ourselves to be split along lines of oppression, we always lose. But when we put forward a collective list of demands together, and fight to defend each other from attacks, we frequently win.

    I think this quote best summarizes this chapter, and again, reinforces that pattern of attacking the common enemy of oppression along alliances and coalitions. Organization truly is the way to move onward, an organized, unified body can crush oppression. Great chapter, as always!

    I also loved the portraits for this chapter. Sylvia's chapter was harsh, but unshakably brave. The appearancy of Huey P. Newton, recognizing queer folk as a revolutionary people, is a universal truth that Les is also making through the core of hir work, allying all of the forces that can be. Plus, Craig's portrait also left us with an amazing quote on what gender even is:

    When you get right down to it, gender is performance, darling.

  • It's important to remember that these demarcations do not depend on being able to clearly define any individual as lesbian or gay. These rough boundaries delineate the scope of opression; these are the perimeters of collective fight-back

    Glad to see people recognise all those years back that class struggle (or gender struggle in this case) occurs between collectives with permeable soft (and even overlapping) boundaries. The liberal rot must be combated and we must adopt a tactical/strategic mindset.

    If only we didn't have time relearn all these lessons over and over again while essentialists and ultras take up so much space on platforms.

  • Very cute picture, I feel like queer people have always loved flared pants and chunky shoes

    (I don't have anything of value to add to the chapter discussion)

  • Reading the portrait of Sylvia Rivera has reminded me how big the gap between how brave I think of myself and how brave I actually am. I keep getting humbled by the world which moves on and on, while I am unable to even come out to my parents or most of my friends. Meanwhile, here is a person who, in a much darker time was able to truly fight back.

  • I'm feeling like shit today, so reading Sylvia's portrait was quite a struggle. But oh my, was it cathartic at the same time.

    We won't get rights by begging for them. We won't get any help from "normal" people whenever bigots abuse us, no matter how nice we are to them. The truth is that empathy is a rare good in this world, not even speaking about proper solidarity. Thus the only way forward is to fight. And we need to fight together, every single one of us. Sylvia and all the others are proof of that.

    I was a radical, a revolutionist. I am still a revolutionist. I was proud to make the road and help change laws and what not. I was very proud of doing that and proud of what I'm still doing, no matter what it takes.

9 comments