Yes, Corey Maison's Protest Photo IS Progressive

Last month, New Jersey-based photography studio Meg Bitton Photography published a protest picture of a trans youth named Corey Maison. The photo, which was in response to all of the anti-trans bathroom legislation being passed in many states all over the country, was posted to Facebook with the caption, “If this was YOUR daughter, would you be comfortable sending her into a men's bathroom? Neither would I. Be fair. Be kind. Be empathetic. Treat others how you would like to be treated.” 

Shortly after the photo went viral, mainstream media outlets like Mic, and even a colleague of mine here at PRIDE, published articles responding to it, claiming that while well-intentioned, Corey's photo isn't as progressive as it seems because of her "passing" privilege, and how not all trans youth's presentations adhere to the gender binary. While those opinions are valid, they can also be destructive, because they don't leave room for nuance. 

After reading these kinds of responses to a photo that was supposed to empower and stick up for trans youth, I felt uneasy and sad, and I wasn’t sure why.

For me, entering a bathroom means experiencing discomfort; I need to figure out how to get into a stall, stand while peeing, and not pee all over myself, before anyone realizes I am trans. It also brings up memories of when I’ve been physically threatened, glared at, dismissed, and chased out of men’s restrooms during the time in my life before I passed and while I was identifying as genderqueer. But so long as a restroom I enter has more than just urinals available, I'm fine. I have passing privilege in this way.

Let's be clear: I understand how spotlighting people who present within the binary has erased genderqueer, gender nonconforming, and non-passing trans folks from national conversations, but just because something is problematic, doesn’t mean it doesn’t also help change things. 

The online #WeJustNeedToPee campaign (where trans people were encouraged to take selfies to document their experiences of using public bathrooms), reinforced the idea that one can determine which bathroom a person “belongs” in just by looking at them. Femme men, non-passing trans folks, butch women, and nonconforming people who (like all humans) need to use the bathroom, have been the ones to be kicked out of restrooms since laws like HB2 were put into place. Instead of saying that all gender policing is incorrect — and that trans people feel afraid and hurt in bathrooms because of it — the online tactic basically made the point that women and children shouldn't be afraid of sharing a bathroom with a trans woman, they should be afraid of potentially having to share a bathroom with a brawny trans man.

By heralding this ideology, many of the #WeJustNeedToPee posts only perpetuate the idea that trans folks are potential predators. That’s a scare tactic that only reinforces negative stereotypes about us. We’re better than that.

It's never okay to leave anyone out when trying to change hate, and I don’t believe in fighting fire with fire. Since many cis people do not understand gender identity, shining a spotlight on binary trans folks that pass has been helpful in getting people to change their minds and open their hearts. 

In a perfect world, I’d be advocating for tampon machines in all bathrooms, but we’re just not there yet. We’re pretty far from there, and we are doing the best that we can in trying to change people’s perceptions of the trans community.

That's why I was so shocked to read so much backlash about Corey's protest picture.

A lot of this argument has been centered around children. HB2 and other bathroom bills have been created to “protect children," but in all of our arguing and disagreements of how to go about stopping the injustice towards the trans community, we have forgotten about the kids involved in our very own movement. How does anyone have the audacity to critique such a move? A little transgender girl is not fighting the hatred by instilling more fear. Instead, she’s saying, “What about the children? What about me?”

The fact that her parents have helped her transition, support her in the face of hatred, and then tell other people they should do the same publicly IS progressive, and to claim otherwise is self-centered. To critique a youth is basically saying, “This is not good enough. You are not good enough. You are not trans enough in a way to advocate.”

In reality, I doubt anyone pushed her into presenting as high-femme. If her parents are cool enough to let her transition, I’m assuming they’d let her transition how she felt comfortable. I’m sorry that she has to not only live in a world where a majority of society wants to  kill her, hurt her, police her, and erase her, but that she’s also part of a community so hurt that it can’t be grateful for nuances and her effort. I personally want to thank her and her family for standing up and doing something other than hiding while maintaining their child's passing privilege. They took action. They helped changed people's minds and gave a voice to the children who keep being spoken for during this really oppressive and harmful debate about transgender lives.