Some readers, I suspect, may feel I’m a bit late to the party on this one. After all, with the last ten years of Brexit, rolling PMs, corruption, scandals, and the hopelessly inept attempted cover ups of those scandals, it can hardly be said the British system has been firing on all cylinders. If you want to tell me we left meaningful democracy behind some time ago, I won’t fight you too hard on that.

I would say however, as someone who lived in America through much of their transition to competitive authoritarianism, that even progressive cynics are often caught off guard by how much worse things can get. Yes, things are very bad (and very stupid) indeed, but this should not blind us to how much worse they can get. However one conceptualises it or labels it, our sudden reversal on trans rights is a massive red flag for our political and social system.

And it’s one that I think is being missed by the vast majority of the public and politicians alike. Even those who disagree with trans exclusion seem to largely conceptualise it as both a minor issue and a separable one—unconnected to the rising tide of fascism across the globe.

cross-posted from: https://leminal.space/post/35754721