Calling Out Transphobia in Our Community

Over the weekend, one of the owners of At Sara's Table / Chester Creek Cafe, Barbara Neubert, shared a transphobic meme and at least one other meme in support of JK Rowling on her personal Facebook page. This might sound like an issue of free speech, but it's not, it's hate speech. Its purpose is to dehumanize us.

That it was platformed by a respected elder in the local progressive and LGBTQ communities is even more concerning. Many politicians who have pushed for draconian transphobic laws have used JK Rowling's own tweets as a justification to punish us, and keep us closeted. It also came to light that her wife and co-owner, Carla Blumberg, told a non-binary employee that they ought to dress more feminine because "I get that your generation believes that sexual manipulation is utterly evil, but, nevertheless, it works." Then in a later "clarification" misgendered them, and said they "dressed like someone in the Seattle grunge scene while (they were) hosting."

We live under the shadow of a tremendous rise in vigilante violence against trans people, violence that is fueled by rampant misinformation and the policing of bodies. We cannot tolerate this behavior, it hasn't even been two months since the death of Nex Benedict. Trans rights are human rights! Boycott of At Sara's Table / Chester Creek Café!