A personal note, from the mod known as @onerealperson , because this didn't actually come up in the thread I got into a few days ago (I expected it to, but the other person wasn't reading my posts, so having a coherent discussion trajectory wasn't in the cards), but it is going to come up sooner or later: I'm TME but for various reasons, I center trans women in my activism. One of the difficult things about centering a group in your activism that you're not a member of is that no matter how much footwork you do, there is literally no way to pick a stance that agrees with everyone. So to hold space for people, my praxis is: listen to everyone you can, and do your best to figure out who is the most vulnerable, and listen to them, and use your head. There is always someone who disagrees with anything even when it's group consensus. There are wealthy disabled people who think social programs are bullshit, and black cops who defend Darren Wilson, and women who don't think rape is very common, and so forth. And these are sometimes people who aren't even disingenuous, but just reading their own life circumstances into others'. They may genuinely be unaware that a type of oppression is going on around them, because they haven't witnessed it personally. So when there are multiple sides to any issue that's not directly in my lane, and even some issues that *are* in my lane, I listen to everyone and try to figure out who's actively in danger, and put their needs first. And this takes a lot of reading and listening and paying attention to what's going on. As my blog name says, I'm just one real person. I don't speak for everyone. I won't always get it right. But I will do my best to stand for people who are getting hurt and targeted and put at risk for material harms in ways that seem to be occurring commonly, while also acknowledging that there is a diverse landscape of experiences beyond my full understanding.
