Digital burning: the online censorship of gender

a letter to trans folks everywhere

To whom it may concern,

As of January 30th, at least four websites dedicated to the U.S. Census Bureau’s attempts to record data about gender identity and sexuality are inaccessible. The CDC has instructed their scientists to retract or pause the processing of research manuscripts including a list of “forbidden terms,” which include the words gender, transgender, non-binary, and LGBT. These events, and events like them, are steps towards making the transgender population “unknowable.”

Limiting the visibility of a population in the modern age isn’t difficult. With the ability to block and ban came a new wave of ignorance. Political echo chambers are not hard to find; both X and Meta have made their popular platforms breeding grounds for bigoted rhetoric and censorship of “offensive” (read: progressive) content. The removal of information about gender and the encouragement of persecution towards those who are transgender by the U.S. government isn’t just a petty rejection of a population: it is an erasure of culture and an invitation for violence. As Nancy Bates, a former senior researcher for survey methodology, said in an NPR interview, “If you don’t measure [gender identity], then it basically just becomes unknowable and the population is basically erased.”

I understand how difficult it is to read this and still think positively, and I know the feeling of wanting to give up. However, I also want people to know that something that is the most important during this time is the ability to create and to love. Creating anything: writing, art, music- it’s all resistance. (Extra points if it’s both online and physical!) It’s all joy. It’s all freedom. And to love: love your neighbor, love your friends, love your family, love your community.

Love as a form of resistance prioritizes mutual support and emotional investment in others’ well-being. You cannot be purely combative in your political defiance. Who will you go home to at the end of the day? Who will bandage the wounds you cannot reach?

Being an advocate for yourself is sometimes the most challenging (and rewarding) thing about life. Please be brave. Please continue being lovely. Please keep breathing.

Jace