Hi everyone, I haven't posted here in a while but I could use your input.
I've been struggling recently with the clear shift toward trans genocide in the United States. I don't think we're there yet, but things are bad, getting worse, and the course seems unalterable at this point. I find myself alternating between periods of contentedness with my own day-to-day and absolute terror at the increasingly fascistic state of this country.
I also happen to teach courses that discuss gender issues, and student attitudes have paralleled the national mood. I am now routinely dealing with hardline anti-trans students who have made my life difficult. I worry about my safety in the classroom, and especially fear being doxed by Libs of TikTok or the like.
The other day I was driving to work in a panic about the gender topics I would need to teach that day and how they would be received. I felt genuinely very anxious and afraid. I was not in an ideal headspace. So what happens? I arrive at work, start heading toward my office, and immediately overhear two coworkers discussing trans issues.
One of these colleagues is a gay philosophy professor who has expressed TERFy attitudes in the past, and this was not the first time I've caught him debating the cough cough "trans question" in the workplace. In the past I felt he was mostly just a liberal doofus who got exposed to TERF arguments but hadn't pursued them deeply. But now I'm beginning to think he's fully down the rabbit hole. Why would anyone else talk about the issue this much?
Meanwhile the person he's discussing this with was someone I thought to be an ally. And sure enough, she seemed to be mostly defending trans people. But then I heard her use the word "pretend," as in cis people must pretend trans people are who they say they are and I just kind of snapped.
I walked over to them and shouted (almost verbatim) YOU DON'T GET TO DECIDE WHO AND WHAT WE ARE. THIS ISN'T YOUR BUSINESS. WE AREN'T YOUR PHILOSOPHY. STICK TO WHAT YOU KNOW. and stormed off. I then immediately walked into my classroom and skipped ahead to a different unit not focused on gender.
My boss is supportive and said I won't be getting into trouble for this. He felt I was in the right and was annoyed that the other faculty seemed less concerned with what I'd said and more concerned that their freedom of speech was being intruded upon.
It doesn't appear there will be repercussions, but I feel a bit guilty about how things transpired while also simultaneously still very angry about what I heard. I'm just pissed as hell. What should I do?
