frankly i hate the news on this. probable trans person based on their username. i dont like seeing our people kill themselves, its just bad and awful and i hate everything about it. if any of you fuckers get any ideas like this i will hunt you down
Yeah, when I read the CrimethInc article I saw the footnote that the e-mail they received specified he/him pronouns, and I thought, "That's a bit unusual for a military man, but obviously it's quite welcome." -- and then I kept reading and I saw "LillyAnarKitty" and I thought, "💔"
And so I feel kind of torn. Ultimately he did ask to be referred to with he/him pronouns and by the name Aaron Bushnell, and so I've respected that, but a part of me thinks that that was only because he didn't want to be remembered as a trans girl for the sake of other trans girls. To not have to hear news about one of our own dying, to not have media coverage distract from the potent image of a member of the armed forces self-immolating by focusing on that person being a trans girl. It's pretty fucked but... Sigh.
recently I heard on a podcast that someone who was planning to participate in "the shoe bomb" was stopped by his dad. who said something along the lines of "I heard people are talking about suicide bombing. if you commit suicide I will fucking kill you." and he was sufficiently scared of this he changed his mind.
I didn't even know they were likely trans and that makes it even worse.
While I do hope Bushnell's sacrifice spurs the world into action there's this line to walk when honoring it where you don't tell comrades, many of whom are struggling right now, to jump into a fucking meat grinder in the hopes it will somehow kickstart a revolution.