Oh wow, I’m newer to Substack, and did not know about all of this. Thank you for writing about it, and sharing other options. I will likely be following you to that platform.
I am sorry for the delayed response, but you have made many solid points I want to address, and I want to give the response time and focus it deserves. Thank you for writing this, Kenzie. I have read it several times now, and each time I find something new to sit with, both in what you are describing and in what you are modeling.
First, the lived reality you are detailing matters and deserves naming. Your doctor disappearing. Your therapist losing her job without explanation. Care pathways collapsing. These are not abstractions or rhetorical points. This is what institutional transmisia looks like when it moves from policy to practice to erasure. The fact that you are still finding providers, still doing the work to build a support network in the Bible Belt, still showing up to church and being welcomed - that is not small. But you are right that it is not enough, and it should not have to be this hard.
You are also right that arguing against everyone is not effective or sustainable. It is cathartic sometimes, but it is exhausting and a waste of energy that could be better served invested somewhere with actual traction. That realization has been shifting my own work as well - moving toward essays that try to galvanize something intersectional and real, writing more about solidarity itself.
But I want to be direct about something: I do not think I am moving the needle, but you are.
What struck me most about your letter to the church was not the correction itself - though the correction was needed and well-executed. It was that you did not approach them as enemies. You approached them as people who had shown up, were trying, but needed language. You gave them a tool. That is bridge-building. That is the kind of local work that actually shifts things in ways that essays cannot touch. You serve as an emissary, I think we all do, and that is a key component to what I think we as a trans community must do - not just within our local community, but also to the communities we intersect with.
You write about how fighting everything is unsustainable, and then you turn around and do the hard work anyway at a local level, with people you can actually reach, in ways that compound over time. That is the work. Your instinct is sound.
Here is what I think is important to keep in mind here: none of it works in isolation. Your work at the local level only compounds into real power when it connects to a broader movement - when the people you are reaching at that church become part of a larger coalition with others doing the same work in other places. When that coordination turns into sustained opposition to groups like SEGM, Genspect, Heritage Foundation - that is when policies shift, when voting blocks coordinate, when representatives hear from constituents demanding change. It is only through those connections and solidarity movements, through broader coalitions that connect local struggles into a coordinated force, that we develop any real ability to take effective action against the institutional machinery grinding away at us. Essays can give us that framework, the language, and the shared understanding and strategy - but it is you and people like you who build that trust, and solidarity lives and dies on trust.
I will look at Genspect's glossary and think about what you raised about language as control and semantic redefinition. That is the kind of analysis I can do, and I already have an essay idea brewing about it :) But understand: that work exists in service to what you are doing. The real architecture is you, showing up to a church and teaching better language. You, finding new providers. You, building community where there was none. You, connecting that community to others doing the same work, turning isolated efforts into coordinated resistance.
Keep your mental health intact. Keep showing up where you are welcomed. Keep doing what you are doing, and keep building and connecting. Don’t burn yourself out <3
Thank you for reading. Thank you for doing the work. Thank you for not letting me off the hook. :D
In solidarity, PITT
P.S. There is no real benefit to signing up in advance - but if I do publish anything between now and the subscriber list migration, you won’t see it land in your inbox.
Thank you for all you've done here, and all you're continuing to do on valah.blog and elsewhere. And thank you for causing me real pause this morning. I'll be sitting with my conscience on this and trying to get clear about my own choices.
Been considering if now is the time to move my stack as well (my stuff is also always free), especially with the email breach. That did NOT make me happy. Thanks for the push.
![People with Inconvenient Truths about Transphobes [PITT]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YttD!,w_120,h_120,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F704ba0db-3e10-4112-9364-c2f224d0cfae_500x500.png)
Oh wow, I’m newer to Substack, and did not know about all of this. Thank you for writing about it, and sharing other options. I will likely be following you to that platform.
Updated & Edited: 02/20/26- The new blog is good (go to valah.blog). To all readers: I recommend it. New offerings already.
PITT certainly left their mark here on Substack. Val is one of my top favorites. We need more people like her in this struggle.
Thanks 🏳️⚧️⚧️🌈
Hi Kenzie,
I am sorry for the delayed response, but you have made many solid points I want to address, and I want to give the response time and focus it deserves. Thank you for writing this, Kenzie. I have read it several times now, and each time I find something new to sit with, both in what you are describing and in what you are modeling.
First, the lived reality you are detailing matters and deserves naming. Your doctor disappearing. Your therapist losing her job without explanation. Care pathways collapsing. These are not abstractions or rhetorical points. This is what institutional transmisia looks like when it moves from policy to practice to erasure. The fact that you are still finding providers, still doing the work to build a support network in the Bible Belt, still showing up to church and being welcomed - that is not small. But you are right that it is not enough, and it should not have to be this hard.
You are also right that arguing against everyone is not effective or sustainable. It is cathartic sometimes, but it is exhausting and a waste of energy that could be better served invested somewhere with actual traction. That realization has been shifting my own work as well - moving toward essays that try to galvanize something intersectional and real, writing more about solidarity itself.
But I want to be direct about something: I do not think I am moving the needle, but you are.
What struck me most about your letter to the church was not the correction itself - though the correction was needed and well-executed. It was that you did not approach them as enemies. You approached them as people who had shown up, were trying, but needed language. You gave them a tool. That is bridge-building. That is the kind of local work that actually shifts things in ways that essays cannot touch. You serve as an emissary, I think we all do, and that is a key component to what I think we as a trans community must do - not just within our local community, but also to the communities we intersect with.
You write about how fighting everything is unsustainable, and then you turn around and do the hard work anyway at a local level, with people you can actually reach, in ways that compound over time. That is the work. Your instinct is sound.
Here is what I think is important to keep in mind here: none of it works in isolation. Your work at the local level only compounds into real power when it connects to a broader movement - when the people you are reaching at that church become part of a larger coalition with others doing the same work in other places. When that coordination turns into sustained opposition to groups like SEGM, Genspect, Heritage Foundation - that is when policies shift, when voting blocks coordinate, when representatives hear from constituents demanding change. It is only through those connections and solidarity movements, through broader coalitions that connect local struggles into a coordinated force, that we develop any real ability to take effective action against the institutional machinery grinding away at us. Essays can give us that framework, the language, and the shared understanding and strategy - but it is you and people like you who build that trust, and solidarity lives and dies on trust.
I will look at Genspect's glossary and think about what you raised about language as control and semantic redefinition. That is the kind of analysis I can do, and I already have an essay idea brewing about it :) But understand: that work exists in service to what you are doing. The real architecture is you, showing up to a church and teaching better language. You, finding new providers. You, building community where there was none. You, connecting that community to others doing the same work, turning isolated efforts into coordinated resistance.
Keep your mental health intact. Keep showing up where you are welcomed. Keep doing what you are doing, and keep building and connecting. Don’t burn yourself out <3
Thank you for reading. Thank you for doing the work. Thank you for not letting me off the hook. :D
In solidarity, PITT
P.S. There is no real benefit to signing up in advance - but if I do publish anything between now and the subscriber list migration, you won’t see it land in your inbox.
thanks for the response. I will get back to you on this myself.
Thank you for all you've done here, and all you're continuing to do on valah.blog and elsewhere. And thank you for causing me real pause this morning. I'll be sitting with my conscience on this and trying to get clear about my own choices.
Been considering if now is the time to move my stack as well (my stuff is also always free), especially with the email breach. That did NOT make me happy. Thanks for the push.
Thank you for your service. I will be happy to follow you elsewhere. You’re not the only stack that I’ve been exported to on another platform.
ETA: I passed on the info about the data breach.