FROM THE EDITOR: Why Star Observer Signed the Joint Letter Standing with Trans Women

Last week, when the landmark Tickle v Giggle case wrapped up, Equality Australia released a joint letter supporting trans women — signed by leading LGBTQIA+ organisations, community groups, and leaders from across the country. It was a powerful and very necessary stand.

I contacted the wonderful folks at Equality Australia immediately and asked for Star Observer to be added as a signatory without hesitation — because this is exactly what community solidarity looks like.

If you’ve been reading us for any time, you know the Star Observer is an entity created and written by our community and for us, and it belongs to us all. Australia’s longest-running LGBTQIA+ media outlet, founded in 1979, has carried our stories through the decriminalisation of queerness, through the AIDS crisis, through our triumphant, joyous moment of marriage equality — and all the ups and downs inbetween, and beyond.

We also signed because we find ourselves at a crossroads. Divisive anti-LGBTQIA+, right-wing, and fascist voices — voices that have historically sought to break us apart — are circling trans folks like sharks right now. But make no mistake, they do have the end goal of coming for us all.

However, some of these divisive voices, heartbreakingly, are our own — the call is coming from inside the house. A small but loud contingent using their platform to attack trans women and claiming to speak for us all. Let me be clear here: they do not. They never have, and they never will.

Trans people have always, always, always been vital, present and beloved members of our community. And through various moments of persecutions in our shared history, they’ve stood shoulder to shoulder with lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, non-binary folks, regional queers, queer folks living with disability, queer Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and First Nations siblings — on every front. They’ve shown up when it mattered most.

And now, when trans people — particularly trans women — are being targeted around the globe, standing by is simply not good enough. We need to speak up and stand with them.

Roxanne Tickle is nothing short of a hero

Roxanne Tickle is nothing short of a community hero. Not just for defending her dignity and her rights, but for drawing a line in the sand and demanding respect for the trans community. Her actions show us best practice for our community: when someone picks on one of us, they pick on all of us, and staying silent is to be complicit.

Roxanne didn’t just fight for herself — she issued a challenge to the lies, the misinformation, the queer-on-queer violence and hate that’s creeping into our safe spaces. That’s courage, and true leadership. That’s a human being that our community should be deeply proud of. That’s our heroine.

Solidarity is not optional — it’s survival

We also need to remember that every time our community has been under attack — whether it was the clashes with police in Darlinghurst in the late 1970s or the police raids on Melbourne nightclubs in the 90s, the “moral” panic during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, or the bitter “No” campaign during the marriage equality postal survey — transgender folks were there for those battles and countless others, often at the very frontlines. They paid the same prices and carry the same scars.

Our survival has always depended on solidarity. Not selective solidarity. Not “I’ll stand with you if you fit my selective definition of queer.” Selective solidarity is a pointless oxymoron, and it is does not fucking work. What does work is true solidarity: all of us, standing together.

This is about more than one case, or one letter. It’s about rejecting the false narrative that our liberation is a finite resource — that giving dignity and safety to trans women somehow takes something away from others in the LGBTQIA+ community. That is a lie born from the same systems that have always tried to pit us against each other. If we start believing that lie, we hand them the very tools they’ve used against us for decades.

Let’s be clear: the real danger right now is division. Queer-on-queer violence and hate — when members of our own community turn against each other — isn’t liberation. It’s betrayal. It weakens us, it hurts us, and it succumbs to the same forces that have always tried to silence our strength. We see that, and we reject it.

This is precisely why the team at Star Observer felt the duty to join with others in this stand. Because our legacy isn’t about pointing fingers — it’s about linking arms. Supporting Roxanne and trans women isn’t a political statement; it’s simply a statement of unmitigated adoration for and belief in our community, and of solidarity.

A call to return to unity

I know times are really tough and frightening right now. I know there’s widespread fear, pain, frustration, with more anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric and policies emerging every day.

But here’s something I believe with my whole heart: history proves we’re stronger together. When we fight for each other — not against each other, we survive. And not only only survive, we thrive, and grow and evolve and progress. And by doing that, we win.

So here’s my hope, plain and simple: Let’s find our way back to unity. Back to mutual aid and mutual care. Because the only thing more powerful than our individual stories is the story we write together, hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder.

You can read our original news story about the joint letter here.

— Chloe Sargeant
Managing Editor, Star Observer