4 ways to make yourself heard, publicly.

Even when no one—or DOGE—is listening.

I wrote a long essay over the weekend that started with a story about my love for flying out of the Burbank airport and then wandered into a deep dive into the Office of the Federal Register, which I punctuated with screenshots of federal graphic design. I tried reading it out loud just once and promptly lost my audience of one.

What is happening in this country right now is dizzying. When a giant wrecking ball or a government-sanctioned drone attack hits a system, how can you articulate the depths of the damage without oversimplifying the complexity that was just there? Unless it’s a bridge, the Hoover Dam, or the Centre Pompidou, infrastructure is at its best when it works invisibly. Any NYer will tell you scaffolding is an eyesore. Also, no one wants to die from a falling brick.

My essay was an attempt to convince you to click over to A4TE’s Freedom to Fly campaign and register your public comments on Regulations.gov in opposition to the State Department’s proposed rules to restrict trans people from holding passports that line up with their stated gender. I couldn’t get the essay to work because I couldn’t convince myself that adding my name wouldn’t increase my chances of being targeted. (Though, here I am publicly commenting.)

My systems-oriented brain is malfunctioning. I wish I were that person who could just reshare the scroll-friendly CTA: “Hey! You who care about trans people! Go sign here!” Instead, I’m the kind of person who spends four days trying to understand the history of Regulations.gov and then falling down a rabbit hole reading public comments on far less weighty proposals. (Ask me about the Coin Guys™️ who are very angry our government wants to ban importing Roman currency.¹) Maybe one day, I’ll share what I learned about the design choices and typefaces of the government publishing office. And it turns out I’ve already written about BUR and how it led me to legally change my gender. Have a read (or listen):

The joys of court-ordered gender affirmation

If you’ve read this far, and you think it would be silly (and dangerous) for this mustache-wearing, middle-age man (me!) to try and fly with an F on a passport, and you’ve run your personal risk calculus, please go comment! A4TE walks you through step-by-step. You have until 11:59pm EST on 3/20.

Thankfully for all of us, there is a writer with linguistic clarity and, unfortunately, very relevant personal experience: M. Gessen. They literally wrote the National Book Award-winning Surviving Autocracy. M. writes now for NYT Opinion; their piece from Monday is a must-read explanation of the dangers of denationalization. (See also Mahmoud Khalil’s letter from ICE detention.)

You really need to read M.’s entire essay (gift link), but to make the point while you are still here, we can’t all just go back to hiding—trans people call this being “stealth. As M. explains:

The rights the Trump administration is taking away from trans people are relatively new. Only in the past few decades, for example, have clear legal procedures existed for changing the gender marker on identity documents, and only in the past few years have federal and some state authorities made the process fairly easy. But before transgender, gender-nonconforming and intersex people were recognized as a group — or groups — of people who had rights, many could blend in, fly below the radar. Now, in their new rightlessness, they are exposed.

I am exposed. Maybe not the *most* exposed, but what an insane and unjust, reassurance to say out loud. We are all exposed. And we’re scared.

Attend this weekend’s protest? Speak at the school board meeting? Sign the petition? Focus on building quiet networks of mutual aid? Hide under the covers? What’s the right move?

Wrestling with what to say to all of you, which was really my way into figuring out what I could (or could not) do, I phoned a friend—specifically, an environmental policy expert whose actual job is to spend time on Regulations.gov. I needed to know, in a world where the machinery of government was functioning as designed, does the public commenting process even work?

Here’s the TL;DR:

1. Caveat: unfortunately, we can’t use the past to predict the present. And, also:

2. Yes, administrative advocacy (the strategic umbrella that public comment campaigns sit under) can work, but it doesn’t work by itself. She assured me that she’s seen policy-makers, advocates, and legislators use mass public comment campaigns to display sentiment. Sometimes that’s what tips the scale.

3. Our representative democracy is built upon constituencies, creating a record of mass speech for or against an issue is demonstrating that a constituency exists. (i.e. there really aren’t that many T’s in the rainbow, we need other people hold hands with us.)

4. Signing on and speaking up are hopeful acts. So is raising your fist.

5. And most importantly: An absence of advocacy is a surefire way to lose rights.

Net, net, will commenting now change the fact that trans people are already having their passports sent back with their gender markers flipped? Maybe not. But know that every little bit, every action, helps shift the narrative that “Nobody cares.”

There are many other ways, of course, to keep commenting, publicly.

I was heartened to hear Rep. Bill Keating calling out his colleague for misgendering Rep. Sarah McBride in a congressional hearing. A few people reached out, wondering my take on the moment—my god, it felt good to finally hear an elected standing up for us.

It brought me a lot of pleasure to see Zander Schlacter post his “pretend passport” after his official one came back altered.

Zander Schlacter’s “pretend passport” official response to governmental aggression.

I reached out to Zander to ask for his permission to share his art here. He gave an immediate yes. Zander’s work was new to me last week and now I’m a huge fan with eyes on this blanket. He designs zany, gorgeous textiles. I asked him if we could meet up at his studio and talk fiber sometime. Before we could line up our calendars, we ran into each other at Torrey Peters’ book launch. We were wearing the same sweater.

Two trans guys walk into a rare book room wearing COS.

Trans people might not exist to this current administration, but we exist to each other. Thank you for also seeing us.

xx Kyle

This is a good time to tip you off, early, that Torrey’s brand new Stag Dance is next month’s Being Alive Book Club read. AND! Torrey will join us Monday, April 14th on Zoom. More info, and a signed copy of Stag Dance for one of you, next week.

Who’s reading Kyle Lukoff’s A World Worth Saving? Come join us Wed, March 26th on Zoom:

Or hang out in the chat:

1. Note: Coin Guys™️ is a registered trademark of Ann Friedman.