Why is the Right Attacking Jeffrey Marsh?

Strap in, friends, because this ride is about to be bumpy as hell.

It’s no surprise to literally anyone of the L, G, B, T or Q variety that the right has been on the offense this year, attacking not just queer and trans civil rights, but our very right to exist in public via widespread drag and gender-affirming care bans.

But obviously, that’s not enough. They have to go after queer and trans individuals, too.

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The attack on nonbinary influencer Jeffrey Marsh centers around the fact that Marsh makes videos specifically speaking to trans and gender-nonconforming kids that essentially just remind them that they do, indeed, exist and have a right to do so.

In a video Marsh posted last year, they explained that gender is a construct, and that this is something that kids should be encouraged to learn about. Seems pretty harmless, right? Well, not to the homophobic and transphobic “pick me” gays that love to twist any direct address to queer and trans youth into some kind of evidence of out-in-the-open pedophilia.

The attacks came swiftly (and often from detransitioners) and Marsh continued to mind their own god-given business. Until an anti-trans comedy account decided to keep harping on the totally unsubstantiated claim that drag shows and the public existence of trans people somehow harms children.

TikToker Shamirun Nessa stitched one of Marsh’s videos in March to advance the claim that Marsh was a “groomer” and “pedophile” because Marsh had asked kids to message them on their Patreon. This claim, of course, didn’t hold water, especially because to message Marsh on Patreon, you must be 18 or older.

Nessa later posted a (since-deleted) TikTok explaining that she’d been subject to hateful language and harassment after speaking out against Marsh. OG TERF Julie Bindel quickly came to Nessa’s defense in an Al Jazeera op ed. Anti-gay queer TikToker @MikeMajesty and others continued their harassment of Marsh, despite any substantative claims that Marsh has ever done anything remotely akin to grooming and/or pedophilic abuse.

So yeah, same old sh*t basically. Being trans and nonbinary in the public eye is evenutally, in this climate, going to get you called a pedophile and a groomer for having the audacity to tell trans and queer kids that they’re not crazy, not alone, and not doomed.

Queer accounts continue to fight the hate campaign against Marsh, pointing out just how absurd the hysteria really is.

Last night, Marsh posted a TikTok addressing the pile-on, explaining that they’re dealing with the hate by remembering their true purpose: to “bring forth the thing that needs to be healed” in others. And when it comes to far-right trolls, boy is there a lot of healing that needs to happen. Like, right now.

Haters gonna hate, and queer creators are gonna keep on doing what they do best: creating kind and informative content that makes the rest of us feel just a little bit less alone.