Here’s a transcript of his talk: I’d like to have a few words today with my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.

I have noticed — on my page on Facebook and elsewhere — that there have been people who identify as gay or lesbian, but who think that entitles them to exclude trans people from the equation. I came from a time and a place where we were all talking about “LGBT,” and that meant including trans folk.

Now, there are people who are telling me — oh, what is the line they use? “It’s not a binary situation.” You know… all of this is gobbledygook for people who want to exclude some people from the right to exist. And it would be shameful, on the part of anybody I know, to support that thesis.

I can’t remember a time — since the beginning of the gay rights movement — when we weren’t in this together. It was not an alien thing to me to support trans folk. In fact, it made sense on some level, because they were a variation of our own experience that I couldn’t personally experience. But I understood their right to be who they are. And I realized that we were fighting against the same foes — the same people that hate us, hate the trans community.

And, you know, Nigel Farage wants to eliminate the Equality Act in England. And in doing so, he would take away all of our rights. I mean — I shouldn’t have to appeal to your self-interest here. The point is that we are stronger together — always have been — and to settle back into some cozy, middle-class sense of what we are as a gay or lesbian person, and not include trans people, is a really bad mistake. And it’s an unkindness, frankly, that you can’t be guilty of.

“We are stronger together — always have been — and to settle into some cozy middle-class sense of what we are as gay or lesbian people, and not include trans folks, is a really bad mistake.”

I don’t want anybody to be left out of the picture.

And so here I am — this 81-year-old queer — asking you to do the same: to stand up and fight for trans people. And not just because we’re in it together, but because it’s the decent thing to do.

The noise against trans folk has been greater than it’s been in years. And I think that’s why some gay men and lesbians are sort of chickening out and want to abandon trans people. We cannot do that. We have to stand up for everybody. And we have to realize that that’s where our strength comes from.

So I hope we can fight this battle together — basically because that’s the only way we’re going to win. And I’ve long ago stopped worrying about winning, because I’m 81 years old, and who knows — there’ll still be a fuss going on after I’m dead — but I hope we’ll stay on the side of the good guys, our own side, and support trans folk whenever it’s necessary.

It’s often necessary right now. That’s why I’m even saying this — because it’s the one fight that seems to be still up for grabs, and that is not the time to leave these people behind.

We cannot do that. We must be good guys. We must be good queers.

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