A few thoughts about being back on Twitter

Graham Linehan @Glinner

So how's the tweeting going? Am I hanging back too much? Should I start really letting people have it?

First of all, don't worry, I haven't abandoned you. There’s a somewhat itinerant aspect to my life at the moment as I wait to move into my new flat, so it’s hard to sit down with a laptop and compose something substantial.

Also, I feel like during my Twitter exile I had two or three years of collecting this material that was seen by you by my wonderful subscribers but not shared widely, even by people within the movement, even by people who I have supported unconditionally. So I’ve been making up for lost time and spreading some of the more eye-opening stuff to my 560k followers.

It’s been a wild few days. We’ve seen the insulting appropriation of gay culture by the spicy straight community.

The straight Only Connect contestant who uses a gay slur as personal decoration

I got into a row with Victoria Coren about it and she dodged the issue as all ‘trans allies’ do. I found out recently that Coren joined in the disgraceful attacks on Jenni Murray so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. (My favourite line in this piece is the one where she lambasts Actual Feminist Julie Burchill by saying “My fault for going away, I suppose. If I’d been here, I’d have written something jolly about pelicans or the Queen’s shoes.” Yeah, I bet you would, Victoria, and that’s the problem.)

On Christmas Day, I got this message.

Sniperjett @Sniperjett1

@Glinner

I was actually enjoying Christmas in Dublin, but I remembered that photo being taken during the Summer. When I saw them take it, I knew exactly what they intended, so I ran across the road, got my own camera out, and shouted ‘HEY!’.

‘Norwich Anti-Fascist’ SniperJett quickly panicked and blocked me.

There was also this fake tweet which is being shared at every opportunity.

Note the American date format —trans activists are not known for their sharpness, but American trans activists have that added quality of thinking everywhere is America— and the fact that the character count extends past Twitter’s 2014 capabilities. The furious onslaught of lies, misrepresentations and rumour is exactly what I went through when I first got into this fight. But this time there's an important difference. People suddenly know the territory. People are less frightened, more eloquent, suddenly unafraid of sharing their experiences and thoughts. There’s a sure-footedness now. My previous time on Twitter was spent making the same points again and again but those days are over as hundreds more followers are confident enough to enter the fray.

The tide is turning. See you in the new year.