GLR July-August 2025

just as capable of falling into right-wing ideas of gender as anyone else, and Angel’s approach to creating a new commu nity was successful. He found a new space of belonging on the right. B ELONGING T ODAY , A NGEL CONTINUES his crusade against transgender healthcare, protections, and well-being. His provocative con tent has led to international press, new business ventures, and paid speaking engagements. Angel reports that his alliances with far-right celebrities have cemented his feelings of belong ing, even as his new comrades want to end his healthcare, gen der recognition, and representation in the media. Angel expressed cautious delight upon Trump’s 2024 elec tion. “You all deserve this shit coming down on you!” he told left-wing activists while celebrating the win. After Inauguration Day, he commended the various anti-trans executive orders as “sanity” and “common sense.” His videos circulated among right-wing pundits to justify their disdain for trans people. Angel is a useful figurehead for the political right’s gender debates. His identity shields the right from criticism. Angel becomes their “trans friend” (also see: “gay friend” and “Black friend”). This status provides his collaborators with cover from accusa tions of anti-trans prejudice. Angel’s brand now centers on banning transgender care for young people and trans women. He follows the right-wing “big pharma” conspiracy theory alleging that doctors are forcing children to become trans against their will. This seems in stark contrast to his belief that trans identity is solely a medical prob lem. However, he does not seem aware of the contradiction. “The only thing I care about is the kids! The adults can cut their arms and legs off and be beach balls; I don’t really care,” he ex plained in an interview. He considers minors transitioning “an abuse of something that saved my life.” It should go without saying that these conspiracy theories are just that. Detransition is extremely rare, and there is no evidence that “big pharma” is pushing gender-affirming medicine on trans people. This leads to the fundamental question: Is it all a grift? Are members of the transgender right only espousing these beliefs to gain money and influence? Are they merely provocateurs? Of course, we cannot know their deepest motivations, but the ef fect is the same either way. In Belonging Through Exclusion , I explore dozens of activist, psychological, and scholarly approaches to shifting beliefs from the far right to the left, which I call “transpoliticization.” This method is based on a holistic set of strategies that examine why &BOOKLOVERS READERS ATTENTION Tim’s Used Books 242 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA timsusedfilms@gmail.com | 508-487-0005 | Open year-round. Are TIM’S USED BOOKS of Provincetown has been traveling throughout the Northeast since 1991, buying book collections, large and small. Scholarly, gay interest, the arts—all genres. Immediate payment and removal.

people join the far right and how this information can be used to change their beliefs. Against conventional advice that far-right politics should be met with moderate solutions, activists like Verónica Gago and Kai Cheng Thom offer thoughtful methods for working directly with the political right toward common left ist causes. They demonstrate that there are ways to prevent right wing ideologies from emerging in our communities by bringing them in rather than pushing them out. Angel’s political transformation is exemplary, not excep tional. Almost every trans person I interviewed had feelings of isolation, rejection, and dehumanization. One neo-Nazi re called: “What does a white nationalist who happens to be a post operative trans woman and lives deep stealth, really look like? It’s definitely not a monster under the bed, that’s for sure.” Her words haunt me. Like Angel, she grew up with left-wing poli tics. Her everyday racism resulted in her exclusion from the queer and trans community, which led her to the neo-Nazi movement. Leftists dehumanized her as a “monster” until she felt she had nowhere to turn but the far right. Once there, her peers intensified her beliefs until she became an outspoken white supremacist. It’s not necessary, or appropriate, to allow people with such beliefs to go unchallenged, but the tendency to exclude these figures can foster a right-wing culture of self-vic timizing beliefs. Perhaps it is impossible to transpoliticize individuals like Buck Angel. However, knowing how to work with such people may prevent the next far-right transgender celebrity from at tacking our movement, our well-being, and our humanity.

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July–August 2025

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