I lived through the homophobia of the 70s through 00s and “eww it’s unnatural” was as common and tedious a refrain then as it is now against our trans friends.

Whenever I hear people talk about “basic biology” or “nature” or “common sense” in order to bind the outgroup, this comes to mind.

a doctrine at war with nature

That is what it sounds like.

I know, I know—comparing struggles is gauche but when the rhetoric is a xeroxed mad lib that sounds as wrong now as it did then, I can’t help it. I’m not equating the magnitude of the oppression or denying that the African diaspora holds an exceptional place in American history through our modern day. (Not trying to be like that dumb novel that was like “catholics were the real Holocaust victims”.) The comparison to this unambiguously wrongheaded historical text is a tasteless one but brings with it the comfort that in future hindsight, this might be how all those “it’s just common sense, it’s just basic biology” boot stompers are gonna sound.