QueerRights Statement: Visibility without solidarity is just surveillance

As trans and queer attendees of MozFest, we want solidarity, and we will no longer stand for surveillance. We stand in solidarity with all communities that struggle for tech justice, and that mobilize against colonial, racist, cisheteropatriarchal, and ableist structures that harm us all. Although we are writing in response to a point of rupture in the world of tech justice, we write this statement as a call for solidarity, and a commitment to do the same. 

For language justice that includes people in the Global Majority and acknowledges the existence of nonbinary and gender expansive people, we share our translation of this statement in Spanish over here.

During a mainstage event at MozFest 2025 called “Unlearning Regulation,” the moderator twice referred to Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s first digital minister and the world’s first non-binary cabinet minister, as “he/she/whatever.” This language stemmed from Audrey telling the moderator that she could use “whatever pronouns” backstage, but this literal and public use of “whatever” created a visible rupture and triggered reactions from trans as well as queer attendees.

To call a person “he/she/whatever” has historically been an act of dehumanization that furthers transphobia through misgendering. Regardless of backstage permissions, broadcasting this language without context signaled that our identities are negligible. This signal is painful to receive when we’re participating in a community like MozFest that seeks to use technology in the fight for human rights. On the surface, a simple utterance that causes a rupture; below, a mechanism for encoding cisnormativity through administrative violence, perpetuated via technologies, records, and written utterances.

It’s critical to understand that the uncontextualized use of seemingly dismissive language toward a high-profile trans person on stage is a collective harm to trans and queer attendees of MozFest. As some of us pointed out immediately in the aftermath, and some us later, many trans people have been dehumanized and faced professional difficulties through misgendering, sometimes with this exact language.

The tech broligarchy is rooted in the norms of cisgendered white men who live in the Global North, many of whom live in so-called Silicon Valley on the stolen lands of the Ohlone peoples. That’s important because we’re living in a world in which, as Sasha Costanza-Chock notes, “the violent erasure of trans and gender non-conforming people isn’t something new … it’s been happening for hundreds of years under the ongoing project of settler colonialism. Cisnormativity has been imposed on indigenous peoples throughout the Americas and around the world through centuries of violence, both spectacular and everyday.” We’re here to unlearn the gender system that has been imposed on us, understand how it relates to racial capitalism, and rethink what this means for the technologies we build and maintain together.

Trans people oftentimes end up as canaries in the coal mine, whose persecuation signals rising authoritarianism and carcerality. This occurs not only in high-level government or corporate environments, but also in the NGO and civil society space. But as Dia mentioned in their comments, we are not canaries— we are human beings.

Our comrade Alex Argüelles, a nonbinary technologist and social worker from Mexico, reminds us that “[o]nce a trans person (binary or nonbinary) has been characterized as “the issue” for calling out cis-sexism and/or transphobia, they are discarded and maligned to the point of isolation or complete destruction of their reputation (labeling them ‘problematic’, ‘unprofessional’, or simply excluding them from any possibilities to thrive and prosper).” Subsequent “code of conduct” and reporting mechanisms are mostly led by cis people and grounded in how cis people face gender-based violence. The pervasive lack of queer perspectives (alongside a lack of intersectional, trauma-informed, and transformative justice approaches) to the widespread understanding of gender-based violence leaves trans people vulnerable to either accept ongoing mistreatment/abuse escalation in order to remain in the field or to leave a field that doesn’t acknowledges their dignity at the cost of their professional and/or economic stability. These harms are compounded when the targeted individuals are from the Global Majority, not public figures, non-white, neurodivergent, and/or disabled, deepening marginalization.

The misgendering Audrey faced on a public stage oftentimes goes unacknowledged and unaddressed when it targets non-“visible” trans (binary and nonbinary) people. No one should be denied their identity, let alone be dismissed, antagonized, or discriminated for being trans in public amidst the ongoing wave of dehumsnization and hatred towards our community at a global scale. As allies, cis people who understand that the fight against gender-based violence includes fighting against transphobia must take a stand to promote the inclusion and recognition of trans (binary and nonbinary) people in the tech justice and digital rights fields. After all: Trans Rights are Human Rights.

This rupture served as a powerful reminder that cisheteronormativity itself also needs to be unlearned, keeping with the theme of the conference. That’s why we gathered on the mainstage on the final day of MozFest to talk about what it means to redress the harms caused by cisheteronormativity, but also to connect trans justice to critical issues of tech justice, including anti-imperial struggles, struggles against settler colonialism, racism, sexism, ableism, and efforts from the Majority World to create sustainable tech. The video for the session is available here:

This was very possibly the first time that we have had an all-trans panel at a tech conference of this scale. The key message of our panel was about recognizing structural oppression, active solidarity, and reimagining broken narratives. As Elijah pointed out on stage, cisnormativity is a narrative too, and one that can be rewritten. Following Professor Ruha Benjamin, we are trapped in the imagination of the broligarchy. How do we emerge out of that? What does it mean to imagine an abundant, flourishing trans future?

We take this moment to call for meaningful unlearning. We call on MozFest, the digital rights community, and the tech community writ large to do the following:

Finally, we call on everyone to challenge and rewrite broken narratives, from cisnormativity to whiteness to Global North privilege — and to begin to dream of other possible worlds.  

We call on our communities and colleagues to foreground trans and queer communities from the Majority World, who experience the violence of imperialism and ongoing settler colonialism, and to approach with respect the indigenous and traditional gender diverse communities who have fought the erasure of their identities. We believe tech justice is trans justice, but that neither vision can be created from whiteness, nor from the Global North alone. We call for recognition and support of Black and Brown trans people, especially working-class Black and Latina trans women,who have been at the forefront of trans justice since the beginning of the Western queer movement. We must honor the legacy of all our queer elders by envisioning something better.

We call on funders, conference organizers, and hiring committees to center marginalized voices on mainstages, in positions of power, and with less restrictive funding that recognizes our expertise.

We call on NGOs and civil society organizations to develop accountability practices and reporting mechanisms that are trauma-informed, grounded in transformative justice, and that incorporate trans and queer people and perspectives,

We call on NGOs and academia in the tech justice space to challenge the capitalist structures that harm all workers, but especially marginalized workers. We call on you to not only pay a living wage, but to provide meaningful support to marginalized workers, from accessibility to ensuring trans employees can access healthcare.

We call on events, like MozFest, to center trans and marginalized voices, and make those voices an active part of the events, across speaking, planning, coordinating and care, of which all of these roles adn labor should be paid. Events should hire and pay trans activists to shape, lead, and be a part of roles including codes of conduct, organizing committees, care response teams, etc.

Visibility without solidarity is just surveillance. – Elijah McKinnon

QueerRights Community.