The Tyranny Of Either/Or

[Sampled recording of Sylvia Rivera]
Y’all better quiet down!

From the second we are born
We’re forced to fight for every breath
The tyranny of either/or
You play the victim, our existence is a threat
But we were not the ones who declared war
Every year we read the names of those we lost
Every day we're sick and tired

We just want to be ourselves
We just want to live our lives
And we refuse to comply
We deserve to do more than survive

You weaponize biology, twist science into bigotry
Anything to justify
Your projected insecurities become policies of purity
You debate about our right to be alive
When we defend ourselves you call it an attack
Why can’t you see our liberation’s intertwined

We just want to be ourselves
We just want to live our lives
And we refuse to comply
With your pathological need to categorize

The tyranny of either/or
The tyranny of either/or
The tyranny of either/or
The tyranny of either/or