Back in February, the term “super straight” was coined by TikTok creator Kyle Royce to emphasize how he is solely attracted to cisgender women. This term has started to gain popularity recently, as many of Royce’s followers began to identify as “super straight” while using orange and black squares to represent their “pride” colors.

“I don’t like the new term ‘super straight’ because it discriminates against the trans community,” sophomore Dunia Hamad said. “I feel like it is extremely disrespectful because there isn’t a difference between someone who was born a gender and someone who transitioned to it. Both cis and trans people are equally the genders they say they are.”

While it’s not inherently transphobic to be uncomfortable dating a trans person, the term “super straight” implies that they don’t see transgender people as valid in the gender they are comfortable with. Having a preference for cisgender people is one thing, but creating a whole new sexuality for the sole purpose of flaunting the discrimination against the transgender community is hurtful and wrong.

“Personally, I don’t think it is transphobic for someone who considers themself straight to not want to date a person who is trans who identifies as the opposite sex but has the same body parts they were born with,” junior Becca Marsh said. “I think gender and genital preference are both normal things.”

Although the existing term “straight” identifies a person who is attracted to the opposite sex, “super straight” is used to exclude those who are transgender. According to Insider, this term was an attempt to divide the LGBTQ community and justify transphobia and bigotry.

“At the end of the day, people are just going to be attracted to who they are attracted to, so I think the labels around all of this can be super confusing and unnecessary,” Marsh said.

While this trend seems to stem from one TikTok creator, the media has always been full of transphobia, so it isn’t surprising that people would identify with the term “super straight.” Additionally, although there is not an abundance of evidence, there were found to be ties between this term and neo-Nazis.

According to Snopes, many screenshots of social media posts show “Super Straight” on flags similar to the Nazi “SS,” the paramilitary organization of Hitler’s party. While the term “super straight” might not have been made to directly tie to neo-nazi ideologies, it certainly shares similar values, as they both convey anti-LGBTQ messages.

“I think the new term ‘super straight’ is really just a new way of putting a more toxic label on something that sort of already existed,” Marsh said. “Gender identity and sexuality have a tendency to intermingle and get very confusing, and this new label really doesn’t help.”

A lot of cisgender people don’t understand how their way of “expressing themselves” actually causes harm to the transgender community. Trans people already receive enough criticism and hate; they don’t need “super straight” people invalidating their gender identity as well. People need to understand that while having a preference is perfectly fine, introducing a new sexuality as a loophole to transphobia crosses the line.

This story was originally published on The Purple Tide | The Knightly News on April 19, 2021.