The War Against Transgender People
If you’re a transgender person in the United States today, it’s hard not to feel like you’re in the crosshairs. Eight—that’s right—eight state legislatures have seen bills introduced this year designed to strip away transgender rights. Several of these bills would create criminal penalties for doctors who provide medically necessary and otherwise legal treatment for trans children.
Some of these bills won’t go anywhere—the one to strip away legal protections in Iowa is already dead—but some are advancing. One of the worst bills, targeting doctors, has already passed the South Dakota House of Representatives by a 46-23 margin.
What is driving this? Where is the overblown rhetoric coming from that actually dares to compare medical treatment of transgender children with the worst medical experiments by Nazi doctors during the Holocaust?
It doesn’t matter to these opportunistic legislators that the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology and the American Psychological Association all support gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
What this comes down to, simply, is fear and hatred. There will always be a breed of social/religious conservatives who need an easy, visible target.
First, they wildly distort what the actual steps are in treatment. Twelve-year olds are not getting gender confirmation surgeries, contrary to the deranged blather you’ll find on some conservative websites. What’s really happening is that children are being allowed to socially transition and they’re offered puberty blockers—which are not permanent.
I came across one right wing website that cited the 40 percent suicide/attempted suicide rate among trans teens and declared this to be proof that these poor children are mentally disturbed. No, you bastards, they’re disturbed because the world wants to deny their true identities and crush any strand of hope they might be able to cling to.
I’m now in my sixties, so I can remember well the first struggles of the gay rights movement in the 1970s. If you don’t recall, I can tell you it was a disgusting time. We heard from pulpits and podiums that all gays were pedophiles. We were told that gays couldn’t become school teachers because they would try to “recruit children into the gay lifestyle.” (I was picturing a folder printed on pink paper and covered with glitter.)
If any of these horrible bills become law, I am sure they will face court challenges. But even if none of them stand, the fact that elected representatives choose to bring these forward emboldens those who would dehumanize us. I’m a big girl—I can deal with it. But a lot of members of the trans family can’t. And to see children targeted by even more bullying and discrimination makes me ill.
Please, don’t keep silent about this dangerous effort, even if you don’t live in one of the states where this is on the agenda. Please do whatever you can to educate people about the realities of life as a transgender person today. You just might save a life.
Editor’s Note: The anti-transgender agenda is promoted by organized right wing Christian groups such as Project Blitz. You can learn more about them from an article on the Vox website.
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Category: Transgender Opinion
About the Author (Author Profile)
Claire Hall was born and grew up in a large city on the left coast and has spent most of her adult years in a beautiful small coastal community where she's now an elected official in local government after spending many years as a newspaper and radio reporter. In her space time she loves reading, writing fiction (her first novel was published by a regional press a couple of years ago), watching classic Hollywood movies, and walking.Subscribe
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