#anti-trans laws

[gwydionmisha]

This is a fundamental safety issue.

[troutlawyer]

Uhhh so starting July 1st, House Bill 1421 will be put into effect in Florida. It, among other things, will prohibit people from changing their biological sex on their birth certificate, and prohibit insurance companies from covering “gender clinical interventions.” This is very vague but I believe “gender clinical interventions” refer to surgeries.

This will put many trans people’s lives in danger. Especially those on testosterone who need hysterectomies because otherwise they are at high risk of developing uterine cancer. I don’t know if there is a way to possibly find loopholes in this (going out-of-state, etc.), but if you live in Florida I recommend discussing your options with a medical professional you trust, and if you have health insurance, review your coverage plan.

There may be an influx of crowdfunding for gender-affirming procedures in the future. I ask that you please continue to support trans people in hostile places however you can.

[protoslacker]

The strategic slippage at the heart of the anti-trans campaigns—from trans child to protective caretaker to adult worker—clarifies why and for what purpose the architects of the panic organized their crusade. The anti-trans panic is part of a calculated political campaign, assembling a coalition of disparate forces with overlapping interests and plans. Those plans include destabilizing bulwarks of working-class power, obliterating free and universal public education, privatizing critical elements of social life, reinforcing racial segregation, and pulverizing institutions that can and often do produce oppositional political consciousness. And, because our opponents know what they’re doing, it starts with attacks on organized workers.

Kay Gabriel in nplusone Magazine. The Anti-Trans Panic and the Crusade Against Teachers

The goal is to crumble popular support for public education.

[tomorrowusa]

Republicans think that their high profile homophobia can squeeze a few more votes out of their shrinking and aging base. But they are doing serious damage to themselves in the medium to long term with future voters.

The LGBTQ+ high school students and their allies will not forget for the rest of their voting lives the GOP “don’t say gay” laws, anti-trans persecution, and homophobic hate speech condoned by high ranking Republicans and their buddies in the rightwing media.  

About 1 in 4 high school students identifies as LGBTQ, according to a report the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released on Thursday, using data from 2021.

In 2021, 75.5 percent of high school students identified as heterosexual, the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) found.

Among high school students, 12.2 percent identified as bisexual, 5.2 percent as questioning, 3.9 percent as other, 3.2 percent as gay or lesbian and 1.8 percent said they didn’t understand the question.

The CDC says the number of LGBTQ students went from 11 percent in 2015 to 26 percent in 2021.

Here is the Obama White House after the 2015 Supreme Court ruling on same sex marriage.

A President Ron “Don’t Say Gay” DeSantis would never allow that. More likely he would try to dismiss the Supreme Court for being too “woke”. The same is true of almost all the other GOP presidential candidates. The GOP is officially homophobic.

To preserve freedom and democracy in the US: Vote Blue No Matter Who. 🏳️‍🌈

[commiepinkofag]

Drag Shows Not Gun Shows

Protestors participate in the Drag Me to the Capitol march and rally against anti-trans bills in Montgomery, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. [📷 Mickey Welsh]

[mauricedharris]

Why do these people hate rock 'n roll?

[loveerran]

HRT Access and Aid

https://www.pointofpride.org/hrt-access-fund

[lenbryant]

Republicans have ramped up their anti-gay policies this year, trying to shore up their base of bigots and homophobes.

[chemicalarospec]

this is the most up-to-date map btw.

This map is the most up to date version as of 3-4-2023 and takes into account all recent movement on anti-trans legislation

[gwydionmisha]

They have criminalized being trans in public.

[oneequalworldblog]

How Many Of Us?

How many people are affected by the recent waves of GOP-led anti-LGBTQ+ legislation? The data is not usually part of their lawmaking. In the past three years at least 21 states have passed laws targeting gender-affirming care for transgender people, or making it illegal for transgender kids to play sports, or made it a crime for transgender people to use the correct bathrooms. But missing from…

[eowyn7023]

I hate living in Ohio. People outside the US don't see any difference between the political parties, but only the Republicans come up with repressive laws like this -- banning abortion, banning trans care, making it more difficult to vote, etc.

TRANS OHIOANS - START STOCKPILING YOUR HRT AND PLAN HOW YOU WILL BE ABLE TO CONTINUE YOUR TRANSITION CARE

Ohio has taken a page out of Florida’s book and is proposing to effectively ban adult transition care via the requirements of numerous specialists - a psychiatrist, endocrinologist, and a bioethicist.

Since most trans people get their HRT from nurse practioners via the informed consent model, this will create undue burden on both trans people and the medical system -- the bottlenecks will effectively ban transition care for adults. This is what has happened in Florida, and Ohio's rules look much more draconian and surveiliance-heavy. All trans healthcare will be reported to the state.

These new rules have not taken effect yet. Trans Ohioans should plan for the worst now.

The rules are open to public comment through 5pm Friday, Jan 19, 2024. The full copy of the rules and how to comment are below:

https://mha.ohio.gov/about-us/rules-and-regulations/rules/draft-rules/gender-transition-care

As a Floridian who saw the writing on the wall and fled his state (my clinic hasn't been allowed to fill HRT prescriptions since May 2023 now) -- do not delay on making preparations. If this is approved, the rules will likely catch everyone by surprise. Start talking with your providers now and plan out your options assuming the ban will take place.

Informed folks to follow on Twitter:

Alejandra

Erin

[carnographics]

Florida's CS/HB 1521 is so insidious. It's not only a standard bathroom ban but also mandates that domestic violence centers be segregated by sex which is another horrific way to put trans women in situations where they could be hatecrimed or killed (keep them in abusive situations or on the streets). It's at the Senate right now.

[gwydionmisha]

It was very helpful to me as a child to change in mixed age locker rooms for things like swimming.  

It was not sexual for me.

It just was really useful to see different body types and different bellybuttons and what natural aging looked like.

It made casual nonsexual nudity normal.  It gave me the idea that a wide variety of bodies were normal.

After some thought, I think the fact that most people don't have the experience of non-sexual changing and showering in mixed age groups with diverse bodies anymore has set up the anti-trans attacks on locker room and bathroom use. If you haven't grown up with casual non-sexual nudity it's easier to fear people with diverse bodies minding their own business in these spaces.

I honestly think that the lack of non-sexual nudity in public spaces has done horrific damage to American society.

We deeply struggle to understand the natural diversity of bodies because we only see naked bodies in a sexual context. We are taught that seeing nudity is somehow inherently harmful, especially to children. We struggle to differentiate between sexually suggestive and sexually explicit material.

It fucks up the way people think about and talk about sex ed. It fucks up the way people think about and talk about breast feeding. It fucks up the way people think about and talk about queer folks. It feeds into fatphobia and ableism and is all rooted in this deeply harmful puritanism.

Like, I need people to understand that seeing a bare titty in public is not going to hurt a child. Seeing a man in a banana hammock isn't inherently traumatizing. I would argue, in fact, that adults treating those things as dangerous and gross and scary is going to do way more damage to a kid's psychology than seeing the nudity in the first place.