A Trans Take On Recent Anti-Trans Legislation
I do not feel safe, as a transgender person, in the United States of America.
The constant media cycle nowadays is enough to make anyone’s head spin, but when that media cycle partially revolves around a constant debate as to whether or not your existence within your identity is real, it becomes exhausting. Fighting is exhausting.
Amidst the ever growing threat of state legislatures in Tennessee, Florida, and Texas and the banning, or further complicating, the process of obtaining hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) for both minors and adults, the annual CPAC conference had Daily Wire podcaster Michael Knowles (he/him) suggesting that, “for the good of society… transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely”. He claims that he means transgenderism as some sort of vague ideology, but, as a trans person, how am I supposed to not hear a call for violent action?
I attended the Trans Day of Remembrance ceremony here on campus last semester. 67 trans people died in the past year alone, due to either murder or by suicide, including the 5 dead in the wake of the Club Q shooting. Year after year, we keep hearing that it’s the worst year on record for trans people, and it can’t possibly get worse. But in the wake of all this, possibly the most frightening aspect of the recent onslaught of anti-trans panic is we know they’re not even trying to hide it anymore, and Knowles officially said the quiet part out loud.
All the campaigns to paint queer people simply existing as groomers, while politicians try to legislate us out of existence, have finally come to a head. It was never about protecting kids. It was always about making sure trans lives are hell.
To anyone who’s trans reading this, the world looks very bleak right now. While it may seem counterintuitive to read all this and be told to stop doomscrolling, but putting down the phone to take care of yourself is never a bad idea. If they want a fight, it’s hard to do so when you’re tired. Indulge in your hobbies. Do something that validates yourself. Most importantly, though, never give up.
