Republican Attorneys General representing 18 states have filed a brief in Dekker v. Weida, a case in which trans people in Florida have been denied Medicaid coverage for gender affirming care.
This is why I am pushing to have all my surgeries done by election 2024, but I will not stop advocating for everyone. I’m trying to get a relocation grant proposal through the WA legislature using my connections with state and federal lawmakers. It’s not an easy path but it’s incredibly important.
Also, I am looking for referrals to expedite the approval and facilitation of the grant, if you have anybody in your network with whom I could work on it!
I’m trying to escape Texas rn. Waiting to board my flight back to Seattle. The courteous levels of disrespect have taken their toll. Shout out to the TSA agent who said “Next time, ma’am, walk normally”
I am an ex Air Force officer and I swear I have never been addressed as "sir" more in my life than since I began presenting female a couple of years ago. "courteous disrespect" seems to be a defining characteristic of passive American bigotry.
If you're looking for community in your newly adopted city, consider attending the Wednesday night support group at Ingersoll Gender Center. It's mostly online, with an in-person group once a month. I'm a volunteer facilitator there. It can be a useful part of your support network, and it can also be a great way to find community with other trans folks.
Thank you! I have actually attended a few of the online meets. My wife joined in, which was great because I had just come out to her at the time (and she accepted me!) and she was eager to talk
to others in the break out group. I haven’t been recently, though.
Never thought in grade school during the 90’s how much 1850’s America would be so eerily similar to 2020’s America. In the game of progress America continues to fall down chutes and misses the ladders up. Excellent reporting Erin, and a powerful presence in the Matthew Shepherd Story. I will never forget those headlines as they pushed me further into the closet. Only to come out and now, this.
Yes! It was a very well worded interview. You hit on key issues, and tied it to Matthew’s legacy beautifully in the sense that the work isn’t done. Excellent work!
I was very happy to see you had been selected I should add in. With your work being so critical and expansive it’s a testament to how much your work speaks for the community. Keep it up!
"The will of the Republican party to target all trans people appears to be growing"
One thing left out here is a mention of Project 2025 which explicitly spells out how a republican president would effectively eliminate trans individuals from public life. For reference to those who are unaware Project 2025 is a continuation of a trend by the Heritage Foundation where they lay out explicit approaches and goals that a president can follow to fulfill a republican's wet dream about how to run the nation. To my knowledge this is sent to every president when they arrive in office. All those things you didn't like about Reagan for instance were him following that year's plan to the letter fulfilling something like 70% of its mandates. I mention this because pretty much all of the current republican presidential candidates have proposed/suggested they will act exactly as the document mandates. The front runner himself, trump, was promising many of these things before he even could have seen the report. A lot of what they suggest is based on where Trump tried and failed to install himself as an autocrat.
The second thing I want to bring up here regards the actual message sent by the Attorneys General. I think we see pretty clearly that they are pointing out that the Equal protections laws and the Dobbs decision are in direct conflict with each other. You can't ban cross sex hormones with out running up against the equal protection clause. So what they are building is a situation where the equal protection laws have a conflict with Dobbs historically established rights concept. I fear they are gearing up to undo all equal rights protections.
This whole situation is just distressing to me to be honest. I wish there was some way to be aware of what's going on so that you can advocate for yourself and your trans brothers, sisters, and pals with out having to be so neck deep in the negativity of it. I admire you Erin for how you have managed to stay on top of this and not lose hope.
You are so right. Project 2025 is horrific to say the least. We must put a huge spotlight on it, otherwise, well,.. all minorities will be erased as Dr. Roberts said in the forward to Project 2025.
This is a well coordinated effort to roll back rights for all minorities. There is a deeply organized and well-funded effort to remove ALL references to ALL minorities across the nation. They have a playbook and they are following it to the letter.
Dr. Kevin Roberts, President of The Heritage Foundation and of Heritage Action, penned in the forward to Project 2025 that they intend to erase, delete, and excise these words from every rule, policy, regulation, even grant applications, agencies, and departments from the entire enterprise these words, sexual orientation, gender identity, (SOGI), diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), abortion, reproduction rights, reproductive health, and any other words that offend American's 1st Amendment rights.
Erin, we should talk if you can fit me into your schedule. I'm the Executive Director of Transgender and Diverse Veterans of America Action Group www.tdva-ag.com We need to collaboratively focus a very intense public spotlight on Dr. Roberts' Project 2025. It's horrendous. It's real. And, they are doing it.
Help us put that spotlight on project 2025 (www.project2025.org) If you have a podcast, I would love talk about Project 2025 with you. We have also have a news and talk show where this is the main topic at this point. We do the show at noon and 6 PM Eastern Time weekdays. Would love to have you with us too.
PS: Don't buy the book, download the PDF and read it instead. It's under the Policy tab on their website. Also, the first 17 pages out of the 920 page document are enough to see exactly what they plan to do.
Erin, I can’t thank you enough for your reportage and advocacy here. Given the 6-3 ultraconservative supermajority of the current SCOTUS, these GOP attorneys general are hell-bent on reducing bodily autonomy for trans people just as they did for cis women (and trans men and non-binary people with wombs). As long as the current political climate in the US is incentivized towards trans genocide, I can’t think of ways it’ll get better. 😢😞
In this amicus brief, I'm "interested" (cough) in the Republicans' rejection of advice from medical "interest groups" — in particular, the Republicans are suspicious of doctors who want healthcare to be covered by Medicaid — because, clearly, they say, doctors have a financial interest in being doctors! This is, in part, an anti-Medicaid argument, right? Which becomes an anti-medical-expertise argument more broadly. The Republicans don't want to hear from doctors about what medical procedures and medications are appropriate, because, as the Republicans would like to present the situation, doctors only practice medicine to make money, and therefore doctors can only give biased comments about what kind of healthcare is correct. Any medical procedure viewed as legitimate is one that a doctor can get paid to do, and therefore, doctors will tell you that every health treatment is valid. (cough)
Astute point - the same party that falsely talks values, is being more honest when they talk money, they don't want to spend it, even if it saves lives, even if it improves quality of life. Doesn't mean I think every right-winger is that way, though, but I question how they think we can address certain things without public spending. If they don't want universal health care, then Medicaid is something they are going to have to accept and fund. This is well established in the budgets going back quite a while now, but here they want to take special exception because they don't wish to fund evidenced, proven care - without any change to the law or precedent, so maybe they want it to go to the Supreme Court like other specific topics are making their way toward, but it only makes me less convinced the Court would rule against us, at least in large part. Reason being that it helps to illustrate how callous, how genuinely hateful and evil this crap really is. I think in the long run, they're making it too obvious, too blatantly out of step with reality and human dignity.
I'm actually more convinced that the SCOTUS will rule against trans people because the 6-judge reactionary supermajority is more ideology- than evidence-based (even when I agree with them occasionally, such as with Justice Gorsuch on indigenous issues).
I fear that's true, and yet, the Court has a history of making landmark decisions - that could be in a bad sense, to be sure, if it's a landmark decision according to phobes, but I can't give up hope.
Many of these Republicans who suffered with COVID were given the best health care by the very doctors they accuse of being money-driven. Meanwhile, Clarence Thomas is bought out by Harlan Crowe, The Kochs, and a litany of others. What's that phrase? EVERY ACCUSATION IS A CONFESSION.
Republicans think they know better than the doctors, but I don't think a single person in this country wants Matt Gaetz removing their gallbladder! The "party of small government and fiscal responsibility" is dead, and no sensible conservative should follow that cult. I mean, they DO, but hopefully more will wake up. We have to stay loud and never back down until everyone sees through their deceptions!
I want to address this part about the A.G.'s' ridiculous statement, insinuating that the government would be reversing the Dobbs decision (or something to this effect), by allowing existing rights to be upheld. Preposterous, shameful rhetoric. While I do fear an ultimate, negative Supreme Court ruling, regarding transgender rights, I'm *not* convinced it will actually come, at least in full, because it really *is* even more insane than the Dobbs decision, if the same reasoning were attempted to be applied to the trans rights issue. Not to take away from the horror of Dobbs, but we're getting even more full of sheer hate, if we go the route of controlling trans people's lives, by law.
I'm curious. When they are citing a number of suicides by trans people, do they take into account if the person is suicidal because they are trans? Take me for instance, I suffer from major depressive disorder, plus have CPTSD and when things get tough I tend to look for a way out. Yes, I am in therapy and have been getting better, slowly. But the point I'm trying to make is that I was NOT suicidal because I was trans. So how many others are the same? Wouldn't that skew the percentages?
I would hazard to guess that if trans people are suicidal, it’s not due to gender-affirming care (which—as Erin pointed out—*reduces* suicidality) but due to the fact that trans people are marginalized in society. So if the republican attorneys general want to reduce suicidality in trans people, I suggest the first place they should look is in the mirror.
Alabama and Tennessee are leading authorities on healthcare and every other state should strive to be more like Tennessee and Alabama? Nah, I don't think so
What are their issues? Seriously? Why are they doing this? IF MY TRANS SON COMMITS SUICIDE I WILL TAKE HIS DEAD BODY AND LAY IT IN FRONT THE REPUBLICAN PARTIES. WHY DO THEY CONTINUE TO DO THIS?????
This is why I am pushing to have all my surgeries done by election 2024, but I will not stop advocating for everyone. I’m trying to get a relocation grant proposal through the WA legislature using my connections with state and federal lawmakers. It’s not an easy path but it’s incredibly important.
Its a good move honestly.
Thank you!!
Also, I am looking for referrals to expedite the approval and facilitation of the grant, if you have anybody in your network with whom I could work on it!
I had mine done two months before a total ban in Texas (that didn’t happen) theoretically would have gone into effect.
I’m trying to escape Texas rn. Waiting to board my flight back to Seattle. The courteous levels of disrespect have taken their toll. Shout out to the TSA agent who said “Next time, ma’am, walk normally”
I am an ex Air Force officer and I swear I have never been addressed as "sir" more in my life than since I began presenting female a couple of years ago. "courteous disrespect" seems to be a defining characteristic of passive American bigotry.
If you're looking for community in your newly adopted city, consider attending the Wednesday night support group at Ingersoll Gender Center. It's mostly online, with an in-person group once a month. I'm a volunteer facilitator there. It can be a useful part of your support network, and it can also be a great way to find community with other trans folks.
https://ingersollgendercenter.org/
Edit: I totally misread your post - you're not moving here from Texas; you're already here. My recommendation still stands, though.
Thank you! I have actually attended a few of the online meets. My wife joined in, which was great because I had just come out to her at the time (and she accepted me!) and she was eager to talk
to others in the break out group. I haven’t been recently, though.
Hope all goes well with that.
At this point, I really wish that was on the table for me personally. Idk what I will do if my care gets banned. Its already expensive enough.
Never thought in grade school during the 90’s how much 1850’s America would be so eerily similar to 2020’s America. In the game of progress America continues to fall down chutes and misses the ladders up. Excellent reporting Erin, and a powerful presence in the Matthew Shepherd Story. I will never forget those headlines as they pushed me further into the closet. Only to come out and now, this.
I have yet to watch it, did I come off OK?
Yes! It was a very well worded interview. You hit on key issues, and tied it to Matthew’s legacy beautifully in the sense that the work isn’t done. Excellent work!
I was very happy to see you had been selected I should add in. With your work being so critical and expansive it’s a testament to how much your work speaks for the community. Keep it up!
Where could one find this? All I could find was a film from 2002.
There is so much meat in this to comment on.
"The will of the Republican party to target all trans people appears to be growing"
One thing left out here is a mention of Project 2025 which explicitly spells out how a republican president would effectively eliminate trans individuals from public life. For reference to those who are unaware Project 2025 is a continuation of a trend by the Heritage Foundation where they lay out explicit approaches and goals that a president can follow to fulfill a republican's wet dream about how to run the nation. To my knowledge this is sent to every president when they arrive in office. All those things you didn't like about Reagan for instance were him following that year's plan to the letter fulfilling something like 70% of its mandates. I mention this because pretty much all of the current republican presidential candidates have proposed/suggested they will act exactly as the document mandates. The front runner himself, trump, was promising many of these things before he even could have seen the report. A lot of what they suggest is based on where Trump tried and failed to install himself as an autocrat.
The second thing I want to bring up here regards the actual message sent by the Attorneys General. I think we see pretty clearly that they are pointing out that the Equal protections laws and the Dobbs decision are in direct conflict with each other. You can't ban cross sex hormones with out running up against the equal protection clause. So what they are building is a situation where the equal protection laws have a conflict with Dobbs historically established rights concept. I fear they are gearing up to undo all equal rights protections.
This whole situation is just distressing to me to be honest. I wish there was some way to be aware of what's going on so that you can advocate for yourself and your trans brothers, sisters, and pals with out having to be so neck deep in the negativity of it. I admire you Erin for how you have managed to stay on top of this and not lose hope.
You are so right. Project 2025 is horrific to say the least. We must put a huge spotlight on it, otherwise, well,.. all minorities will be erased as Dr. Roberts said in the forward to Project 2025.
I'd call them f'n pigs, but I don't want to insult pigs. These people are evil.
This is a well coordinated effort to roll back rights for all minorities. There is a deeply organized and well-funded effort to remove ALL references to ALL minorities across the nation. They have a playbook and they are following it to the letter.
Dr. Kevin Roberts, President of The Heritage Foundation and of Heritage Action, penned in the forward to Project 2025 that they intend to erase, delete, and excise these words from every rule, policy, regulation, even grant applications, agencies, and departments from the entire enterprise these words, sexual orientation, gender identity, (SOGI), diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), abortion, reproduction rights, reproductive health, and any other words that offend American's 1st Amendment rights.
Erin, we should talk if you can fit me into your schedule. I'm the Executive Director of Transgender and Diverse Veterans of America Action Group www.tdva-ag.com We need to collaboratively focus a very intense public spotlight on Dr. Roberts' Project 2025. It's horrendous. It's real. And, they are doing it.
Help us put that spotlight on project 2025 (www.project2025.org) If you have a podcast, I would love talk about Project 2025 with you. We have also have a news and talk show where this is the main topic at this point. We do the show at noon and 6 PM Eastern Time weekdays. Would love to have you with us too.
PS: Don't buy the book, download the PDF and read it instead. It's under the Policy tab on their website. Also, the first 17 pages out of the 920 page document are enough to see exactly what they plan to do.
Cassandra Williamson
executive.director@tdva-ag.com
Erin, I can’t thank you enough for your reportage and advocacy here. Given the 6-3 ultraconservative supermajority of the current SCOTUS, these GOP attorneys general are hell-bent on reducing bodily autonomy for trans people just as they did for cis women (and trans men and non-binary people with wombs). As long as the current political climate in the US is incentivized towards trans genocide, I can’t think of ways it’ll get better. 😢😞
In this amicus brief, I'm "interested" (cough) in the Republicans' rejection of advice from medical "interest groups" — in particular, the Republicans are suspicious of doctors who want healthcare to be covered by Medicaid — because, clearly, they say, doctors have a financial interest in being doctors! This is, in part, an anti-Medicaid argument, right? Which becomes an anti-medical-expertise argument more broadly. The Republicans don't want to hear from doctors about what medical procedures and medications are appropriate, because, as the Republicans would like to present the situation, doctors only practice medicine to make money, and therefore doctors can only give biased comments about what kind of healthcare is correct. Any medical procedure viewed as legitimate is one that a doctor can get paid to do, and therefore, doctors will tell you that every health treatment is valid. (cough)
Astute point - the same party that falsely talks values, is being more honest when they talk money, they don't want to spend it, even if it saves lives, even if it improves quality of life. Doesn't mean I think every right-winger is that way, though, but I question how they think we can address certain things without public spending. If they don't want universal health care, then Medicaid is something they are going to have to accept and fund. This is well established in the budgets going back quite a while now, but here they want to take special exception because they don't wish to fund evidenced, proven care - without any change to the law or precedent, so maybe they want it to go to the Supreme Court like other specific topics are making their way toward, but it only makes me less convinced the Court would rule against us, at least in large part. Reason being that it helps to illustrate how callous, how genuinely hateful and evil this crap really is. I think in the long run, they're making it too obvious, too blatantly out of step with reality and human dignity.
I'm actually more convinced that the SCOTUS will rule against trans people because the 6-judge reactionary supermajority is more ideology- than evidence-based (even when I agree with them occasionally, such as with Justice Gorsuch on indigenous issues).
I fear that's true, and yet, the Court has a history of making landmark decisions - that could be in a bad sense, to be sure, if it's a landmark decision according to phobes, but I can't give up hope.
Many of these Republicans who suffered with COVID were given the best health care by the very doctors they accuse of being money-driven. Meanwhile, Clarence Thomas is bought out by Harlan Crowe, The Kochs, and a litany of others. What's that phrase? EVERY ACCUSATION IS A CONFESSION.
Republicans think they know better than the doctors, but I don't think a single person in this country wants Matt Gaetz removing their gallbladder! The "party of small government and fiscal responsibility" is dead, and no sensible conservative should follow that cult. I mean, they DO, but hopefully more will wake up. We have to stay loud and never back down until everyone sees through their deceptions!
I want to address this part about the A.G.'s' ridiculous statement, insinuating that the government would be reversing the Dobbs decision (or something to this effect), by allowing existing rights to be upheld. Preposterous, shameful rhetoric. While I do fear an ultimate, negative Supreme Court ruling, regarding transgender rights, I'm *not* convinced it will actually come, at least in full, because it really *is* even more insane than the Dobbs decision, if the same reasoning were attempted to be applied to the trans rights issue. Not to take away from the horror of Dobbs, but we're getting even more full of sheer hate, if we go the route of controlling trans people's lives, by law.
Maybe we should all start a GFM to bribe Clarence Thomas? Seems to work for everyone else!
I'm curious. When they are citing a number of suicides by trans people, do they take into account if the person is suicidal because they are trans? Take me for instance, I suffer from major depressive disorder, plus have CPTSD and when things get tough I tend to look for a way out. Yes, I am in therapy and have been getting better, slowly. But the point I'm trying to make is that I was NOT suicidal because I was trans. So how many others are the same? Wouldn't that skew the percentages?
I would hazard to guess that if trans people are suicidal, it’s not due to gender-affirming care (which—as Erin pointed out—*reduces* suicidality) but due to the fact that trans people are marginalized in society. So if the republican attorneys general want to reduce suicidality in trans people, I suggest the first place they should look is in the mirror.
Alabama and Tennessee are leading authorities on healthcare and every other state should strive to be more like Tennessee and Alabama? Nah, I don't think so
What are their issues? Seriously? Why are they doing this? IF MY TRANS SON COMMITS SUICIDE I WILL TAKE HIS DEAD BODY AND LAY IT IN FRONT THE REPUBLICAN PARTIES. WHY DO THEY CONTINUE TO DO THIS?????
Here come the people in gray, to take you away.
I am sure Knudsen is one of them.