“This doesn’t violate the first amendment!” Meanwhile if you’re a teen and wanna rock a pixie cut or grow your hair out like a metalhead your parents can be sued for your expression.
This fucking sucks. This is sickening. This is breaking so many of our constitutional rights and I’m TERRIFIED because it has a legit chance of passing - something apparently not afforded to our younger siblings -_-
Arkansas has one of the worst voter participation rates in our country contributing to our 🟥 supermajority. Consider sending a donation to groups like inTransitive.org 🏳️⚧️ that are doing the work to support and advocate for trans people in our state. In the meantime, there are several political groups working on improving voter access & participation. 🌊 This is a big uphill struggle but people are fighting here too.
I keep saying it: when you help a child transition, even if it saves their life, they call it “child abuse.” When you withhold vaccines from a child, even if it costs their life, they call it “freedom.”
I'm old enough to have been vaccinated not just with MMR, but also tuberculosis and smallpox. I learnt about the terrifying extent of such diseases in the past, and now I'm contemplating their return. One of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse was 'Plague'. I can almost hear hoofbeats.
While this bill will easily be defeated or later struck down, others will follow. The right is fine tuning their attacks to slip through our constitutional rights through some yet-to-be discovered method. Their many failures at extreme bills only fuel their creativity for the next, and the next. My fear is they will find that crack soon.
Yep. It's just like with the Muslim ban of dump 1.0. Proponents of the ban just kept working the judicial rulings to find the loopholes that would allow them to push their agenda to the maximum extent tolerated by the judiciary. It was the judges who provided them the roadmap, either deliberately or unintentionally.
There obviously aren't enough REAL ISSUES for these legislators to work on. Good to know Arkansas has solved Homelessness, Unemployment and Childhood Hunger. 🤬🤬🤬🤬
So if a cisgender teen girl gets a short cut, and the neighbor doesn't like it, the barber can be fined 10,000 dollars? This is pure grade A bulllsh...
These tactics are straight out of the antiabortion playbook. First attack the youth. Later, extend to the adults. There is a ‘coercion’ term being highly utilized right now by antiabortion activists to describe anyone that helps a patient to receive care (especially with regard to receiving medication). The point is to deeply shame and frighten those seeking care or helping others while clearing the way to push their unpopular agenda.
This is so cruel. I feel like we are in a time warp. Every day they are attacking the T in LGBTQ+ humans. Why don't they just accept people for who they are. Why not go after all the people that have butt implants or boob jobs or face lifts. They just have to prove that they are in charge politically. I hope they burn in hell. These are white christian nationalists that we must stop. People have a right to identify as whatever they are. This just pisses me off to know end!
When you say it extends out of state, does that mean affirming kids who aren't from Arkansas is included? Like could a parent from Texas go over there and say, I want to sue this teacher for calling my kid "they." And is it only the parents/guardians who have authority to decide to sue? Could parents get sued?
Luckily both politicians who sponsored this abhorrent bill have email addresses that they can be reached at without having to be from Arkansas to fill out a form on their website.
It would be great if we could collectively send them a lot of feedback using the excellent research in Erin’s article to make sure they are held accountable for the harm this bill would do!
Here is a sample script posted by inTransitive on IG today
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
CALL OR EMAIL
Sample Script:
As a concerned Arkansan, I ask that you OPPOSE HB1668, the anti social transitioning bill attacking transgender youth. This bill unconstitutionally weaponizes civil lawsuits to intimidate doctors, educators, allies, and families who support trans youth. HB1668 is a scare tactic and a clear violation of a person's constitutional rights to express their opinion or exercise their religion. This bill isolates and stigmatizes vulnerable youth- it does nothing to protect them. I urge you to oppose state mandated bullying and vote NO on HB1668 (add anything else you want to share with them.) Thank you and I look forward to your response.
If contacting a legislator from your district, be sure to begin with "as your constituent, I ask that you oppose HB1668..."
LGBTQ+ youth service providers were jailed in Arkansas last year and charged with kidnapping for merely connecting a trans teen with supportive services. The teen's ultra conservative parents blasted it all over the place and misgendered them to the world.
Arkansas is one of the first states to start this bullshit agenda. They’re not interested in doing what’s right for the kids, they’re doing it to kiss the ring…which is why this needs to be ended, starting with Muskrump.
VYPA? Fucking seriously? They named their shitty bill 𝘝𝘠𝘗𝘈?! All the sappy "think of the children" imagery they could've evoked, and they chose a venomous snake instead. There is no damned way they didn't plan that acronym. Not a chance. It's a thinly-veiled dogwhistle at their bloodthirsty base. They know this shit will kill children; that's the whole fucking point.
It's also as good as saying "𝘸𝘦 know we're snakes; 𝘺𝘰𝘶 know we're snakes... but what'cha gonna 𝘥𝘰 about it?"
This bill, as the ACLU says, is frivolous. It will be almost impossible to enforce or prove, as one can argue they are never fully influenced by any one person as much as society, for their clothes and hair. Trans women dress as other women. Trans men like men. The arguments against are numerous, and ACLU lawyers would win this in court. A smart kid can claim parental influence, when a parent sues.
"Anticipating legal challenges, the bill’s authors claim it does not violate the First Amendment, despite its clear restrictions on speech and expression. Even more brazenly, the bill asserts that if a lower court strikes it down, any higher court ruling in its favor will retroactively nullify that decision—allowing enforcement even during periods when the law is deemed unconstitutional."
“This doesn’t violate the first amendment!” Meanwhile if you’re a teen and wanna rock a pixie cut or grow your hair out like a metalhead your parents can be sued for your expression.
This fucking sucks. This is sickening. This is breaking so many of our constitutional rights and I’m TERRIFIED because it has a legit chance of passing - something apparently not afforded to our younger siblings -_-
Why am I not surprised that this awful bill is being filed in Arkansas and not New York or Minnesota?
It seems to always be the same group of states that race each other to the bottom in terms of how badly they can treat trans people.
Deplorable.
Arkansas has one of the worst voter participation rates in our country contributing to our 🟥 supermajority. Consider sending a donation to groups like inTransitive.org 🏳️⚧️ that are doing the work to support and advocate for trans people in our state. In the meantime, there are several political groups working on improving voter access & participation. 🌊 This is a big uphill struggle but people are fighting here too.
I keep saying it: when you help a child transition, even if it saves their life, they call it “child abuse.” When you withhold vaccines from a child, even if it costs their life, they call it “freedom.”
And if your unvaccinated child dies due to an entirely preventable disease, they call it "God's plan".
I'm old enough to have been vaccinated not just with MMR, but also tuberculosis and smallpox. I learnt about the terrifying extent of such diseases in the past, and now I'm contemplating their return. One of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse was 'Plague'. I can almost hear hoofbeats.
Well said
While this bill will easily be defeated or later struck down, others will follow. The right is fine tuning their attacks to slip through our constitutional rights through some yet-to-be discovered method. Their many failures at extreme bills only fuel their creativity for the next, and the next. My fear is they will find that crack soon.
Yep. It's just like with the Muslim ban of dump 1.0. Proponents of the ban just kept working the judicial rulings to find the loopholes that would allow them to push their agenda to the maximum extent tolerated by the judiciary. It was the judges who provided them the roadmap, either deliberately or unintentionally.
Just as they attacked abortion rights for decades before SCOTUS finally repealed Roe V Wade.
There obviously aren't enough REAL ISSUES for these legislators to work on. Good to know Arkansas has solved Homelessness, Unemployment and Childhood Hunger. 🤬🤬🤬🤬
So if a cisgender teen girl gets a short cut, and the neighbor doesn't like it, the barber can be fined 10,000 dollars? This is pure grade A bulllsh...
These tactics are straight out of the antiabortion playbook. First attack the youth. Later, extend to the adults. There is a ‘coercion’ term being highly utilized right now by antiabortion activists to describe anyone that helps a patient to receive care (especially with regard to receiving medication). The point is to deeply shame and frighten those seeking care or helping others while clearing the way to push their unpopular agenda.
This is so cruel. I feel like we are in a time warp. Every day they are attacking the T in LGBTQ+ humans. Why don't they just accept people for who they are. Why not go after all the people that have butt implants or boob jobs or face lifts. They just have to prove that they are in charge politically. I hope they burn in hell. These are white christian nationalists that we must stop. People have a right to identify as whatever they are. This just pisses me off to know end!
When you say it extends out of state, does that mean affirming kids who aren't from Arkansas is included? Like could a parent from Texas go over there and say, I want to sue this teacher for calling my kid "they." And is it only the parents/guardians who have authority to decide to sue? Could parents get sued?
Jurisdiction would mean that at least one person has to live in Arkansas. Parents would be the ones doing the suing.
Any parent of any child?
Or just a parent of the child who might be transitioning? (Or who might just be being a rebellious teenager.)
Mary Bentley: mary.bentley@arkansashouse.org
Alan Clark: alan.clark@senate.ar.gov
Luckily both politicians who sponsored this abhorrent bill have email addresses that they can be reached at without having to be from Arkansas to fill out a form on their website.
It would be great if we could collectively send them a lot of feedback using the excellent research in Erin’s article to make sure they are held accountable for the harm this bill would do!
Add my AR House Rep who is on the Judiciary Committee Steve.unger@arkansashouse.org
Many thanks
Thanks so much, Kennie! Just sent Ungar an email as well ☺️
Here is a sample script posted by inTransitive on IG today
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
CALL OR EMAIL
Sample Script:
As a concerned Arkansan, I ask that you OPPOSE HB1668, the anti social transitioning bill attacking transgender youth. This bill unconstitutionally weaponizes civil lawsuits to intimidate doctors, educators, allies, and families who support trans youth. HB1668 is a scare tactic and a clear violation of a person's constitutional rights to express their opinion or exercise their religion. This bill isolates and stigmatizes vulnerable youth- it does nothing to protect them. I urge you to oppose state mandated bullying and vote NO on HB1668 (add anything else you want to share with them.) Thank you and I look forward to your response.
If contacting a legislator from your district, be sure to begin with "as your constituent, I ask that you oppose HB1668..."
ACLU
Arkansas
INTRANSITIVE
4/7
@intransitive.ar
LGBTQ+ youth service providers were jailed in Arkansas last year and charged with kidnapping for merely connecting a trans teen with supportive services. The teen's ultra conservative parents blasted it all over the place and misgendered them to the world.
Arkansas is one of the first states to start this bullshit agenda. They’re not interested in doing what’s right for the kids, they’re doing it to kiss the ring…which is why this needs to be ended, starting with Muskrump.
VYPA? Fucking seriously? They named their shitty bill 𝘝𝘠𝘗𝘈?! All the sappy "think of the children" imagery they could've evoked, and they chose a venomous snake instead. There is no damned way they didn't plan that acronym. Not a chance. It's a thinly-veiled dogwhistle at their bloodthirsty base. They know this shit will kill children; that's the whole fucking point.
It's also as good as saying "𝘸𝘦 know we're snakes; 𝘺𝘰𝘶 know we're snakes... but what'cha gonna 𝘥𝘰 about it?"
This bill, as the ACLU says, is frivolous. It will be almost impossible to enforce or prove, as one can argue they are never fully influenced by any one person as much as society, for their clothes and hair. Trans women dress as other women. Trans men like men. The arguments against are numerous, and ACLU lawyers would win this in court. A smart kid can claim parental influence, when a parent sues.
"Anticipating legal challenges, the bill’s authors claim it does not violate the First Amendment, despite its clear restrictions on speech and expression. Even more brazenly, the bill asserts that if a lower court strikes it down, any higher court ruling in its favor will retroactively nullify that decision—allowing enforcement even during periods when the law is deemed unconstitutional."
Wow. Pushing the limits of evil.
So, if I were a trans-sympathetic parent in Arkansas, I would sue my son's PE teacher/coach if he referred to his male students as "ladies." ;-)