I am an LGBTQ ally. I am nearly 78, a white man, but believe we need to hang together. I never thought it would come to this. It was something that happened in Nazi Germany or USSR. I do wish to stand with my LGBTQ friends and associates and those I do not know. I have no specific ideas but am happy to join in conversations. If we do not all stand strongly together against the forces of the government, we will lose the America I thought I knew from grade school.
History tells us that bureaucracies installed to persecute minority populations are generally turned against larger populations once they get up and running. So setting up a bureaucracy to attack, a small minority of the population is only the beginning. And that beginning started in Florida and Texas a few years ago.
This makes me sick to my stomach. Every time some progress is made, someone comes along and throws us all back to the dark hours. I can only say to everyone what I keep saying to myself. We must stay strong, because we have to survive this. We have prevailed before and will prevail again. So keep speaking your truth, keep seeking out those who understand and support, keep supporting each other. And please, look after yourself.
I had FFS (facial feminization surgery in January. I had my name legally changed in February. As a law-abiding citizen I went last week to the DMV to update my photo, name, and gender marker. The FACIAL RECOGNITION software did NOT recognize me when it compared to my old DL photo. It had to be manually overridden. I got the name change approved. Despite 5 professional letters about my gender incongruence from my medical team, my gender marker was NOT changed. I’m exhausted with all the hoops I’ve jumped through. Depressed about my quality of life. Disappointed in the system and the lie called “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
Thank you for your empathy and question. Unfortunately, no. I assumed the name change and medical documentation would logically and automatically necessitate the gender marker change. I now have legal representation to guide and advocate on my behalf thru the pedantic and tedious process in Georgia. Stay tuned for a very feminine but barbaric yawl when I succeed. I will overcome. I will survive. I will be even stronger. 🥰 🌈 🏳️⚧️
I suspect we're in the bad timeline. And I doubt the courts will agree that because sexuality and gender are necessarily relative to one's birth sex that that would still make spying on gay or trans people violate the prohibition on spying based on sex.
The reason we have such detailed documentation about the Third Reich and the activities of the Nazis is that they wrote *everything* down during that whole period.
On the other end, by the time the Nuremberg trials rolled around after The War, there was this massive, obsessively detailed record of just about everything that happened repeatedly signed by just about everybody involved that could be used as evidence.
It is worth noting here that among the leaked training videos that came out of Project 2025, as reported by ProPublica, one of them specifically covered how to 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 keeping records of their activities. Nazis, it seems, are in fact capable of learning from their mistakes.
I hate to call someone "evil," I am not God, but I will go ahead and without asking any Being which might be in the Universe, I will call the responsible people in our country, not just the white house, inherently Evil.
I know I've said something along these lines before, but I REALLY think it's time (past time) to start referring to the Republican party as a transphobic hate group. Because for all intents and purposes, that's what they are. This is particularly horrible, but it's also just the latest in a long line of actions on federal, state, and local levels that are pure, naked hatred and bigotry against transgender people. Anyone who supports this is an evil person, full stop.
its worth pointing out that existing facial recognition software will flag trans faces as specifically being trans. clip interrogator, the reverse prompt generator, consistently (correctly) labels me as a woman, but it will nearly always have flags like "non binary" "transgender" or "trans rights". id be curious if it did the same thibg to someone with FFS
Another thing about this that is infuriating is that there are people who out there who will somehow find this shocking, which just goes to show how dangerously naive many are. This is in keeping with conservative values and their worldview. It's what they do. It's who they are.
It's also in keeping with American history. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were right. "What this country claims to be - it's a lie." Yes, and it always has been.
Correct me if I’m off base here, but is it not the case that surveillance of one group means surveillance of literally all? The Nancy Maces of the group at the local movie theater will be pissed to find there’s a camera near any part of the restroom!
What state is that? Is that inside the restroom? That should
Be illegal. Well, what am I saying? Most of what is happening is unconstitutional. In Goodman theater in Chicago, one restroom there are only stalls and it is for both sexes. That was about 3 years ago
Nonbinary person here. As I mentioned to my wife, the end game (whatever Trump et al. have planned) will come upon us in a long series of little milestones that, if we read them right, will point to something much worse. This feels like one of them. Erin, deep thanks to you and your team for reporting on them.
In addition to the linked guide at the bottom of the article, the Electronic Frontier Foundation also has a handy little browser plugin called Privacy Badger which detects and blocks trackers. It's been part of my internet security package for years:
It is more than obvious that we need to take care of each other in the LGBTQ+ community. Trump is going after all minorities as per the white christian nationalists' political ideology. The end game is to eradicate minority groups. Their theology is not christian and aims to hide them behind religious rights. They want a society of white men running the country because it is destined by God to have America for their own. They will destroy America and put in their own constitution, religion and government. White women are only for seed storage and reproduction.
I am an LGBTQ ally. I am nearly 78, a white man, but believe we need to hang together. I never thought it would come to this. It was something that happened in Nazi Germany or USSR. I do wish to stand with my LGBTQ friends and associates and those I do not know. I have no specific ideas but am happy to join in conversations. If we do not all stand strongly together against the forces of the government, we will lose the America I thought I knew from grade school.
History tells us that bureaucracies installed to persecute minority populations are generally turned against larger populations once they get up and running. So setting up a bureaucracy to attack, a small minority of the population is only the beginning. And that beginning started in Florida and Texas a few years ago.
I agree. it will spread everywhere.
Just tired of being tired of being attacked for nothing and I already got that daily by being Black and being apart of other minorities
This is fucked up
They're setting up the legal framework to track us like criminals. God damn it, I'm scared and furious.
This makes me sick to my stomach. Every time some progress is made, someone comes along and throws us all back to the dark hours. I can only say to everyone what I keep saying to myself. We must stay strong, because we have to survive this. We have prevailed before and will prevail again. So keep speaking your truth, keep seeking out those who understand and support, keep supporting each other. And please, look after yourself.
I had FFS (facial feminization surgery in January. I had my name legally changed in February. As a law-abiding citizen I went last week to the DMV to update my photo, name, and gender marker. The FACIAL RECOGNITION software did NOT recognize me when it compared to my old DL photo. It had to be manually overridden. I got the name change approved. Despite 5 professional letters about my gender incongruence from my medical team, my gender marker was NOT changed. I’m exhausted with all the hoops I’ve jumped through. Depressed about my quality of life. Disappointed in the system and the lie called “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
Thank you for your empathy and question. Unfortunately, no. I assumed the name change and medical documentation would logically and automatically necessitate the gender marker change. I now have legal representation to guide and advocate on my behalf thru the pedantic and tedious process in Georgia. Stay tuned for a very feminine but barbaric yawl when I succeed. I will overcome. I will survive. I will be even stronger. 🥰 🌈 🏳️⚧️
I'm so sorry to hear what you're going through! Did you get a court order for the gender marker change? What state are you in?
Time to break out my old "NSA: The only part of the government that actually listens to you" T-shirt.
Ok, you win the Internet today :-)
I suspect we're in the bad timeline. And I doubt the courts will agree that because sexuality and gender are necessarily relative to one's birth sex that that would still make spying on gay or trans people violate the prohibition on spying based on sex.
You are right. And this is how Hitler started. Let us not fool or placate ourselves.
The reason we have such detailed documentation about the Third Reich and the activities of the Nazis is that they wrote *everything* down during that whole period.
On the other end, by the time the Nuremberg trials rolled around after The War, there was this massive, obsessively detailed record of just about everything that happened repeatedly signed by just about everybody involved that could be used as evidence.
It is worth noting here that among the leaked training videos that came out of Project 2025, as reported by ProPublica, one of them specifically covered how to 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 keeping records of their activities. Nazis, it seems, are in fact capable of learning from their mistakes.
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-project-2025-secret-training-videos-trump-election
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiqR_PuMLTg
I hate to call someone "evil," I am not God, but I will go ahead and without asking any Being which might be in the Universe, I will call the responsible people in our country, not just the white house, inherently Evil.
I know I've said something along these lines before, but I REALLY think it's time (past time) to start referring to the Republican party as a transphobic hate group. Because for all intents and purposes, that's what they are. This is particularly horrible, but it's also just the latest in a long line of actions on federal, state, and local levels that are pure, naked hatred and bigotry against transgender people. Anyone who supports this is an evil person, full stop.
its worth pointing out that existing facial recognition software will flag trans faces as specifically being trans. clip interrogator, the reverse prompt generator, consistently (correctly) labels me as a woman, but it will nearly always have flags like "non binary" "transgender" or "trans rights". id be curious if it did the same thibg to someone with FFS
Another thing about this that is infuriating is that there are people who out there who will somehow find this shocking, which just goes to show how dangerously naive many are. This is in keeping with conservative values and their worldview. It's what they do. It's who they are.
It's also in keeping with American history. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were right. "What this country claims to be - it's a lie." Yes, and it always has been.
Correct me if I’m off base here, but is it not the case that surveillance of one group means surveillance of literally all? The Nancy Maces of the group at the local movie theater will be pissed to find there’s a camera near any part of the restroom!
What state is that? Is that inside the restroom? That should
Be illegal. Well, what am I saying? Most of what is happening is unconstitutional. In Goodman theater in Chicago, one restroom there are only stalls and it is for both sexes. That was about 3 years ago
Nonbinary person here. As I mentioned to my wife, the end game (whatever Trump et al. have planned) will come upon us in a long series of little milestones that, if we read them right, will point to something much worse. This feels like one of them. Erin, deep thanks to you and your team for reporting on them.
In addition to the linked guide at the bottom of the article, the Electronic Frontier Foundation also has a handy little browser plugin called Privacy Badger which detects and blocks trackers. It's been part of my internet security package for years:
https://www.eff.org/pages/privacy-badger
It is more than obvious that we need to take care of each other in the LGBTQ+ community. Trump is going after all minorities as per the white christian nationalists' political ideology. The end game is to eradicate minority groups. Their theology is not christian and aims to hide them behind religious rights. They want a society of white men running the country because it is destined by God to have America for their own. They will destroy America and put in their own constitution, religion and government. White women are only for seed storage and reproduction.
Again, thank you for your reporting and including a resource for learning about surveillance.