The national ban on transgender sports is expected to come down to the wire in the Senate, and could lead to crackdowns on transgender people nationwide.
I've supported the Democratic party for decades but if they cannot support us now, I will never help them again. Supporting the Trans and LGBTQ communities has been one of the only major ways for some time to tell the difference between the two parties and if Dems are writing us off, we're better served spending our meagre resources attempting to negotiate our genocide and erasure with Republicans because while they hate us, unlike Dems, the GOPMAGAs know how to win elections and Dems have abandoned the idea.
Though much of the recent rhetoric about us from Dems is pretty god-damned hateful, at least, from the Dems who haven't forgotten since November that we exist.
They couldn't even muster the votes to hold an open vote on the NDAA anti-Trans language! A vote the Republicans would have probably lost! They surrended in advance like Vichy French on the Morroccan beaches during Operation Torch! Threw their hands up in anticipatory obedience, except this time, fascism WON.
You know what, 100%. Not long after the election, when Dems blamed trans people for why Harris lost, I updated my registration to independent. I may still mostly vote for Dems but, even as someone who once donated, phone banked, etc, my vote for them is not guaranteed.
Besides, they're always bending in the wind to "undecided voters", not their own damn party
They keep trying to pick up the votes of "disaffected Republicans" but that strategy continues to be a losing one. They've abandoned their base, and can't figure out why they keep losing.
There is no negotiating with zealots and fascists. They want extermination and they've open said as much at some of their conventions.
Democrats may suck, but in a 2 party system you have to pick one to support and try and change. There is no changing the Right at this point. We're too valuable to them as the enemy.
People not voting and voting against Democrats to make a point is exactly why we are here right now.
Ivy, I voted for Hillary, I voted for Biden, I voted for Harris, and I campaigned my ass off for them all and in the midterms. AND now as a Trans and queer lesbian woman I can't safely travel to 27 states and soon may lose all legal recognition and civil rights at the federal level.
What have Dems to say for themselves? Ask Seth Moulton, Tom Suozzi, and Colin Allred. They say they can't even keep anti-Trans anti-LGBTQ language out of the NDAA because "transgender is now just too extreme a topic to spend political capital on".
Well, if our very lives don't matter, then our fracking votes don't either.
I'm not mad at Democrats because they're right of center centrists so afraid of any genuinely progressive policy platforms that they piss themselves and I'm not mad that historically the only difference between the two parties has been Dem support of LGBTQ Americans.
I'm not mad that they can't seem to effectively use dark money, foreign influencers, socials, or any other 21st modality. They were ahead techwise with the OFA in 2008 and have been karking the bed since.
I'm not mad that the DNC has morphed into congenital losers who have only won one election since 2012 and THAT only because America was still traumatized by Trump's first term, which wore off because Americans collectively have the gestalt memory of dead goldfish. Imagine losing to an idiot like Trump not once, but TWICE! Seriously, if it had been WWI, someone would have mercifully provided them with a compassionate firing squad.
I'm not so mad that I won't still vote Dem because I have NO OTHER CHOICE, but I DO reserve the right to speak truth to power, even broken, useless, unproductive, Three Stooges power like the current DNC.
I AM mad, however, that Dems and their big funders can't roll over fast enough on Trans and LGBTQ Americans and blame US for THEIR f*ckups, and I will not sit still, and willnot sit quietly while they blame US, abandon US, and scapegoat US. Dems have lost our number since 11/05/24 and we are on our own for now, and this means there's NOTHING to stop the Trump administration from quickly applying extant legislation, infrastructure, and executive immunity to begin the extermination of transgender Americans. The NDAA,the 119th House rules, the Title IX 180°, and in less than two week, the Jan 20 Trans military ban, 1/20/25 federal employment ban, the DOE/DOJ/DOS/HHS revocation of legal recognition for transgender Americans as we lose our passports and SSA accounts, Democrats KNOW THIS IS COMING and we haven't heard a SYLLABUS from them. Their silence we hear loud and clear.
Since I will likely not be alive a year from now, I have the right to god-damned speak the truth, and if any Dem wishes to gainsay my words, let him, her, or they do it with their DEEDS defending us against the GOPMAGA fascist anschluss and not with empty rhetorical pablum and obsolescent talking points that died a dog's death 11/05/24.
You have every right to be mad. I'm mad too. I'm frustrated, and terrified.
Making your voice heard and continuing to push the one side of politics that will even lend an ear is our option right now.
I was merely responding to this part of your original comment "if Dems are writing us off, we're better served spending our meagre resources attempting to negotiate our genocide and erasure with Republicans because while they hate us, unlike Dems, the GOPMAGAs know how to win elections and Dems have abandoned the idea."
GOP knows how to win elections because half the voting populace is poorly educated and easily riled up. Combine that with Biden no gracefully stepping aside, the Palestine response from Dems, and we have the perfect stupid storm for people to vote against there interests in protest votes and alternatively because they think trans people are the end of the world.
Except in red states like Missouri where they have gerrymandered, changed the voting laws, made it difficult for POC to get to the polls, and the big one--in the majority of races, there are NO Dems (or other) running against the GOP. The Dems gave up on us long ago. MO has been under GOP control for 30+ yrs. That's the majority of why we are in this mess. Look at the other red states and you see this same pattern. Jess Piper, ACTBlue, Red, Wine and Blue, and others worked their asses off the last couple of yrs trying to just get Dems to run. I supported/donated/voted Dems as much as I could, but if they continue to throw trans/gay people under the bus, NO MORE. And yes, there is no negotiation with fascists. We are on our own and must fight together. I say this as an ally with a queer family. I will die on this hill.
To a small extent you are correct. However, the only way to get one of the two parties to listen and change their values is to start supporting a minority party that drains voters from them, or vote for the opposing party if that party fits your values.
I'm angry, too!. However, we can't afford to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Remember that we have both allies and adversaries in the Democratic Party, not unlike the state of affairs decades ago. We have to groom good relations with those who are our allies, while seeking to replace (via primaries) those who are not. Perhaps more of us need to run for office. Perhaps we need to support LGB allies who will stand by us. Maybe the replacement of Shawn Thierry (Democratic Texas representative who betrayed us) with Lauren Ashley Simmons (a Democratic queer ally) is what our roadmap should look like.
Will blue states (CA, NY, MN, IL, MA) be able to resist this, or provide protections within their borders, if this awful piece of legislation becomes law?
We'll find out! The Feds aren't enforcing the marijuana laws in the states that legalized it but I would guess that they'll withhold funding from institutions that defy this legislation, hopefully, I'm wrong.
Yes. In fact, the legislation doesn't purport to ban transgender people from sports, it says that athletic organizations who don't aren't eligible for federal funding. So it effectively bans it.
I looked that up the other day and as far as Massachusetts goes there state government issued a statement saying they will remain a safe haven and transgender protected state.
Sandra, most blue states have sanctuary laws in place, including my state of Illinois. Unfortunately most of my business is across the river in Missouri and I travel from my historical Illinois river town to the city, St. Louis, almost every day. I have complete and explicit civil rights in Illinois, none by midriver as I drive West across the bridge. After I changed my gender marker but before Obergefell, I was a woman married to another woman in Illinois, but single in Missouri.
We had to pay a "queer tax" when filing returns. I had to file the Missouri portion of my income as single and not "married joint" or "married filing separately", resulting in paying an additional $400-$500 per year to Missouri. After Obergefell we could file jointly and not have to pay extra to the red state.
It's the same old playbook: Stir the pot on social issues to whip up /distract the hoi polloi, then give tax cuts to the 1% while everyone is arguing about the social issues.
Just really sad that the US politicians are hurting the LGBTQIA+ community and not actually doing their jobs in what people wanted them to focus on.
Idek how to feel anymore, can't even finish the article without crying since life will be more harder no matter what state you are in the US. Federal unfortunately is higher than states rights and even blue states can't do much if this bill and more passes and becomes laws.
It really makes me sick, I'm 23 and shouldn't have to dealing with this as well as the older, younger and current generations. Don't even know where to even go or have resources to leave unless I take out a major behind student loans from FAFSA for another degree in a country of Australia but even then, that's temporary and hard to gain citizenship without marketable degrees that country's want (meaning can't even be in a field I guess I would like or else wasting time and money in going into Australia) and with good health background too.
Just super, and I mean really frustrated. Florida and other red States are horrible, and even tho people don't recognize NB Gender Identities like they do for Transgender even tho Non Binary and Transgender are in the same umbrella it just sad that things getting worse and I am afraid of doing anything in public or vice versa even tho single, dealing with personal issues irl and just continue masking.
I really want to live in a world where we all free and no one can spread more hatred towards us, but I'm just so tired. Voting Isn't as powerful as I once thought especially with billionaires like Musk or even that Facebook CEO going back on DEI rights and able to stand up for minority groups. Other companies are also giving Trump money which idek why and just rolling back regulations ahead of his run again as so called President of the US which is gonna be miserable for the next four years.
So where does it leave the rest of us, that just want to live in a world free and minding our own business to pursue and live life as intended. I'm not saying don't vote, which people who are eligible should do so, but I'm tired and I shouldn't have to go above and beyond in my Early 20s to fight and fight which I'm exhausted in doing so.
I just want to be able to have all things most people want, a decent income in career I'm fine with and not hate/no longer struggling to find jobs after uni, kids (bio or adopted doesn't matter as long as they are healthy when I'm older and more stabilize), marriage, able to afford a house and if my partner ends up being LGBTQIA+ (preferred IMO for mutual understanding) as well then why should all the things I want be minimize or risk being illegal/not allowed once more?
Not even sure what else to do at this point and sorry for rambling, but I'm simply exhausted.
Republicans + Christian nationalism = unbridled bigotry. Democrats who support legislation attacking trans rights are cowards. Thanks for listing the Datamade website. We are accountable for our representatives' actions whether we voted for them or not. If we don't call or email to let them know how we feel, we allow the malice to continue.
Yes. With that in mind, I even called my republican senator. I acted like a conservative voter and said I hope he votes no on the sports ban next week because I don't think the federal government should get involved how states handle this, and it doesn't have anything to do with lowering the price of groceries which is what we sent you to Washington to do.
I live in Wisconsin so I called my Senators, Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson. In both cases I got voicemail and I left a message.
For Senator Baldwin (D), I thanked her for her support in the past on LGBTQ issues and let her know I see her efforts and hope she will do everything she can to rally other democrats to defeat the sports ban next week via the filibuster.
For Senator Johnson (R), I acted like a conservative voter and said I hope he votes no on the sports ban next week because I don't think the federal government should get involved how states handle this, and it doesn't have anything to do with lowering the price of groceries which is what we sent you to Washington to do.
This kind of news makes me want to go back to old western slurs to describe our "representatives." I'm stuck in a red state with red reps, so I don't expect any better from them but really...
Note the phrasing in Schilling's comment: "The women’s sports issue was really the beginning point in helping expose all this because what it did was, it got opponents of the LGBT movement comfortable with talking about transgender issues."
He's making it clear that they're not stopping with sports bans, and they're not stopping with trans people.
They want to eliminate trans people from public life, to force those of us who can live in stealth back in the closet and to force the rest of us into one form of personal hell or another. And then they want to do the same to LGBQ people.
Alito and Thomas are just itching to reverse marriage equality at the Supreme Court, and the fascists will probably also go after protections against employment discrimination and the like. Most likely they'll expand "religious freedom" exemptions to civil rights laws until the laws lose all meaning.
Their endgame is restoring the white Christian hierarchy, where white Christian men are at the top, white Christian women hold a privileged but subservient place, and the rest of us are second-class citizens, or worse.
There is no such thing as eliminating trans people from public life. 99% can't figure out what on Earth that phrase is supposed to mean & the rest take dim views of it all. Speaking as if medical transition can be put «back in the closet» sounds somewhere between very confused & a right-winger caricaturing trans people as Monty Python sketches.
What there actually is is eliminating trans people. Drag bans, sports bans etc. aren't enforced by uttering incantations in legalese to magically reverse medical transitions. They're enforced the same ways as all other criminal laws are: throwing their violators in prison or executing them.
P.S.: All of the eugenics-era SCOTUS rulings legalising forced medical treatment & surgery are still on the books.
What do you think of encouraging student athletes to "Strike", not participate in sports teams where trans students are banned? What would be a way to encourage this?
My gut reaction is that sounds like it could be helpful. Grind sports to halt, or at least throw grit in the gears and maybe indifferent people will push back on the legislators for wasting time on this instead of lowering the price of groceries.
I like that. Unfortunately, it's going to have to be a movement that grows organically. If we ask student athletes to stand up for us, they likely won't do it. It has to be their idea. But if they do it, then perhaps we can help to amplify their message.
To paraphrase some really wise men from years gone past:
"Step by step, inch by inch..."
This is how we shall go down, our rights slowly, inexorably taken away from us, until we are all forced back into the closet.
A sign of the times, a newly incorporated PFLAG chapter in my area sent out invitations to their kick off dinner. They asked that invitations to the event not be forwarded to other people without consulting with them first. They also only provided the address to the event once you were confirmed against their mailing list. I think that we all know the reason for these precautions, fear for the safety of those who plan on attending the event.
Here we are, a major LGBTQ+ support organization (something that does not exist in our area), starting it's new chapter in fear and secrecy.
I find an interesting part of this bill to be setting up a study based on an incredibly biased starting point. I feel worried about the far reaching implications for me as a trans individual, but I feel like we are the forefront of the weaponization of anti-scientific reasoning. If a law asks a study to be done to investigate all these terrible effects on women that trans women apparently pose, it's obviously not going in with actual scientific curiosity. The scientific method has become tainted by emotion and bigotry. Sure, this isn't new, but it feels like we're swinging in a direction where science doesn't actually hold meaning, because it's being done to further agendas, and people are really okay with not getting to a real truth but instead just affirming themselves. We're moving into a post-truth society, or at least one where truth appears to be subjective, and nowhere do we feel that harder than in being trans.
I really hope enough Democrats stand against this & have spines.
I just read that Title IX can't be used to protect youth from having the wrong pronouns used in schools. I'm heartbroken. It doesn't hurt any teachers to respect all youth. But trans youth suicidality always goes up when their names & pronouns aren't respected. How is letting them be bullied by teachers free speech?!
How will this be enforced? And what alternative does the bill provide for trans youth to participate in athletics, an important component of education, especially given that trans youth are already under enormous social pressure? The signal is clear -- trangender kids and their needs are not important, and, perhaps, should be punished for just being who they are. "Discrimination" is too mild a word to describe this naked hatred.
My guess is that somewhere in the bureaucratic process by which athletic organizations obtain federal funding they will be require to provide evidence of their policies banning trans people.
If that's all, maybe the athletic organization have an official policy but not really enforce it. Or, maybe the law (or a future law) requires them in addition to showing evidence of the policy, also show evidence of enforcement, how many genital inspections did they conduct etc.
It's like watching Germany 100 years ago, same patterns repeated.
Those of us who said the very same thing in 2016 were roundly attacked for it. But guess what? We were right because we actually understand history.
That's exactly what this is. It's genocide. I'm Jewish and a trans woman, so I'm qualified to remark on both.
I, for one, will not be caught unaware. I have my escape plans in place.
I've supported the Democratic party for decades but if they cannot support us now, I will never help them again. Supporting the Trans and LGBTQ communities has been one of the only major ways for some time to tell the difference between the two parties and if Dems are writing us off, we're better served spending our meagre resources attempting to negotiate our genocide and erasure with Republicans because while they hate us, unlike Dems, the GOPMAGAs know how to win elections and Dems have abandoned the idea.
Though much of the recent rhetoric about us from Dems is pretty god-damned hateful, at least, from the Dems who haven't forgotten since November that we exist.
They couldn't even muster the votes to hold an open vote on the NDAA anti-Trans language! A vote the Republicans would have probably lost! They surrended in advance like Vichy French on the Morroccan beaches during Operation Torch! Threw their hands up in anticipatory obedience, except this time, fascism WON.
You know what, 100%. Not long after the election, when Dems blamed trans people for why Harris lost, I updated my registration to independent. I may still mostly vote for Dems but, even as someone who once donated, phone banked, etc, my vote for them is not guaranteed.
Besides, they're always bending in the wind to "undecided voters", not their own damn party
They keep trying to pick up the votes of "disaffected Republicans" but that strategy continues to be a losing one. They've abandoned their base, and can't figure out why they keep losing.
Yep, who needs Republicans when we have Democrats, grrrr
There is no negotiating with zealots and fascists. They want extermination and they've open said as much at some of their conventions.
Democrats may suck, but in a 2 party system you have to pick one to support and try and change. There is no changing the Right at this point. We're too valuable to them as the enemy.
People not voting and voting against Democrats to make a point is exactly why we are here right now.
Ivy, I voted for Hillary, I voted for Biden, I voted for Harris, and I campaigned my ass off for them all and in the midterms. AND now as a Trans and queer lesbian woman I can't safely travel to 27 states and soon may lose all legal recognition and civil rights at the federal level.
What have Dems to say for themselves? Ask Seth Moulton, Tom Suozzi, and Colin Allred. They say they can't even keep anti-Trans anti-LGBTQ language out of the NDAA because "transgender is now just too extreme a topic to spend political capital on".
Well, if our very lives don't matter, then our fracking votes don't either.
I'm not mad at Democrats because they're right of center centrists so afraid of any genuinely progressive policy platforms that they piss themselves and I'm not mad that historically the only difference between the two parties has been Dem support of LGBTQ Americans.
I'm not mad that they can't seem to effectively use dark money, foreign influencers, socials, or any other 21st modality. They were ahead techwise with the OFA in 2008 and have been karking the bed since.
I'm not mad that the DNC has morphed into congenital losers who have only won one election since 2012 and THAT only because America was still traumatized by Trump's first term, which wore off because Americans collectively have the gestalt memory of dead goldfish. Imagine losing to an idiot like Trump not once, but TWICE! Seriously, if it had been WWI, someone would have mercifully provided them with a compassionate firing squad.
I'm not so mad that I won't still vote Dem because I have NO OTHER CHOICE, but I DO reserve the right to speak truth to power, even broken, useless, unproductive, Three Stooges power like the current DNC.
I AM mad, however, that Dems and their big funders can't roll over fast enough on Trans and LGBTQ Americans and blame US for THEIR f*ckups, and I will not sit still, and willnot sit quietly while they blame US, abandon US, and scapegoat US. Dems have lost our number since 11/05/24 and we are on our own for now, and this means there's NOTHING to stop the Trump administration from quickly applying extant legislation, infrastructure, and executive immunity to begin the extermination of transgender Americans. The NDAA,the 119th House rules, the Title IX 180°, and in less than two week, the Jan 20 Trans military ban, 1/20/25 federal employment ban, the DOE/DOJ/DOS/HHS revocation of legal recognition for transgender Americans as we lose our passports and SSA accounts, Democrats KNOW THIS IS COMING and we haven't heard a SYLLABUS from them. Their silence we hear loud and clear.
Since I will likely not be alive a year from now, I have the right to god-damned speak the truth, and if any Dem wishes to gainsay my words, let him, her, or they do it with their DEEDS defending us against the GOPMAGA fascist anschluss and not with empty rhetorical pablum and obsolescent talking points that died a dog's death 11/05/24.
You have every right to be mad. I'm mad too. I'm frustrated, and terrified.
Making your voice heard and continuing to push the one side of politics that will even lend an ear is our option right now.
I was merely responding to this part of your original comment "if Dems are writing us off, we're better served spending our meagre resources attempting to negotiate our genocide and erasure with Republicans because while they hate us, unlike Dems, the GOPMAGAs know how to win elections and Dems have abandoned the idea."
GOP knows how to win elections because half the voting populace is poorly educated and easily riled up. Combine that with Biden no gracefully stepping aside, the Palestine response from Dems, and we have the perfect stupid storm for people to vote against there interests in protest votes and alternatively because they think trans people are the end of the world.
I feel your pain and know it all too well.
Except in red states like Missouri where they have gerrymandered, changed the voting laws, made it difficult for POC to get to the polls, and the big one--in the majority of races, there are NO Dems (or other) running against the GOP. The Dems gave up on us long ago. MO has been under GOP control for 30+ yrs. That's the majority of why we are in this mess. Look at the other red states and you see this same pattern. Jess Piper, ACTBlue, Red, Wine and Blue, and others worked their asses off the last couple of yrs trying to just get Dems to run. I supported/donated/voted Dems as much as I could, but if they continue to throw trans/gay people under the bus, NO MORE. And yes, there is no negotiation with fascists. We are on our own and must fight together. I say this as an ally with a queer family. I will die on this hill.
To a small extent you are correct. However, the only way to get one of the two parties to listen and change their values is to start supporting a minority party that drains voters from them, or vote for the opposing party if that party fits your values.
I'm angry, too!. However, we can't afford to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Remember that we have both allies and adversaries in the Democratic Party, not unlike the state of affairs decades ago. We have to groom good relations with those who are our allies, while seeking to replace (via primaries) those who are not. Perhaps more of us need to run for office. Perhaps we need to support LGB allies who will stand by us. Maybe the replacement of Shawn Thierry (Democratic Texas representative who betrayed us) with Lauren Ashley Simmons (a Democratic queer ally) is what our roadmap should look like.
Will blue states (CA, NY, MN, IL, MA) be able to resist this, or provide protections within their borders, if this awful piece of legislation becomes law?
We'll find out! The Feds aren't enforcing the marijuana laws in the states that legalized it but I would guess that they'll withhold funding from institutions that defy this legislation, hopefully, I'm wrong.
Yes. In fact, the legislation doesn't purport to ban transgender people from sports, it says that athletic organizations who don't aren't eligible for federal funding. So it effectively bans it.
I looked that up the other day and as far as Massachusetts goes there state government issued a statement saying they will remain a safe haven and transgender protected state.
Sandra, most blue states have sanctuary laws in place, including my state of Illinois. Unfortunately most of my business is across the river in Missouri and I travel from my historical Illinois river town to the city, St. Louis, almost every day. I have complete and explicit civil rights in Illinois, none by midriver as I drive West across the bridge. After I changed my gender marker but before Obergefell, I was a woman married to another woman in Illinois, but single in Missouri.
We had to pay a "queer tax" when filing returns. I had to file the Missouri portion of my income as single and not "married joint" or "married filing separately", resulting in paying an additional $400-$500 per year to Missouri. After Obergefell we could file jointly and not have to pay extra to the red state.
It's the same old playbook: Stir the pot on social issues to whip up /distract the hoi polloi, then give tax cuts to the 1% while everyone is arguing about the social issues.
Trump's first term didn't even need the distraction... and they still managed to pass tax cuts that disproportionately favored the rich.
Just really sad that the US politicians are hurting the LGBTQIA+ community and not actually doing their jobs in what people wanted them to focus on.
Idek how to feel anymore, can't even finish the article without crying since life will be more harder no matter what state you are in the US. Federal unfortunately is higher than states rights and even blue states can't do much if this bill and more passes and becomes laws.
It really makes me sick, I'm 23 and shouldn't have to dealing with this as well as the older, younger and current generations. Don't even know where to even go or have resources to leave unless I take out a major behind student loans from FAFSA for another degree in a country of Australia but even then, that's temporary and hard to gain citizenship without marketable degrees that country's want (meaning can't even be in a field I guess I would like or else wasting time and money in going into Australia) and with good health background too.
Just super, and I mean really frustrated. Florida and other red States are horrible, and even tho people don't recognize NB Gender Identities like they do for Transgender even tho Non Binary and Transgender are in the same umbrella it just sad that things getting worse and I am afraid of doing anything in public or vice versa even tho single, dealing with personal issues irl and just continue masking.
I really want to live in a world where we all free and no one can spread more hatred towards us, but I'm just so tired. Voting Isn't as powerful as I once thought especially with billionaires like Musk or even that Facebook CEO going back on DEI rights and able to stand up for minority groups. Other companies are also giving Trump money which idek why and just rolling back regulations ahead of his run again as so called President of the US which is gonna be miserable for the next four years.
So where does it leave the rest of us, that just want to live in a world free and minding our own business to pursue and live life as intended. I'm not saying don't vote, which people who are eligible should do so, but I'm tired and I shouldn't have to go above and beyond in my Early 20s to fight and fight which I'm exhausted in doing so.
I just want to be able to have all things most people want, a decent income in career I'm fine with and not hate/no longer struggling to find jobs after uni, kids (bio or adopted doesn't matter as long as they are healthy when I'm older and more stabilize), marriage, able to afford a house and if my partner ends up being LGBTQIA+ (preferred IMO for mutual understanding) as well then why should all the things I want be minimize or risk being illegal/not allowed once more?
Not even sure what else to do at this point and sorry for rambling, but I'm simply exhausted.
Republicans + Christian nationalism = unbridled bigotry. Democrats who support legislation attacking trans rights are cowards. Thanks for listing the Datamade website. We are accountable for our representatives' actions whether we voted for them or not. If we don't call or email to let them know how we feel, we allow the malice to continue.
Yes. With that in mind, I even called my republican senator. I acted like a conservative voter and said I hope he votes no on the sports ban next week because I don't think the federal government should get involved how states handle this, and it doesn't have anything to do with lowering the price of groceries which is what we sent you to Washington to do.
Omg, this breaks my heart.
Thanks Erin!!!
I live in Wisconsin so I called my Senators, Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson. In both cases I got voicemail and I left a message.
For Senator Baldwin (D), I thanked her for her support in the past on LGBTQ issues and let her know I see her efforts and hope she will do everything she can to rally other democrats to defeat the sports ban next week via the filibuster.
For Senator Johnson (R), I acted like a conservative voter and said I hope he votes no on the sports ban next week because I don't think the federal government should get involved how states handle this, and it doesn't have anything to do with lowering the price of groceries which is what we sent you to Washington to do.
There must be an "other" to be an object of cruelty. If one does not exist, they will make one.
This kind of news makes me want to go back to old western slurs to describe our "representatives." I'm stuck in a red state with red reps, so I don't expect any better from them but really...
Note the phrasing in Schilling's comment: "The women’s sports issue was really the beginning point in helping expose all this because what it did was, it got opponents of the LGBT movement comfortable with talking about transgender issues."
He's making it clear that they're not stopping with sports bans, and they're not stopping with trans people.
They want to eliminate trans people from public life, to force those of us who can live in stealth back in the closet and to force the rest of us into one form of personal hell or another. And then they want to do the same to LGBQ people.
Alito and Thomas are just itching to reverse marriage equality at the Supreme Court, and the fascists will probably also go after protections against employment discrimination and the like. Most likely they'll expand "religious freedom" exemptions to civil rights laws until the laws lose all meaning.
Their endgame is restoring the white Christian hierarchy, where white Christian men are at the top, white Christian women hold a privileged but subservient place, and the rest of us are second-class citizens, or worse.
Exactly
There is no such thing as eliminating trans people from public life. 99% can't figure out what on Earth that phrase is supposed to mean & the rest take dim views of it all. Speaking as if medical transition can be put «back in the closet» sounds somewhere between very confused & a right-winger caricaturing trans people as Monty Python sketches.
What there actually is is eliminating trans people. Drag bans, sports bans etc. aren't enforced by uttering incantations in legalese to magically reverse medical transitions. They're enforced the same ways as all other criminal laws are: throwing their violators in prison or executing them.
P.S.: All of the eugenics-era SCOTUS rulings legalising forced medical treatment & surgery are still on the books.
What do you think of encouraging student athletes to "Strike", not participate in sports teams where trans students are banned? What would be a way to encourage this?
My gut reaction is that sounds like it could be helpful. Grind sports to halt, or at least throw grit in the gears and maybe indifferent people will push back on the legislators for wasting time on this instead of lowering the price of groceries.
I like that. Unfortunately, it's going to have to be a movement that grows organically. If we ask student athletes to stand up for us, they likely won't do it. It has to be their idea. But if they do it, then perhaps we can help to amplify their message.
That's a very good point. Amplifiers are on stand by, ready to be turned up to 11.
To paraphrase some really wise men from years gone past:
"Step by step, inch by inch..."
This is how we shall go down, our rights slowly, inexorably taken away from us, until we are all forced back into the closet.
A sign of the times, a newly incorporated PFLAG chapter in my area sent out invitations to their kick off dinner. They asked that invitations to the event not be forwarded to other people without consulting with them first. They also only provided the address to the event once you were confirmed against their mailing list. I think that we all know the reason for these precautions, fear for the safety of those who plan on attending the event.
Here we are, a major LGBTQ+ support organization (something that does not exist in our area), starting it's new chapter in fear and secrecy.
Niagara Falls!
I know, I guess inappropriate considering the text of your comment, but I couldn't resist revealing how old I am.
I find an interesting part of this bill to be setting up a study based on an incredibly biased starting point. I feel worried about the far reaching implications for me as a trans individual, but I feel like we are the forefront of the weaponization of anti-scientific reasoning. If a law asks a study to be done to investigate all these terrible effects on women that trans women apparently pose, it's obviously not going in with actual scientific curiosity. The scientific method has become tainted by emotion and bigotry. Sure, this isn't new, but it feels like we're swinging in a direction where science doesn't actually hold meaning, because it's being done to further agendas, and people are really okay with not getting to a real truth but instead just affirming themselves. We're moving into a post-truth society, or at least one where truth appears to be subjective, and nowhere do we feel that harder than in being trans.
I really hope enough Democrats stand against this & have spines.
I just read that Title IX can't be used to protect youth from having the wrong pronouns used in schools. I'm heartbroken. It doesn't hurt any teachers to respect all youth. But trans youth suicidality always goes up when their names & pronouns aren't respected. How is letting them be bullied by teachers free speech?!
How will this be enforced? And what alternative does the bill provide for trans youth to participate in athletics, an important component of education, especially given that trans youth are already under enormous social pressure? The signal is clear -- trangender kids and their needs are not important, and, perhaps, should be punished for just being who they are. "Discrimination" is too mild a word to describe this naked hatred.
My guess is that somewhere in the bureaucratic process by which athletic organizations obtain federal funding they will be require to provide evidence of their policies banning trans people.
If that's all, maybe the athletic organization have an official policy but not really enforce it. Or, maybe the law (or a future law) requires them in addition to showing evidence of the policy, also show evidence of enforcement, how many genital inspections did they conduct etc.