Sadly the list keeps getting shorter and shorter. These are scary times for our community, please keep doing what you’re doing Erin. Between you keeping us informed and Zooey kicking ass over in Montana, we are eternally grateful.
Yeah. Not gonna lie, I keep eying Canada and think about leaving a lot, but if we don't stop it here, it's gonna keep on spreading elsewhere. I think very few places are fully safe from these types of backlashes at the moment.
Same, there are several things keeping me from wanting to stay here - I spent 20yrs in the Marines defending this county, it has now turned into something unworthy of defending (if it ever truly was), the other is that I’m a single Mom and I can’t risk leaving my 15yr old son all alone if I get arrested/killed by this regime.
Thank you! VERY glad I retired when I did (2015) Long before there was even a chance of any US Marines being deployed to the streets of US Cities. I would have ended up getting thrown in the Brig for refusing those orders
Been travelling all over western Canada this past year. At first I felt very safe and welcome everywhere. Lately, I am sensing a vibe shift, and have encountered more people parroting manufactured anti-trans rhetoric. More generally, the new PM is losing his shine, and long simmering resentments about immigrants, first nations, employment and housing are heating up. Still feels OK for now, but if Canada follows UK and NZ, social climate will be horrible - rural Canadians have a mean redneck side just underneath the relaxed and educated surface.
I suppose any country ever connected to Great Britain is most vulnerable to this . So ironic that countries like Iran allow this and countries that are allegedly “free” are coming down against it . And this fucking word woke is so god damn ridiculous . Awakened . Like that’s supposed to be bad . It’s spiritually what I strive for anyway . Why do humans have to keep learning and relearning things and never seem to maintain their growth?
Because most of them can’t let go of the religious beliefs they had drilled into their heads since birth. The majority of “grooming” takes place in the name of religions.
This shows that right-wing anti-trans propaganda is a worldwide phenomenon, and no place can be considered truly safe. Also - bans on minors’ care is usually a stepping stone toward civil rights and medical care restrictions for adults
It's true that no place is 100% safe, and no place can be 100% stable. What I looked for, when researching foreign destinations, was consistency and stability, more than merely absolute safety and freedom in the current moment. I learned to think this way when looking for blue states. California was on the short-list, but it was deeply sobering to look at the 1980 election map. That's when I discovered that counties matter - A LOT. My short list narrowed very quickly to the city of San Francisco and Mendocino and Humbolt counties - and states like Hawaii.
I honestly don't know NZ's history, as I mostly studied US states and European countries. What I found in Europe is that the people in some countries just aren't that political, and that leads to a lot of stability. And there are places where we have a long history in the public eye, so trans news is old news. One country that has been ringing the right bells for decades now is Spain. They even have a well-known and respected actress-turned-senator, Carla Antonelli. Much of their distaste for culture-war politics has to do with their experiences with Franco up until his death in 1975. It doesn't mean there aren't fascists in Spain, but they are in the minority and diminishing in influence.
I recently saw a photo of 8 or 9 men on a panel that was making decicions on the health needs of women. How absurd! How many folk who were transgender or non-binary or queer were part of the group that made this decision. I am 67 and transgender. I'm ready to give my 2 cents if anyone is interested in the thoughts of someone who wishes there was an option for puberty blockers 60 years ago.
As an American living in New Zealand, I can say this much: New Zealand is conservative with a small ‘c.’ Yes, it follows the trends and I have seen the import of some transphobia. It is not nearly to the level that it is in the states or the UK. But it is there. There is a thriving queer community, however. Pride is openly celebrated and while there is some anti LGBT-protest, it’s generally minimal. I believe the right-wing New Zealand government is simply using the same playbook of distraction that other western cultures are. There is an election that will happen next year and the general sentiment is that this government will be voted out. New Zealand is a multiparty (not only two) system. In the meantime, only gonadotropin-inhibiting blockers are banned. Meds like spironolactone are still legal, as are cross-sex hormones for trans youth. What I am trying to say in this message, is not to give up hope. And when barriers appear, let’s work together to redirect and find a way.
Also, I want to share that for the moment trans kids already receiving puberty blockers will continue to receive them— something not currently afforded them by
I get it. And I’m not trying to downplay what the loss of gonadatropin inhibitors will do. I’m just saying that in an email from Gender Minorities Aotearoa this morning, they specifically outlined that the use of spironolactone, cyproterone, and cross sex hormones are still options for trans youth here. There is still a lifeline and I know that that means psychologically to trans youth. Maybe that means they would not be eligible to play some sports down the road because that didn’t take puberty blockers in adolescence. That sucks but I think the real emphasis should be on keeping these youth alive and with access to care of some kind. Redirection might be our biggest asset in a time when the game keeps changing. I urge everyone to think creatively about ways to resist and to access what we need.
"Yes and" to so much of this, also an American in New Zealand. To add a bit more, the picture of trans rights is more favourable on paper than most other places right now. We don't have gender markers at all on our driver's licenses, all gender and names on ID (including passports) are self-identified, trans people are legally protected from discrimination, bathroom laws are considered very fringe, and adult GAHT is allowed to be prescribed on an informed consent basis nationally. So far as I know, youth care specifically is administered in accordance with PATHA, and there is no trans youth sports ban in place. Finally, transphobia is really concentrated in the NZ First Party, which turned there after it was booted out of government in 2020. It is notable that the government is not putting forward a bill in Parliament banning puberty blockers, perhaps because there simply aren't the votes in their own (as Sarah put it) small c conservative caucus.
There are some caveats here, though. Rural areas in particular have low healthcare resources and conservative cultures. Although informed consent is the standard for adult GAHT, in practice many (maybe most) GPs won't prescribe without referring to the sexual health service--which has months-long wait times. All the trans people I know have had to educate their GPs both in initial prescribing and on an ongoing basis (eg, stopping oestrogen when it hits the upper end of a prespecified range). Most of the legal protections I noted above are quite vulnerable because we don't have a written constitution. If the right-wing government becomes more right wing after next year's election, they can roll all the aforementioned freedoms back with a simple majority. More broadly, the right-wing government has severely damaged the lives of trans people in profound ways through cutting benefits, decreasing healthcare system capacity, and mass layoffs of public sector workers.
If you're living in an unsafe place, NZ may be a good option for you. It's just not the safest and might become considerably less safe if we aren't able to reverse the current trends.
Obviously don't give up hope, but the "puberty pausers" as I prefer to call them are pretty important for trans youth and there are lifetime consequences with not being able to start them, like being unable to play competitive sports at any level above recreational leagues (and even that is up in the air). These medications were a compromise back in the day, so it they just keep shifting the Overton window. Also, no matter how thriving of a queer community there is, trans people are almost universally accepted as the sacrificial lamb with others rarely putting much energy into or risking their own comfort to fight and protect them.
I didn't have a name for how I was feeling a child. by the time I figured it out being raised in the bible belt I was to believe that it was not possible, an abomination, a shame and that god did not make mistakes. I fought for decades until I couldn't anymore and wanted to end it all. After making the decision to live I spent thousands of dollars to reverse what puberty blockers could have prevented. Blockers do nothing more that post pone puberty until a fully informed decision can be made.
What is happening with the world? What has happened to the world? They're going to kill children by denying them medicine they need to have a better chance of living a fulfilled, happy life.
I agree with Kassandra's thread. I had assumed that NZ would be a sane place. Not so.
So, so, infuriating. Hurting children for no reason but to score points with their own base. If this stands, those families will be stuck either traveling to Australia for meds or relying on underground providers and black market medication.
I am shocked and was completely unaware that transgender issues were a thing in New Zealand. I have been to New Zealand and at the time I guess it wasn't the far right in control. So sad and disappointing.
New Zealand’s politicians claim they are “protecting children” by banning puberty blockers, but I grew up in the 50s and 60s, back when no one protected kids like me. Not the schools, not the churches, not the doctors, and certainly not governments.
Where were these self-appointed guardians when bullying was considered “toughening up”? Where were they when religious leaders and parents shamed queer kids in the name of morals? Where were they when a truck driver at the steel fabrication shop where I worked as a teenager would sit through lunch bragging about being a Shaker Heights police detective who loved busting the “he/shes,” as though humiliating queer people was just another form of public safety?
Those voices and laws did not save me. They pushed me into hiding. They cost me decades. I carried that fear into two failed marriages, a stunted career, and the loss of my family before I could finally speak the truth of who I am. I worked six years as an Amazon automation technician to finance my own medical transition one paycheck at a time, determined not to die a ghost of myself.
And now, at nearly 70, I live as a whole person. I am unified. I am loved. I am accepted. Not because a government “protected” me, but because I finally stopped listening to those who claimed to be protecting me.
That is the real danger of these bans. They pretend to save children while demanding they live half-lives, quietly suffering until they are old enough to scrape together a way forward alone. Puberty blockers don’t take anything from children. Denial does.
No government that steals a child’s chance to grow into themselves has the right to call that protection. What they are doing to this generation is exactly what was done to mine—forcing us to navigate trauma and survive on our own, only to arrive decades later and ask: Why did no one help?
Trans youth do not need another era of silence and suffering. They need care. They need time. They need support now, not at age 50 or 60, when they finally escape the damage done “for their own good.”
These countries , certainly ours, never protects children or we would have more child predators like fathers , brothers, uncles, step fathers behind bars for incest and we’d have these creepy predator politicians behind bars , and we would have outlaws guns . One con after another . Control not protection is their true motto especially against children and women .
Terms like sacrificing really dredged up some vile emotions for me. I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, that indicates a forced gender role as breeders. Almost like a page out of a eugenics playbook.
Damn, well there goes NZ as an option for a safe place to flee to when things get too bad here…..
I've had NZ off of my "recommended countries" personal list for a while ever since the far-right takeover there.
Sadly the list keeps getting shorter and shorter. These are scary times for our community, please keep doing what you’re doing Erin. Between you keeping us informed and Zooey kicking ass over in Montana, we are eternally grateful.
Yeah. Not gonna lie, I keep eying Canada and think about leaving a lot, but if we don't stop it here, it's gonna keep on spreading elsewhere. I think very few places are fully safe from these types of backlashes at the moment.
Same, there are several things keeping me from wanting to stay here - I spent 20yrs in the Marines defending this county, it has now turned into something unworthy of defending (if it ever truly was), the other is that I’m a single Mom and I can’t risk leaving my 15yr old son all alone if I get arrested/killed by this regime.
Thank you for your service, sister. Strength and courage to us all.
Thank you! VERY glad I retired when I did (2015) Long before there was even a chance of any US Marines being deployed to the streets of US Cities. I would have ended up getting thrown in the Brig for refusing those orders
Been travelling all over western Canada this past year. At first I felt very safe and welcome everywhere. Lately, I am sensing a vibe shift, and have encountered more people parroting manufactured anti-trans rhetoric. More generally, the new PM is losing his shine, and long simmering resentments about immigrants, first nations, employment and housing are heating up. Still feels OK for now, but if Canada follows UK and NZ, social climate will be horrible - rural Canadians have a mean redneck side just underneath the relaxed and educated surface.
I suppose any country ever connected to Great Britain is most vulnerable to this . So ironic that countries like Iran allow this and countries that are allegedly “free” are coming down against it . And this fucking word woke is so god damn ridiculous . Awakened . Like that’s supposed to be bad . It’s spiritually what I strive for anyway . Why do humans have to keep learning and relearning things and never seem to maintain their growth?
Because most of them can’t let go of the religious beliefs they had drilled into their heads since birth. The majority of “grooming” takes place in the name of religions.
This shows that right-wing anti-trans propaganda is a worldwide phenomenon, and no place can be considered truly safe. Also - bans on minors’ care is usually a stepping stone toward civil rights and medical care restrictions for adults
It's true that no place is 100% safe, and no place can be 100% stable. What I looked for, when researching foreign destinations, was consistency and stability, more than merely absolute safety and freedom in the current moment. I learned to think this way when looking for blue states. California was on the short-list, but it was deeply sobering to look at the 1980 election map. That's when I discovered that counties matter - A LOT. My short list narrowed very quickly to the city of San Francisco and Mendocino and Humbolt counties - and states like Hawaii.
I honestly don't know NZ's history, as I mostly studied US states and European countries. What I found in Europe is that the people in some countries just aren't that political, and that leads to a lot of stability. And there are places where we have a long history in the public eye, so trans news is old news. One country that has been ringing the right bells for decades now is Spain. They even have a well-known and respected actress-turned-senator, Carla Antonelli. Much of their distaste for culture-war politics has to do with their experiences with Franco up until his death in 1975. It doesn't mean there aren't fascists in Spain, but they are in the minority and diminishing in influence.
I recently saw a photo of 8 or 9 men on a panel that was making decicions on the health needs of women. How absurd! How many folk who were transgender or non-binary or queer were part of the group that made this decision. I am 67 and transgender. I'm ready to give my 2 cents if anyone is interested in the thoughts of someone who wishes there was an option for puberty blockers 60 years ago.
Please do
It feels like no where is safe why it's important to stand up while we can
As an American living in New Zealand, I can say this much: New Zealand is conservative with a small ‘c.’ Yes, it follows the trends and I have seen the import of some transphobia. It is not nearly to the level that it is in the states or the UK. But it is there. There is a thriving queer community, however. Pride is openly celebrated and while there is some anti LGBT-protest, it’s generally minimal. I believe the right-wing New Zealand government is simply using the same playbook of distraction that other western cultures are. There is an election that will happen next year and the general sentiment is that this government will be voted out. New Zealand is a multiparty (not only two) system. In the meantime, only gonadotropin-inhibiting blockers are banned. Meds like spironolactone are still legal, as are cross-sex hormones for trans youth. What I am trying to say in this message, is not to give up hope. And when barriers appear, let’s work together to redirect and find a way.
Also, I want to share that for the moment trans kids already receiving puberty blockers will continue to receive them— something not currently afforded them by
governments like the UK
I get it. And I’m not trying to downplay what the loss of gonadatropin inhibitors will do. I’m just saying that in an email from Gender Minorities Aotearoa this morning, they specifically outlined that the use of spironolactone, cyproterone, and cross sex hormones are still options for trans youth here. There is still a lifeline and I know that that means psychologically to trans youth. Maybe that means they would not be eligible to play some sports down the road because that didn’t take puberty blockers in adolescence. That sucks but I think the real emphasis should be on keeping these youth alive and with access to care of some kind. Redirection might be our biggest asset in a time when the game keeps changing. I urge everyone to think creatively about ways to resist and to access what we need.
"Yes and" to so much of this, also an American in New Zealand. To add a bit more, the picture of trans rights is more favourable on paper than most other places right now. We don't have gender markers at all on our driver's licenses, all gender and names on ID (including passports) are self-identified, trans people are legally protected from discrimination, bathroom laws are considered very fringe, and adult GAHT is allowed to be prescribed on an informed consent basis nationally. So far as I know, youth care specifically is administered in accordance with PATHA, and there is no trans youth sports ban in place. Finally, transphobia is really concentrated in the NZ First Party, which turned there after it was booted out of government in 2020. It is notable that the government is not putting forward a bill in Parliament banning puberty blockers, perhaps because there simply aren't the votes in their own (as Sarah put it) small c conservative caucus.
There are some caveats here, though. Rural areas in particular have low healthcare resources and conservative cultures. Although informed consent is the standard for adult GAHT, in practice many (maybe most) GPs won't prescribe without referring to the sexual health service--which has months-long wait times. All the trans people I know have had to educate their GPs both in initial prescribing and on an ongoing basis (eg, stopping oestrogen when it hits the upper end of a prespecified range). Most of the legal protections I noted above are quite vulnerable because we don't have a written constitution. If the right-wing government becomes more right wing after next year's election, they can roll all the aforementioned freedoms back with a simple majority. More broadly, the right-wing government has severely damaged the lives of trans people in profound ways through cutting benefits, decreasing healthcare system capacity, and mass layoffs of public sector workers.
If you're living in an unsafe place, NZ may be a good option for you. It's just not the safest and might become considerably less safe if we aren't able to reverse the current trends.
Here's hoping y'all manage to vote the fascists out!
Obviously don't give up hope, but the "puberty pausers" as I prefer to call them are pretty important for trans youth and there are lifetime consequences with not being able to start them, like being unable to play competitive sports at any level above recreational leagues (and even that is up in the air). These medications were a compromise back in the day, so it they just keep shifting the Overton window. Also, no matter how thriving of a queer community there is, trans people are almost universally accepted as the sacrificial lamb with others rarely putting much energy into or risking their own comfort to fight and protect them.
I didn't have a name for how I was feeling a child. by the time I figured it out being raised in the bible belt I was to believe that it was not possible, an abomination, a shame and that god did not make mistakes. I fought for decades until I couldn't anymore and wanted to end it all. After making the decision to live I spent thousands of dollars to reverse what puberty blockers could have prevented. Blockers do nothing more that post pone puberty until a fully informed decision can be made.
What is happening with the world? What has happened to the world? They're going to kill children by denying them medicine they need to have a better chance of living a fulfilled, happy life.
I agree with Kassandra's thread. I had assumed that NZ would be a sane place. Not so.
So, so, infuriating. Hurting children for no reason but to score points with their own base. If this stands, those families will be stuck either traveling to Australia for meds or relying on underground providers and black market medication.
I am shocked and was completely unaware that transgender issues were a thing in New Zealand. I have been to New Zealand and at the time I guess it wasn't the far right in control. So sad and disappointing.
New Zealand’s politicians claim they are “protecting children” by banning puberty blockers, but I grew up in the 50s and 60s, back when no one protected kids like me. Not the schools, not the churches, not the doctors, and certainly not governments.
Where were these self-appointed guardians when bullying was considered “toughening up”? Where were they when religious leaders and parents shamed queer kids in the name of morals? Where were they when a truck driver at the steel fabrication shop where I worked as a teenager would sit through lunch bragging about being a Shaker Heights police detective who loved busting the “he/shes,” as though humiliating queer people was just another form of public safety?
Those voices and laws did not save me. They pushed me into hiding. They cost me decades. I carried that fear into two failed marriages, a stunted career, and the loss of my family before I could finally speak the truth of who I am. I worked six years as an Amazon automation technician to finance my own medical transition one paycheck at a time, determined not to die a ghost of myself.
And now, at nearly 70, I live as a whole person. I am unified. I am loved. I am accepted. Not because a government “protected” me, but because I finally stopped listening to those who claimed to be protecting me.
That is the real danger of these bans. They pretend to save children while demanding they live half-lives, quietly suffering until they are old enough to scrape together a way forward alone. Puberty blockers don’t take anything from children. Denial does.
No government that steals a child’s chance to grow into themselves has the right to call that protection. What they are doing to this generation is exactly what was done to mine—forcing us to navigate trauma and survive on our own, only to arrive decades later and ask: Why did no one help?
Trans youth do not need another era of silence and suffering. They need care. They need time. They need support now, not at age 50 or 60, when they finally escape the damage done “for their own good.”
NZ, wake the fuck up! 😘
Thanks for this. We need your story loud and proud!!
Aotearoa, not Aeotearoa
Aaaah, spelled it correctly in all but one instance, fixed :)
We’ve proven that anti trans hate doesn’t win elections again and again. Why do they keep pushing these terrible policies? So frustrating
Hi Erin,
As an aside, you are living rent free in his head:
https://benryan.substack.com/p/unmasked-at-last-the-9-authors-of
" Substacker and transgender activist Erin Reed has a busy day ahead of her. "
It was so disappointing when Jacinda Ardern stepped down in 2023. Looks like things have gotten MUCH worse.
These countries , certainly ours, never protects children or we would have more child predators like fathers , brothers, uncles, step fathers behind bars for incest and we’d have these creepy predator politicians behind bars , and we would have outlaws guns . One con after another . Control not protection is their true motto especially against children and women .
Terms like sacrificing really dredged up some vile emotions for me. I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, that indicates a forced gender role as breeders. Almost like a page out of a eugenics playbook.