West Virginia saw dozens of anti-trans bills proposed in 2024, including a bill to close an exception allow some trans youth to obtain care. Now, virtually all of those bills are dead.
Such welcome news. I have to think cis women everywhere are getting the picture. All our rights are connected. No bodily autonomy for anyone without bodily autonomy for all. Thank you always for your hard work and excellent journalism.
With the advent of this pullback on hate bills, one of the most productive things that Trans people and allies can do right now is to start consolidating our efforts towards immediate passage of the Senate approved Equality Act.
In the SOTU address by Biden, his mention of, and promise to sign the Equality Act asap should be our green light to start working hard and doubling our efforts to getting commitments from candidates to the Senate and the House. We should be trying at this time to get as many commitments as possible before the election, in the event of a Biden win and obtaining majorities in Congress.
Although the reason for the pullback by Republicans is not clearly evident yet, now is the time for the GLBTQIA+ community to reunite, refocus and consolidate our efforts on all levels, to push for quick approval of the Equality Act and for once to be on the offensive and give Biden a sure win to start his second term as President on a positive note, with a progressive and historical legislative win.
Very good news! Happy for West Virginians! Of all these obnoxious bills that died, I’m happiest to see the drivers license/ID bills expire. Is it too much to hope that we have turned a tide.now, and that cis people maybe finally see that attacks on trans rights are attacks on everyone’s rights and quality of life?
It feels like it has been such a long time since we’ve had this kind of good news - specifically the defeat of anti-trans bills in deep red states. Dare I hope that the tide may be starting to turn as more Americans may be waking up & standing with trans folx? And extremists Republicans are finally starting to get the message that this is a losing issue for them in elections?? I don’t want to get overly optimistic, but I am cautiously hopeful. Hooray for uplifting news!
The failure of attacks on the human rights of transgender folks is heartening. It had already seemed to me that the spread of the legislative bigotry was stalling, with most of the action in states that had, as Erin put it, "historically targeted transgender individuals" rather than spreading to new ones.
I suspect that this is less related to the 2024 elections than to the right wing's practice of "slash, burn, move on," that is, of glomming onto some issue where they think they can get a response, defaming/decrying/denouncing their target, doing as much damage as they think they can before real resistance sets in, then moving on to the next boogeyman. (How much screeching have you heard about Critical Race Theory of late? Even the general purpose smear "woke" has become more of a vapid cliche used ritualistically than a verbal weapon.)
That doesn't mean we can relax; as Clarence Darrow said, “Ignorance and fanaticism is ever busy and needs feeding. Always it is feeding and gloating for more.” But it does mean that as part of strategizing we can include going on the offensive to secure rights in some areas rather then solely resisting their denial.
Celebrate hope, because like the song says, "Every victory brings another; carry it on."
As a parent of a trans person and co-founder of a peer-led support group for families with gender expansive youngsters (www.INgekco.com), I really appreciate your courageous reporting. Your stories are in-depth, well researched, informative, and clear. I admire your ability to do all this day after day, especially as this topic is deeply personal to you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for keeping us informed so we can keep countering these unconscionable attacks on a vibrant but beleaguered community. We will never stop supporting our friends, neighbors, and loved ones. Hugs and good vibes from Indiana.
Pretty good. I won't get my hopes up yet, because the country has not heard from most of us! That's when I think the tide is turning. We've been anything but proactive about all this. I made a video about the fact the LGBTQ+ isn't united at all, and the LGBQ+ is hiding from the T. Disassociating for fear what is happening to us will happen to them.
Oh thank (almost) heaven! I was born and raised in WV, most of my family still lives there, and I'm so glad to know these bills are dead! I know we still have an uphill battle ahead of us, but this is a huge relief. I don't want to be afraid of going to visit my family.
Such welcome news. I have to think cis women everywhere are getting the picture. All our rights are connected. No bodily autonomy for anyone without bodily autonomy for all. Thank you always for your hard work and excellent journalism.
With the advent of this pullback on hate bills, one of the most productive things that Trans people and allies can do right now is to start consolidating our efforts towards immediate passage of the Senate approved Equality Act.
In the SOTU address by Biden, his mention of, and promise to sign the Equality Act asap should be our green light to start working hard and doubling our efforts to getting commitments from candidates to the Senate and the House. We should be trying at this time to get as many commitments as possible before the election, in the event of a Biden win and obtaining majorities in Congress.
Although the reason for the pullback by Republicans is not clearly evident yet, now is the time for the GLBTQIA+ community to reunite, refocus and consolidate our efforts on all levels, to push for quick approval of the Equality Act and for once to be on the offensive and give Biden a sure win to start his second term as President on a positive note, with a progressive and historical legislative win.
Very good news! Happy for West Virginians! Of all these obnoxious bills that died, I’m happiest to see the drivers license/ID bills expire. Is it too much to hope that we have turned a tide.now, and that cis people maybe finally see that attacks on trans rights are attacks on everyone’s rights and quality of life?
It feels like it has been such a long time since we’ve had this kind of good news - specifically the defeat of anti-trans bills in deep red states. Dare I hope that the tide may be starting to turn as more Americans may be waking up & standing with trans folx? And extremists Republicans are finally starting to get the message that this is a losing issue for them in elections?? I don’t want to get overly optimistic, but I am cautiously hopeful. Hooray for uplifting news!
I'm gonna have to be careful reading too much good news, or it's gonna turn me into an optimist!
*𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴*
...oh good, the world still sucks and I hate humanity. I was worried there for a second.
As Florida and now West Virginia have both given us the gift of time, or worse outcomes staved off…
The failure of attacks on the human rights of transgender folks is heartening. It had already seemed to me that the spread of the legislative bigotry was stalling, with most of the action in states that had, as Erin put it, "historically targeted transgender individuals" rather than spreading to new ones.
I suspect that this is less related to the 2024 elections than to the right wing's practice of "slash, burn, move on," that is, of glomming onto some issue where they think they can get a response, defaming/decrying/denouncing their target, doing as much damage as they think they can before real resistance sets in, then moving on to the next boogeyman. (How much screeching have you heard about Critical Race Theory of late? Even the general purpose smear "woke" has become more of a vapid cliche used ritualistically than a verbal weapon.)
That doesn't mean we can relax; as Clarence Darrow said, “Ignorance and fanaticism is ever busy and needs feeding. Always it is feeding and gloating for more.” But it does mean that as part of strategizing we can include going on the offensive to secure rights in some areas rather then solely resisting their denial.
Celebrate hope, because like the song says, "Every victory brings another; carry it on."
As a parent of a trans person and co-founder of a peer-led support group for families with gender expansive youngsters (www.INgekco.com), I really appreciate your courageous reporting. Your stories are in-depth, well researched, informative, and clear. I admire your ability to do all this day after day, especially as this topic is deeply personal to you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for keeping us informed so we can keep countering these unconscionable attacks on a vibrant but beleaguered community. We will never stop supporting our friends, neighbors, and loved ones. Hugs and good vibes from Indiana.
Pretty good. I won't get my hopes up yet, because the country has not heard from most of us! That's when I think the tide is turning. We've been anything but proactive about all this. I made a video about the fact the LGBTQ+ isn't united at all, and the LGBQ+ is hiding from the T. Disassociating for fear what is happening to us will happen to them.
https://youtu.be/kKF-Ux72fBw?feature=shared
Good for W. Virginia, though.
Oh thank (almost) heaven! I was born and raised in WV, most of my family still lives there, and I'm so glad to know these bills are dead! I know we still have an uphill battle ahead of us, but this is a huge relief. I don't want to be afraid of going to visit my family.
What a relief. It sounds like people aren't having it! There's still work to do, but this sure helps.
Very good news!
Hearing this on top of Florida. Dare we believe the anti-trans tide is receding? Let's stay vigilant.
Does this include the disgusting WV SB 194/195/197 bills?