32 Comments
User's avatar
Yasha's avatar
5hEdited

When someone eventually writes a definitive history of trans erasure/knowledge suppression, I think EITM is going to be a valuable resource.

On a side note, I'm a medievalist at heart, and when I see modern attacks on trans people I'm constantly reminded how little conservative/religious attacks on trans people have changed. For example, Early Medieval pastoral literature and edicts often condemn gender non-conformity with dehumanizing and genocidal language. Conservatives who think trans people are a product of a "woke mind virus" that flared up c. 2010 probably have no idea that the rhetoric they spew towards us has been going on for thousands of years. Or maybe they do and simply don't acknowledge it because that would mean admitting that we've always been here, undermining their entire "wokeism" thesis.

Expand full comment
Erin Reed's avatar

Its part of why I do what I do.

Expand full comment
Eri Fitzgerald's avatar

Thank you Erin for your incredible service to others💜

Expand full comment
Joel W. Crump's avatar

I honestly believe that DJT is pro-trans, believe it or not, I think he's doing this to shame the Republicans, by doing their bidding for four years we see the effect of Project 2025, which will lead to upending the establishment.

Expand full comment
Michelle Paquette's avatar

Alas, no. There is a LOT of money flowing through the anti-trans pipeline. DJT, being pro-DJT, is tapping into the animus and cash flow.

I’ve dug into this here:

https://aninjusticemag.com/suddenly-transgender-is-everywhere-7dc692e70c05?sk=62f033ea4920313098af8b331fa15d2d

Expand full comment
Ellen Adele Harper's avatar

WTF? These people are completely psychotic. They want reality to conform to their beliefs. That is freaking dangerous, and others that they are delusional about, it could even jeopardize the future of humanity and the biosphere.

Expand full comment
Evelyn Belle Scott's avatar

I can't believe that they somehow managed to convince a sizable portion of the American public that trans people just existing is a radical proposal, but a newly-enforced gender-binary, requiring an unprecedented regime of censorship, regulation, and surveillance is just business-as-usual.

If being trans is so unnatural - if being cis is natural - why then do we need a mountain of new laws to keep it that way? Congress need not legislate the rising of the sun or the falling of snow.

These are the most dangerous people in America.

Expand full comment
Joel W. Crump's avatar

Well said.

Expand full comment
Brooklyn Ricky's avatar

When I was a child (60+ years ago) my elders told me the truth. Some girls will be boys, and some boys will be girls. Can’t judge people by the way they look, but by how they behave. It’s not what/who we are that matters, it’s what we do that defines us as a person.

During World War II some people were actually surprised that females, and non-whites could do “men’s work” just the same as white males. To this day, people are still surprised that male children can do lots of nurturing things just like female children.

What difference at this point does it make -if we are (as we were told when we were children) all seen as equal under the law?

How can anyone experience individual liberty while be stereotyped by presumption of sex, or race?

Judge me by the content of my character, not by the content of my boxer shorts, or panties.

My children are already grown, I told them the truth when they were little too. Because everyone is unique and different: everyone should be treated the same way, with the same basic human kindness, dignity, and respect.

Expand full comment
Joanne's avatar

So, without access to any POSITIVE depictions of trans life, kids will be left with the feeling that what they are feeling is somehow sick. Their sense of guilt will be reinforced by their elders saying that what they are feeling is a degenerate psyche. Guilt will become overwhelming, because kids will find themselves isolated because they're "different". Hmmm, sounds just like what it was like in the 1950's and 60's. Is this what they mean by make America great again? I guess I never realized how great we were while I was being bullied.

Expand full comment
Jennifer Collier's avatar

This was exactly how I felt in the 80s and a big reason I didn't transition until the late 2010s.

Expand full comment
Joanne's avatar

Jennifer, I suspect that you therefore share my angst. We who had to live in the closet and try to figure out why we were so different from our peers should all feel like we're witnessing an approaching horror. I feel so very bad for our kids.

Expand full comment
Andrea Cherez's avatar

We are NOT going back!

Expand full comment
Jamie Clifford's avatar

"Clean up Alabama". You would think at this point that my immunity to weapons grade hypocrisy would be so high that I wouldn't have noticed that gem.

Expand full comment
Nancy's avatar

Absurd. "All books portraying Irish Catholics in a positive light are banned from the general section. All books portraying Mexican-Americans as anything but illegal immigrants are banned. All books that depict the actual horrors of slavery are banned. All books depicting the Holocaust as negative are banned. All books showing the horrors of Gaza must be hidden." And on and on...Transgender people are the canaries in the coal mine...

Expand full comment
Joanne's avatar

Nancy, I fear that you are absolutely correct. We truly ARE the canaries in the coal mine. Those that don’t know any of us just look at this, shrug, and say “Oh well, at least it’s not ME”. Until it is.

Expand full comment
Veronica Erin's avatar

Maybe we should embrace being the villain. Cue Imperial March

Expand full comment
Joel W. Crump's avatar

When I was 10, I discovered: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_You_Always_Wanted_to_Know_About_Sex*_(*But_Were_Afraid_to_Ask)_(book)

... in the public library, here in saneville, Maryland (same county as our best friend Erin). I didn't turn into a sex terrorist or something, it actually helped me mature my views of this topic, God forbid that. Don't let the kids learn!!!

Expand full comment
Cynthia Kruger (HI) 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar

I remember that one! Yes it had the same effect on me.

Expand full comment
margo b's avatar

Wow, that is f’d up

Expand full comment
JjMc's avatar

This is terribly heartbreaking. It is nothing less than codifying despair and promoting isolation. I do believe that there will be hope as gender nonconforming people find ways to find each other and that there is no way to completely erase our history and humanity. This will certainly destroy childhoods and promote self-hate - something that I am very familiar with personally.

Expand full comment
Cynthia Kruger (HI) 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar

and out of that isolation we will get more lashing out . . . perhaps as mass shooters, etc. Which they will then use to prove their thesis we are mentally ill.

Expand full comment
Jennifer Collier's avatar

That's a feature, not a bug

Expand full comment
Sarah F's avatar

First and Fourteenth Amendments, anyone?

I would argue that whatever standards are applied to transgender people and issues be applied equally to cisgender people and issues. That means:

No use of pronouns for anyone.

No nicknames for anyone. Alouicious may no longer be called "Al.'

No mention of "mom and dad"

No boyfriend/girlfriend relationships in public

No mention of boyfriend/girlfriend relationships ("Don't say love.")

Ban any books mentioning mother, father, pregnancy, childbirth, interpersonal affection, love, lust, sex, kissing, hand-holding, etc.

No personal documentation

Basically, put them through the same shit and see how long they last. I bet we last longer than they do.

Expand full comment
Tommy Lamont's avatar

What can we expect from a state that regularly ranks among the very worst in the country when it comes to education and whose whose highest paid public employee is the state university's football coach?

Expand full comment
Talia Perkins's avatar

""Positive Depictions" Of Trans People Banned"

Yeah that won't get past even cursory inspection RE the 1st amendment. It's a dead letter.

Expand full comment
Joan the Dork's avatar

I'm willing to bet they wouldn't even consider giving Mein Kampf the same treatment.

Expand full comment
Jendi's avatar

Now's the time for us to write great stories of queer villains!

Expand full comment
Sarah F's avatar

... set in Alabama. And there needs to be a common refrain - a catch phrase - such as, "Perhaps it's because Alabama sucks swamp slime."

Expand full comment
Mike Gelt's avatar

These red states have longed to create a very specific agenda which is racist with no morality a country which does not meet their ideas of what American should be and look like they will continue to push laws to fit that agenda today it’s trans and others in this vain tomorrow it will be people of color and certain religions WE MUST FIGHT BACK IN ANY WAY WE CAN AS HARD AS WE CAN !!!

Expand full comment