On Friday morning, over a hundred protestors staged die-ins at DMVs across the state protesting a recent policy criminalizing transgender people who changed their gender marker on drivers licenses.
Christina Pushaw’s response is absolutely unconscionable, not that I would expect DeSantis or his henchpeople to have a heart. They are complete monsters. Shame on them!
Erin, I created a Resistbot letter for the Real ID effort--if people text sign PPDFNI to 50409 (or to @Resistbot on Apple Messages, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram)--they can send this letter to President Biden (https://resist.bot/petitions/PPDFNI). It takes all of ten seconds to send--almost 1000 people already have!--and the more people he hears from the better. Hope some people use this tool--feel free to share it! If folks prefer to personalize it they can copy and paste the text into the message field of the White House's contact form and then change it as they wish before sending. https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
I was at the Orlando protest. They wouldn’t let us inside, blocked us from entering, and a security guard pulled out his baton like he would hit us with it. Luckily the head guy at this DMV, apparently called off the cops so we were able to do our protest outside on the sidewalk. Thank you for reporting on this. My hope is it helped to get the word out far and wide what the DMV here did, as well as bring visibility to all the attacks happening against the trans community here in Florida.
Good for these courageous protestors. The drivers license/ID anti-trans actions are incredibly cruel and are evidence of nothing more than bigotry, misinformation, and the desire to eliminate the ability of a marginalized group to be safe and participate in society. It seems likely that right-wing hate groups are behind this, seeing that similar hostile bills are popping up in several states at once. They serve no useful purpose for society. I hope the federal gov’t soon steps in (as per the recent request on the part of Florida Democrats) and corrects this injustice.
Thanks for this news from my home state! I’m wondering if there’s currently an online petition or anything in re the effort to get Biden to enforce real ID act that is easily shareable online so we can try to get more support for this? If anyone has anything please share with me! 🙏🙏🙏
One of my moms lived in Florida but recently moved to Alabama. It's incredible that I'm relieved about someone moving to *Alabama*, but that's apparently the world we live in.
I'm proud of the community for doing this. We need more visible, active protest. It seems like people outside of the immediate friend circles of those of us being affected are completely in the dark about what's happening.
Somehow I've fallen out of the loop with any kind of activism. I attended a handful of marches last year, but the turnout was consistently so small. It's disheartening when I remember the thousands that took to the streets when we marched for social justice in 2020. I think that many - maybe most - people in our community care and are on our side of this. But it's hard to really grok that when so few are speaking up or taking action to stop it.
It is awful that it has come to this, and I applaud those who participated. That Pushaw woman is disgraceful. Sent a note on the White House contact form urging Biden to take action on the Real ID Act. Thank you, Erin, as always, for providing this information.
This is what I am talking about with the younger trans community. You will stage Die-Ins over driver's license ID, but when it comes to really standing up against real assaults on our community, Silence. I posted a call to arms yesterday to help the Ukraine fight Russian aggression, and there not one person said they would do it. Russia is actually arresting gays and trans and putting them in jail.
While President Zelensky has from day one been pro gay and trans. He has proven he supports our trans community.
But are any of you willing to take a real stand for trans rights and go fight in the Ukraine to stop the trans genocide that will take place if Putin wins this war? NO! But in reading here, I can see that 100 of you are willing to go lay on a floor. And Liza Smith is soo proud of all you for doing this.
Ukrainian gays and trans need help to avoid a possible real genocide, and all the American trans community can do is lay down on the floor of a DMV.
Brave, courageous, strong, stunning. NOT! Go back to your parents basements and rant at your keyboards. Protesting ID at DMV isn't activism, it's a theatrical performance. It leads to nothing, it does nothing.
If any of you pro trans commenters here are serious, then call up the DC Ukraine Embassy to volunteer. I already have submitted my paperwork. Rene Jax
This is thoroughly unhelpful and lacking in compassion. That's great that you are willing to volunteer over in Ukraine, but to shame people who are trying to make their situations better their own country is not beneficial in the slightest. The fact that other countries have worse problems doesn't mean that the problems we face here in the US are magically erased or made so insignificant that there's no reason to try and fix them. It's possible to care about multiple causes at once.
Furthermore, how do you know that all of those people HAVEN'T volunteered? How do you know that all they've done is "lie on the floor?" You're making some pretty bold assumptions about a lot of people you've never personally met. Perhaps you should be focusing more on what you can and are doing to make things better rather than spending your energy ranting about "kids these days."
Forgot to block that guy. I'm not sure why they're around, because he's a detransitioner and always has something rude to say about trans people here in the U.S. He just trolls and I could care less what's happening in Ukraine when we're up to our eyeballs in shit right here at home. My military days are over anyway.
Judging by https://renejax.substack.com/p/response-to-erin-in-the-morning , they're either truscum, or (I think possibly more likely, given some tells in the language used) a cis right-wing troll posing as a detransitioner. I highly doubt they actually give a fuck about trans people in Russia or Ukraine, beyond cynically exploiting them as a tool to attack Western activists (which is transphobic against trans people in those countries as well as us).
(Normally I would have used the word transmedicalist. But given the contents of that article, they're the very definition of truscum if they're actually sincere, and they don't deserve my politeness either way.)
Erin, I suggest deleting Rene's comment, or adding a disclaimer pointing out they are a troll if that's possible, and blocking them permanently. They're never going to have anything productive to say here.
I read about 2 paragraphs of that before killing the tab. I could care less what Rene says. Rene is a whiny GOP operative and doesn't fool me. Just because she can write, doesn't mean she's very intelligent. Had she been, what happened in the course of her life wouldn't have happened. Since she is no longer trans, and had top surgery, I'm guessing that was somebody who had some mental issues and thought transitioning to male would solve them. NOPE! If you don't deal with your other issues, transitioning will only intensify them. Testosterone is a powerful hormone. Perhaps she watched 'Boys Don't Cry' a bit too much and thought it would be a good idea.
She seems to be unaware that some of us are elders and don't have the issues going on that young people do. I had a wildly successful career, and because I was retired when I transitioned, I didn't have to deal with career, finding myself, and transitioning at the same time. I knew who I was coming into it and had done plenty of work on myself. Also makes me a great activist for the cause. I have mentored a great many people, and scare off ones who are toying with the idea of transitioning. This is not a game and she's projecting a great deal because of her sour-puss attitude & screw-up(s). Yup!
Here's the bottom line, as a post op trans, (honestly) I don't want to seen an entire generation of young people make the wrong decision for their lives by having surgeries they don't need. And I don't think you, or any other rational person does. There is nothing wrong with my challenging people to think twice about any major decision, whether surgery, marriage or buying a house. I talked to a dozen people before I bought my first house to help me understand the pros and cons of that decision. Yet, in the younger generation I don't see anyone willing to do that.
But I have spent a half century promoting and supporting the gay and trans community.
I see people like Emma rush to call anyone out that holds an opinion that they don't. So what has she done? Carried a piece of paper, and scream at a college dorm? Wow.
And if calling out those trans for laying on the floor, and thinking that is really useful to promoting trans rights in the world, then yep, I'm a troll. But my being a troll to dear Emma, does not change the fact that laying on a filthy DMV floor didn't change anyone's opinion on the matter of trans ID.
On the other hand. by volunteering to provide medical help to the Ukraine Army as an American, I am making a real statement of how important LBGT contributions are to the world.
So, ignore me. I'm a troll arse hole. But while y'all are laying on floors, I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, and go try to make the world just a little bit better.
Your comment about the genital surgeries gives you away as a negative-energy unhelpful contributor, I don't deny that it seems crazy to have such a surgery to me, but I'm not trans, how the hell would I know how it feels to have a dysphoria about my body? I think it's wonderful if a trans person embraces their body, but reality tells me that some of them do think it's worth pursuing surgery, God forbid they be allowed to make their own decisions.
Many of us, who end up needing surgeries, definitely are at odds with our bodies. Until all the transtrenders showed up, dysphoria was a huge part of our transition. As a veteran, I had to be diagnosed with dysphoria in order to get on HRT through the VA. It's a process getting there, too.
At first, I was okay with my body. Not thrilled, but okay. As time went on, I came to understand it was very awkward to look like a man with tits, so I got top surgery. My chest was really bothering me. I wasn't thinking about bottom until I took care of a friend during one of his phases. I was on the fence until then, and now I have come to the understanding that I need bottom surgery too. I was waiting for human transplants to get around to trans men, but that probably won't happen in my lifetime. They are medically necessary, even though they deem it cosmetic surgery. For me, they're life savers.
The span of time it took for these things to come about was years. Six to get to top surgery, and now 8 for bottom & counting. It's MY decision alone. These GOP should butt-out of telling people what to do with their bodies, and the overturn of Roe vs. Wade caused this to happen. Now they think they can tell everybody what to do with their bodies. UGH
They're lying anyway. That old fart isn't about to go over to Ukraine and fight. They're too old for anything military. They are a keyboard bandit who is full of hot air. I'm an old fart too, but that 'whatever' is full or crap that any of us is trying to recruit children for anything. We cannot intervene between parents and their children. Those are right-wing talking points, and anybody not in therapy before & during their first few years of transition is dumb anyway.
I bet they didn't do that, which is why they were never trans to begin with and regrets their decision. I bet he (or she) bypassed that article talking about 90,000+ happy trans people vs. 100 unhappy ones the GOP could find. That number is huge, and anybody transitioning as a trend deserves to screw up big time. This is not something to be taken lightly, as most of us with a brain know. They need therapy badly.
That one is just a sad human-being who needs to go find somewhere else to play. As a Black transman, I could care less what the white guys are doing in Ukraine. It is not our fight and neither is the conflict in Israel. As a former military man, all trans veterans I know think neither one is our fight. We need all hands on deck right here in the U.S. as the GOP, like that detransitioner, are gunning for us.
Christina Pushaw’s response is absolutely unconscionable, not that I would expect DeSantis or his henchpeople to have a heart. They are complete monsters. Shame on them!
They can't help themselves and can't stop showing what complete assholes they are.
Call her a henchman to misgender her. See how she likes it.
Good point! I should have 😂
Erin, I created a Resistbot letter for the Real ID effort--if people text sign PPDFNI to 50409 (or to @Resistbot on Apple Messages, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram)--they can send this letter to President Biden (https://resist.bot/petitions/PPDFNI). It takes all of ten seconds to send--almost 1000 people already have!--and the more people he hears from the better. Hope some people use this tool--feel free to share it! If folks prefer to personalize it they can copy and paste the text into the message field of the White House's contact form and then change it as they wish before sending. https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Thank you!
Just signed, thank you for the link!
This is great! I just sent a letter on the contact form before I saw this, but will also sign the petition!
Signed & Shared
I so appreciate having an "action" item. Being a keyboard activist is not enough.
I have a whole newsletter for that. (;
Thank you for creating this. Signed and shared.
I was at the Orlando protest. They wouldn’t let us inside, blocked us from entering, and a security guard pulled out his baton like he would hit us with it. Luckily the head guy at this DMV, apparently called off the cops so we were able to do our protest outside on the sidewalk. Thank you for reporting on this. My hope is it helped to get the word out far and wide what the DMV here did, as well as bring visibility to all the attacks happening against the trans community here in Florida.
So sorry you have to do this but so admire you! Everything helps! Love and support from NY!
Much respect to these courageous organizers and protesters. And thank you, Erin, for lifting them up.
Good for these courageous protestors. The drivers license/ID anti-trans actions are incredibly cruel and are evidence of nothing more than bigotry, misinformation, and the desire to eliminate the ability of a marginalized group to be safe and participate in society. It seems likely that right-wing hate groups are behind this, seeing that similar hostile bills are popping up in several states at once. They serve no useful purpose for society. I hope the federal gov’t soon steps in (as per the recent request on the part of Florida Democrats) and corrects this injustice.
Thanks for this news from my home state! I’m wondering if there’s currently an online petition or anything in re the effort to get Biden to enforce real ID act that is easily shareable online so we can try to get more support for this? If anyone has anything please share with me! 🙏🙏🙏
See my comment above! There is!
Good for them. Don't go down silently.
One of my moms lived in Florida but recently moved to Alabama. It's incredible that I'm relieved about someone moving to *Alabama*, but that's apparently the world we live in.
I'm proud of the community for doing this. We need more visible, active protest. It seems like people outside of the immediate friend circles of those of us being affected are completely in the dark about what's happening.
Somehow I've fallen out of the loop with any kind of activism. I attended a handful of marches last year, but the turnout was consistently so small. It's disheartening when I remember the thousands that took to the streets when we marched for social justice in 2020. I think that many - maybe most - people in our community care and are on our side of this. But it's hard to really grok that when so few are speaking up or taking action to stop it.
I’m so glad that Joe Biden has our back, whatever that means.
Don't be at all surprised be Christine Pushaw's unconscionable response. The cruelty is the point.
It is awful that it has come to this, and I applaud those who participated. That Pushaw woman is disgraceful. Sent a note on the White House contact form urging Biden to take action on the Real ID Act. Thank you, Erin, as always, for providing this information.
This is what I am talking about with the younger trans community. You will stage Die-Ins over driver's license ID, but when it comes to really standing up against real assaults on our community, Silence. I posted a call to arms yesterday to help the Ukraine fight Russian aggression, and there not one person said they would do it. Russia is actually arresting gays and trans and putting them in jail.
While President Zelensky has from day one been pro gay and trans. He has proven he supports our trans community.
But are any of you willing to take a real stand for trans rights and go fight in the Ukraine to stop the trans genocide that will take place if Putin wins this war? NO! But in reading here, I can see that 100 of you are willing to go lay on a floor. And Liza Smith is soo proud of all you for doing this.
Ukrainian gays and trans need help to avoid a possible real genocide, and all the American trans community can do is lay down on the floor of a DMV.
Brave, courageous, strong, stunning. NOT! Go back to your parents basements and rant at your keyboards. Protesting ID at DMV isn't activism, it's a theatrical performance. It leads to nothing, it does nothing.
If any of you pro trans commenters here are serious, then call up the DC Ukraine Embassy to volunteer. I already have submitted my paperwork. Rene Jax
This is thoroughly unhelpful and lacking in compassion. That's great that you are willing to volunteer over in Ukraine, but to shame people who are trying to make their situations better their own country is not beneficial in the slightest. The fact that other countries have worse problems doesn't mean that the problems we face here in the US are magically erased or made so insignificant that there's no reason to try and fix them. It's possible to care about multiple causes at once.
Furthermore, how do you know that all of those people HAVEN'T volunteered? How do you know that all they've done is "lie on the floor?" You're making some pretty bold assumptions about a lot of people you've never personally met. Perhaps you should be focusing more on what you can and are doing to make things better rather than spending your energy ranting about "kids these days."
Forgot to block that guy. I'm not sure why they're around, because he's a detransitioner and always has something rude to say about trans people here in the U.S. He just trolls and I could care less what's happening in Ukraine when we're up to our eyeballs in shit right here at home. My military days are over anyway.
Judging by https://renejax.substack.com/p/response-to-erin-in-the-morning , they're either truscum, or (I think possibly more likely, given some tells in the language used) a cis right-wing troll posing as a detransitioner. I highly doubt they actually give a fuck about trans people in Russia or Ukraine, beyond cynically exploiting them as a tool to attack Western activists (which is transphobic against trans people in those countries as well as us).
(Normally I would have used the word transmedicalist. But given the contents of that article, they're the very definition of truscum if they're actually sincere, and they don't deserve my politeness either way.)
Erin, I suggest deleting Rene's comment, or adding a disclaimer pointing out they are a troll if that's possible, and blocking them permanently. They're never going to have anything productive to say here.
I read about 2 paragraphs of that before killing the tab. I could care less what Rene says. Rene is a whiny GOP operative and doesn't fool me. Just because she can write, doesn't mean she's very intelligent. Had she been, what happened in the course of her life wouldn't have happened. Since she is no longer trans, and had top surgery, I'm guessing that was somebody who had some mental issues and thought transitioning to male would solve them. NOPE! If you don't deal with your other issues, transitioning will only intensify them. Testosterone is a powerful hormone. Perhaps she watched 'Boys Don't Cry' a bit too much and thought it would be a good idea.
She seems to be unaware that some of us are elders and don't have the issues going on that young people do. I had a wildly successful career, and because I was retired when I transitioned, I didn't have to deal with career, finding myself, and transitioning at the same time. I knew who I was coming into it and had done plenty of work on myself. Also makes me a great activist for the cause. I have mentored a great many people, and scare off ones who are toying with the idea of transitioning. This is not a game and she's projecting a great deal because of her sour-puss attitude & screw-up(s). Yup!
Thank you for letting me know! I’m pretty new here so I wasn’t aware. Blocked!
Here's the bottom line, as a post op trans, (honestly) I don't want to seen an entire generation of young people make the wrong decision for their lives by having surgeries they don't need. And I don't think you, or any other rational person does. There is nothing wrong with my challenging people to think twice about any major decision, whether surgery, marriage or buying a house. I talked to a dozen people before I bought my first house to help me understand the pros and cons of that decision. Yet, in the younger generation I don't see anyone willing to do that.
But I have spent a half century promoting and supporting the gay and trans community.
I see people like Emma rush to call anyone out that holds an opinion that they don't. So what has she done? Carried a piece of paper, and scream at a college dorm? Wow.
And if calling out those trans for laying on the floor, and thinking that is really useful to promoting trans rights in the world, then yep, I'm a troll. But my being a troll to dear Emma, does not change the fact that laying on a filthy DMV floor didn't change anyone's opinion on the matter of trans ID.
On the other hand. by volunteering to provide medical help to the Ukraine Army as an American, I am making a real statement of how important LBGT contributions are to the world.
So, ignore me. I'm a troll arse hole. But while y'all are laying on floors, I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, and go try to make the world just a little bit better.
Your comment about the genital surgeries gives you away as a negative-energy unhelpful contributor, I don't deny that it seems crazy to have such a surgery to me, but I'm not trans, how the hell would I know how it feels to have a dysphoria about my body? I think it's wonderful if a trans person embraces their body, but reality tells me that some of them do think it's worth pursuing surgery, God forbid they be allowed to make their own decisions.
Many of us, who end up needing surgeries, definitely are at odds with our bodies. Until all the transtrenders showed up, dysphoria was a huge part of our transition. As a veteran, I had to be diagnosed with dysphoria in order to get on HRT through the VA. It's a process getting there, too.
At first, I was okay with my body. Not thrilled, but okay. As time went on, I came to understand it was very awkward to look like a man with tits, so I got top surgery. My chest was really bothering me. I wasn't thinking about bottom until I took care of a friend during one of his phases. I was on the fence until then, and now I have come to the understanding that I need bottom surgery too. I was waiting for human transplants to get around to trans men, but that probably won't happen in my lifetime. They are medically necessary, even though they deem it cosmetic surgery. For me, they're life savers.
The span of time it took for these things to come about was years. Six to get to top surgery, and now 8 for bottom & counting. It's MY decision alone. These GOP should butt-out of telling people what to do with their bodies, and the overturn of Roe vs. Wade caused this to happen. Now they think they can tell everybody what to do with their bodies. UGH
I'm sorry - are you writing here from Ukraine?
They're lying anyway. That old fart isn't about to go over to Ukraine and fight. They're too old for anything military. They are a keyboard bandit who is full of hot air. I'm an old fart too, but that 'whatever' is full or crap that any of us is trying to recruit children for anything. We cannot intervene between parents and their children. Those are right-wing talking points, and anybody not in therapy before & during their first few years of transition is dumb anyway.
I bet they didn't do that, which is why they were never trans to begin with and regrets their decision. I bet he (or she) bypassed that article talking about 90,000+ happy trans people vs. 100 unhappy ones the GOP could find. That number is huge, and anybody transitioning as a trend deserves to screw up big time. This is not something to be taken lightly, as most of us with a brain know. They need therapy badly.
That one is just a sad human-being who needs to go find somewhere else to play. As a Black transman, I could care less what the white guys are doing in Ukraine. It is not our fight and neither is the conflict in Israel. As a former military man, all trans veterans I know think neither one is our fight. We need all hands on deck right here in the U.S. as the GOP, like that detransitioner, are gunning for us.