A Sense of Doubt blog post #2488 - Trans-Rights and FU Arkansas

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/perilous-moment-transgender-people-united-states

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2488 - Trans-Rights  and FU Arkansas

Another post from the archive.

Continuing several posts related to Trans people and Trans rights.

I know it's inflammatory of me to send a FU to Arkansas, but I think it's warranted.

This is old news. But it's still quite relevant. I wanted to post it back at the beginning of April, but then TOO MANY THINGS. Not because I don't care. A LOT. A LOT AF.

So, Arkansas sucks and is full of evil people (though not exclusively). Texas and Florida are a close second, but then Georgia is also kinda gross.

Why is the granting of basic rights so hard for people?

This kind of thing shows a lack of empathy.

If any of these asshole law makers were trans or even had a trans kid, they would not have supported this bullshit.

Fuck me.

Happy Friday.




https://www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2021/03/arkansas-just-banned-lifesaving-care-for-trans-kids/

• MOJO WIRE

MARCH 29, 2021

Arkansas Just Banned Lifesaving Care for Trans Kids

• 

  LAURA THOMPSON

  FellowBio

Monday was a complicated day for transgender rights. While South Dakota’s bill banning trans students from school sports fell apart after the governor’s veto, Arkansas passed a bill prohibiting gender-affirming health care for trans youth.

The Arkansas bill puts doctors who provide or refer for transition-related care at risk of professional sanctions and prohibits the state’s Medicaid program from covering such care. After passing the Senate 28-7, the bill is now headed to Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s desk. Just last week, Hutchinson signed the state’s own version of a trans athletics ban into law, as well as a bill that allows doctors to turn away patients if they have religious or moral objections to their care. 

Arkansas is the first state to pass a trans health care ban, but more could be coming: At least 18 other states have considered similar proposals this year.

“This is the first year we’re seeing a number of these bills actually pass and get enacted into law,” says Chase Strangio, the ACLU’s deputy director for transgender justice. “And I don’t think we really even have a good sense of how catastrophic it will be.”

Strangio and other advocates warn that these bills, if passed, will come with a body count. As I’ve previously reported:

“It’s an attack on doctors and science, and a direct shot at trans youth—some of the most vulnerable folks who are trans,” says [Ivy] Hill from the Campaign for Southern Equality. “It worries me for them in terms of their actual access to care. But it also worries me for them when I think about trans youth suicide rates.” The evidence bears out Hill’s concerns: Trans Lifeline, America’s first helpline established specifically for transgender folks, for example, saw average daily calls double the week the Trump administration rolled back Obama-era protections allowing trans kids to use the bathroom of their choosing. A recent survey by the Trevor Project found that more than 90 percent of respondents (all LGBTQ youth) said that recent politics had negatively influenced their wellbeing.  

The failure of South Dakota’s sports ban, meanwhile, was hardly a sign of state legislators’ support for trans kids. The bill sailed through both chambers of the state house, with cheerleading from Gov. Kristi Noem. Only once it reached her desk did she reconsider, refusing to sign the bill unless it was amended to, among other things, exclude college sports amid threats of an NCAA boycott. Noem was pilloried by conservatives who accused her of “caving to the NCAA,” which has vehemently opposed such bans. The legislature adjourned without making Noem’s suggested changes, effectively killing the bill because it wasn’t conservative enough. 

“Let this be a lesson to governors considering anti-transgender legislation,” says Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David. “Anti-transgender bills are too much of a risk even for one of the country’s most extreme governors.”

Joe Biden Says Hi To Trans People, Hiiiiii, Doesn't Even Try To Ban Them From All The Things!

Doktor Zoom

April 01, 2021 09:04 AM

 

Photo: Gage Skidmore (2019), Creative Commons License 2.0

Old Handsome President Joe Biden did another first yesterday, becoming the first US president to issue a declaration for the annual International Transgender Day of Visibility. In the document, Biden praised trans folks for their

generations of struggle, activism, and courage that have brought our country closer to full equality for transgender and gender non-binary people in the United States and around the world. Their trailblazing work has given countless transgender individuals the bravery to live openly and authentically. This hard-fought progress is also shaping an increasingly accepting world in which peers at school, teammates and coaches on the playing field, colleagues at work, and allies in every corner of society are standing in support and solidarity with the transgender community.

We've come a hell of a long way from Barack Obama's first run for president, when Barry said he supported LGBTQ+ rights in general, but thought the US should draw the line at civil unions. He came some distance on the matter, too — with Joe's help, let's not forget — and good for him.

Biden's declaration also recognized that trans people are at the moment facing a hell of a backlash from Culture Warriors who want them to just stop being who they are, noting that "too many transgender people -- adults and youth alike -- still face systemic barriers to freedom and equality"; he noted in particular the "crisis of violence against transgender women, especially transgender women of color, [that] is a stain on our Nation's conscience." He promised that he and Vice President Kamala Harris are committed to "fulfilling the promise of America for all Americans by stamping out discrimination and delivering freedom and equality for all."

Joe pointed out that on his first day of office, he ordered that all federal agencies fully implement last year's Supreme Court decision banning discrimination against LGBTQ Americans, and reversed Donald Trump's ban on trans people serving in the military. Biden also celebrated the confirmation of Rachel Levine as assistant secretary of Health and Human Services, and called on the Senate to pass the Equality Act, now that the House has already done so. The Equality Act, he said, will "serve as a lasting legacy to the bravery and fortitude of the LGBTQ+ movement."

Unfortunately, passage of the act in the Senate seems unlikely just now, but that's what declarations like this are for: to mark that things have changed. Hell, we remember when it was news that Bill Clinton mentioned gay people in his inaugural address as if they were actual Americans with rights and stuff. Here's hoping trans equality won't take half a lifetime, though.

The Washington Blade points out that Biden is just the latest in a string of presidents to recognize LGBTQ+ rights:

Bill Clinton issued the first LGBTQ Pride proclamation, a practice former President Barack Obama renewed in each of his eight years in office after George W. Bush ignored the annual celebration. Donald Trump became the first Republican U.S. president to recognize Pride Month with a tweet in 2017, although he never issued a formal proclamation.

We may be a day late here, but we invite Wonkers to celebrate however visibly you want to! We do, however, recommend a reflective vest if you're near a roadway after dark.

[Washington Blade / Transgender Day of Visibility declaration / Photo: Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons License 2.0]

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2112.10 - 10:10

- Days ago = 2352 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.