Originally published at: Kentucky GOP forces through anti-LGBTQ law that forces trans minors to detransition and bans discussion of gender and sexuality in schools | Boing Boing
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I expect this law will be immediately challenged and then put on hold while it wanders through the long legal process, all the while spending tons of taxpayer money.
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In some ways it was easier to be trans in the past. I transitioned in the 90s and we were mostly ignored except for being the butt of many ‘jokes’. Now the attention is on us and the hate is ramping to levels where it’s actively dangerous to be trans in some states.
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Upvoted for support rather than because I approve of the ramping up of suppression. It’s very distressing, and I can’t see how it will end anything other than badly right now.
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It’s disgusting how easy it is to (essentially) disenfranchise and marginalize relatively small vulnerable groups to score political points with knuckle-dragging supporters – instead of addressing actual problems (healthcare, education, equality, etc). Even if this bullshit is eventually stuck down (by courts or whatever), it should show to (some) Kentuckians how much of a clown-show the GOP has become and vote them out. (I won’t hold my breath, but I can hope, I guess.)
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Standard-issue scapegoating, just in case anyone still doubts that the Republican Party is now in the hands of fascists.
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This is language I’ve been seeing more and more in conservative circles. I live in a somewhat conservative town (by Canuck standards anyway) and someone posted an anonymous note (classy) on a community bulletin board that said a similar thing. It was along the lines of “you don’t need to change your gender, you are perfect the way you are!” Trying to make hate sound loving, in other words.
They keep trying to reframe their hate in a way that will be palatable to the centre, and this seems to be latest gambit. Framing it as a ”self esteem” issue rather than one of political violence reminds me of how they tried to frame homosexuality as a mental illness for the same reasons.
Same and same! Back then conservative people didn’t even know what any of this was and it was easier to fly under the radar. At most people would stop talking to us because we weirded them out or whatever. We were token bad guys in bad TV movies and laughing stocks on daytime talk shows, but nobody was trying to kill us. But now…. I left the US because I no longer felt safe there.
Edit to end on a positive note- things are better in most cases though. I see trans pride flags on random businesses now. Kids in many places can get pre-puberty transition care which is completely life changing and something I would have given my left arm for. I am now out to most people in my life and I know the rest probably wouldn’t care if they knew (but the topic hasn’t come up because it’s not a big deal). I talk openly about trans stuff with my friends and family now. Things are better in general, but we have to get through this temporary violent backlash.
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Yes, the amount of support given to us is very promising. It’s great to see trans pride flags in so many places. Plus now seeing trans people in tv, movies and commercials shows a level of support that was never ever there. I know that there are way more people that support us now than ever before. I am certain that those numbers are far greater than the people peddling hate. However, the decades long plan of the right to take over government has worked and we are seeing that now. Things will get better, it it’s going to take time until the children of today rise to power and the old ones die off.
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It takes time, there are always setbacks, but you are respected and loved and admired for who you are, not what they demand you be, and we’ll always be standing right there with you when you need us.
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I’ve had to think long and hard about that myself and yeah, I agree absolutely. While we are a convenient scapegoat, no doubt, we’re at least partially so because we’ve gained some ground. The fact that these shitbags have to pass a law specifically banning kids from using a bathroom that matches their gender is a sign of this, albeit a horrible one. How long ago was it that this wouldn’t have even been a possibility at all?
The fact that kids, both trans and cis, are showing up to protest this bill makes me hopeful that it will eventually go away.
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They are coming for all of us. They start with the most vulnerable, and then move on up, I already hear things like “all liberals are pedophiles, no exceptions”.
Make no mistake, unless you are a Christo fascist your head will literally be on a chopping block if you do not stand united against this now.
This is not a drill, this is germany in the 1930s, it can happen again and it can happen in the US.
(And no you can not just ‘vote’ this away, they are working on making elections irrelevant.)
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To you and anyone, there is a movement afoot to give trans people refugee status in Canada. We have gender neutral bathrooms everywhere and extensive national protections. We also have an immigration goal of at least 500,000 people per year, so all are welcome regardless of status. The NAFTA visa makes it quite easy to work. Employment opportunities abound. We have massive labour shortages in every sector and industry. It’s a big country desperate for more humans.
Stay safe out there. 
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This is another sad thing about being trans. Due to the shitty rules basically eliminating bodily autonomy to trans individuals, I have not been able to get bottom surgery despite transitioning almost 30 years ago. Since I haven’t done that, there is no way I can ‘stand up’ in many ways besides voting. I can’t go to protests because the right has basically criminalized protesting. Then if I did get arrested, which is highly possible, I would be put in a male facility. There is no way that I could survive for any length of time in that situation. So I have to sit on the sidelines while my right to life is being whittled away.
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I cannot imagine the helplessness that must bring. And this is why those of us not on the bullseye must stand up and make ourselves heard.
(Edit: Missed the end of that first gif. Apologies to any who saw it!)
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If a trans person was as evil as the GOP says it is, wouldn’t we have heard of trans people caught red handed diddling little kids? You’d think reports were coming in from all over the country about the sinister shit trans people have done, or at least accused of doing. What evil shit have we heard about what trans people like to do? Reading stories to kids.
What I have heard is politicians, priests, cops, and little league coaches either caught red handed or accused of doing shit with kids.
The GOP has presented zero ideas about how to deal with any of the many problems we face, so they make up a problem that they think they can fix. And mid-westerners eat it up!
I’m sorry, but people are fucking stupid.
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Rep Jefferson for president, tho. Lighting them up.
Profile
https://legislature.ky.gov/Legislators/Pages/Legislator-Profile.aspx?DistrictNumber=43
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She is right.
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The fundamental conservatism in “perfect just the way you are”-type affirmation was always ripe for exploitation by conservatives. The right choice all along was something more assertive and less fatalistic but, well, as you mention, there’s the centre and the need to appeal to it politically.
Also, the American “gay is not a choice” thing always struck me as an impulse that accepts the basic conservative framing that choosing the associated behaviors is bad. That it’s factually, scientifically not a choice is immaterial to outcomes: as soon as that framing is accepted, the foundation of freedom rests on things they control.
I always liked how the song “Free to be you…and me” gently asserts that “be” is more important that “am”. But instead we got lost looking for the gay gene, to prove that’s it’s not our fault.
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Also, it feels like Foucault has entered the chat… especially around his ideas about medicalization of sexuality which functions as a system of control…
but then how do we find our way out of the ideological labyrinth of hegemonic ideas to some kind of real freedom that doesn’t rest of on using the language of social control?
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