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The Attack on Trans and Gender Expansive Individuals
Statement By Nevaeh Anderson: PREFERRED Partnership
During last year’s presidential debate, Donald Trump tried to invoke fear in voters by stating, “Now [Kamala] wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prisons.” Fear mongering tactics are not new to American politics. Currently, we can see fear play out in real time as phrases like “transgender ideology”, “DEI wokeness”, and “Make America Great Again,” turn into illogical executive orders. Fear mongering is a form of propaganda; its fear-based ideas that lack any logical reasoning. They are statements that are not based in fact, but on bias designed to make sure Americans remain blind to the real issues that impact this country.
We see remnants of this propaganda in Georgia, once again. Last year, members of the Georgia General Assembly filed 20 anti-transgender bills focusing everything from bathrooms to soccer fields. They even tried to remove the term gender from public policy, regulations, government programs, legal documents, and the Georgia code. They called it the Georgia Women’s Bill of Rights. Once again, members of the assembly have introduced anti-trans bills like Senate Bill 39, House Bill 104, Senate Bill 1, House Bill 267, and Senate Bill 30. These bills are yet another attempt to bully transgender and Gender Diverse individuals based off on the electorate’s fear.
Senate Bill 39 prohibits state employees from using medical benefits, prisons from using public funds, and Medicaid from using public funds for gender affirming care. The bill states that its purpose is to, “protect individuals from radical gender ideology that has, among other things, resulted in a massive unexplained rise in diagnoses of gender dysphoria.” This bill which will go before the full senate for a vote any time now is hate speech. House Bill 104, the Equal Athletic Opportunities Act, and Senate Bill 1, prohibit male students from participating in athletic activities and events designated for female students. House Bill 267 goes one step further by restricting athletic room, changing rooms, and bathroom access to sex assigned at birth. Senate Bill 30 prohibits puberty blockers and hormone treatments as a form of gender affirming care for minors, similar to a bill filed during the 2023-2024 legislative session.
Conservatives have declared war on members of the transgender and gender expansive community. They believe that there are only two biological sexes determined at conception. Biological sex is not binary; there are more patterns than XX for females and XY for males. There are a number of conditions, including Different Sex Development (DSD) and Swyer syndrome, to prove this fact. Gender and biological sex are different. While biological sex is about chromosomes, genetic makeup, and genitalia, gender has always been about cultural traditions, identity, roles, and expression. These identities have existed on this planet long before white men colonized this land. Conservatives have taken over the idea gender and demonized it as an afront to Christian values and a threat to masculinity in order win votes. What has resulted is the marginalization, oppression, and slaughter of many individuals who identify as Queer, Trans, or Gender Diverse.
Stop the hysteria! Stop the bullying! Research shows that gender affirming care, puberty blockers, and sex reassignment surgery save lives. It’s not mutilation. It’s a mechanism facilitated by the patient and parents, in some cases, and several treating medical providers designed to focus on the needs of the individual. It is well documented that this care decreases the incidence of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Legislators cannot and should not box transgender and gender expansive people into one category and call it an ideology. Each person on this Earth is an individual and that individual’s own journey should be respected, understood, and handled by professionals, not lawmakers. Lawmakers have targeted vulnerable populations simply because of hatred, lack of education, implicit biases, and cognitive dissonance. If legislators stop bullying, if schools stop the fear mongering, and if athletic systems start implementing fair systems of operation, this world would be a better place.
Let us remember that when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, they overturned the right to bodily autonomy. SisterLove supports the rights of every person to bodily autonomy and to be themselves. We support the right of gender expression and gender diversity. We demonize laws that oppress these rights as they are an afront to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as written in the U.S. Constitution. If we do nothing, if we say nothing, we will see other cases of oppression develop as Justice Clarence Thomas gleefully predicted in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It is never too late to do the right thing, but let’s do the right thing today to ensure that we are not fighting for our lives tomorrow.
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