LGBT

Republicans Continue Their War On Trans Rights

Written by SK Ashby

Republicans evidently do not have anything better to do with their own lives so they're laser focused on suppressing voters and attacking transgender women and girls.

The Republican-controlled Arkansas state legislature has given final approval to a bill that will make it illegal to provide transgender health care to minors.

The Arkansas Senate passed a bill Monday that would ban access to gender-affirming care for transgender minors, including reversible puberty blockers and hormones. [...]

In addition to Arkansas, Alabama and Tennessee are also advancing restrictions on gender-affirming care. Alabama’s Senate approved a bill that would make it a felony to provide care such as puberty blockers or hormones for trans minors, and a Tennessee House Committee also just advanced a similar measure that includes misdemeanor criminal penalties.

Meanwhile, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has signed an executive order banning transgender women and girls from sports programs after previously choosing not to sign a bill passed by Republicans in the state legislature.

"Only girls should play girls' sports," Noem tweeted Monday evening. "Given the legislature's failure to accept my proposed revisions to HB 1217, I am immediately signing two executive orders to address this issue: one to protect fairness in K-12 athletics, and another to do so in college athletics."

Neither of the governor's orders mention transgender athletes specifically but Mark Miller, the governor's general counsel, says because legislators did not approve Noem's changes to the bill, she issued the orders as a temporary fix.

By saying "Only girls should play girls' sports," what Noem is actually saying is transgender girls do not count. She's saying they aren't real. She's denying our base legitimacy. It's a social tell or signal that this is about more than sports which aren't actually threatened by anyone. There is literally only one(1) transgender girl participating in a girls' sports program in all of South Dakota according to athletic officials. This is just one avenue for trying to force all trans people back into a closet.

Noem took a lot of heat from conservatives after refusing to sign the legislature's ban and that is undoubtedly why she signed this order. She wants to keep her electoral prospects alive and there's no better way to advance in Republican politics than to oppress minorities.

As for the Arkansas bill, I'm sure it would violate multiple constitutional amendments including the First Amendment right to free speech. Telling doctors they cannot legally give a correct diagnosis and treatment to a patient is an extremely slippery slope and that's what the legislation would mean in the real world.

You know, I'm not worried about myself as much as I am young people like me. If it were just me, I would tell Republicans to spend the next two years fighting people like me if it means they'll remain the minority in Congress in 2023 -- they can kiss my ass or literally fight me if they want to -- but it's not just me. These Republican-controlled states are going to do real psychological harm to transgender youth even if their laws are struck down in court.