Tag: Editorial

Zooey Zephyr, a transgender Montana state representative, was censured by her Republican colleagues April 26 when the legislative body voted to formally punish the lawmaker in response to statements she made in an earlier session regarding Montana Senate Bill 99, which would ban gender-affirming care for LGBTQ+ youth.

Zephyr condemned the bill during a session on the House floor, saying that it is discriminatory and would do irreparable harm to transgender youth in the state. She added that if the members of the Republican-led House did pass such a bill, they would have “blood on (their) hands.” After this impassioned speech, her mic was repeatedly cut off and the House leader refused to recognize her when she wished to speak.

Aside from the disrespectful and undemocratic nature of this censure, it also exemplifies the systematic erasure of transgender people in America.

The very bill that Zephyr was protesting is designed to prevent transgender kids from being themselves. It is an attempt to ban transgender individuals from simply existing.

Making it “illegal” to be transgender does not stop people from being born transgender. Closing your eyes doesn’t make us go away. The anti-LGBTQ+ political stunts we see around the country — masquerading as religious liberty and moral piety — are doing real harm to queer Americans.

Only about 1.2% to 1.8% of Americans identify as transgender, according to a study done by the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy. This makes for an easy target, and the GOP knows this.

Until new laws directly restrict your own rights and liberties, it can be easy for most to ignore their effect.

In Tennessee, a new law bans all “adult-oriented entertainment,” including “male and female impersonators” in any setting that might be in view of minors. This establishes grounds for anyone to press charges against a transgender woman for just existing in public. A drag queen innocently walking from the parking lot into a bar, if spotted, may be handcuffed and charged.

The ambiguity of the Tennessee law presents a grave threat to the safety of transgender individuals. Does this law make it illegal for any man to wear a dress? Paint their nails?

Under these new laws, transgender people are exposed to prosecution for “impersonating” their gender identity. Not only is such a law blatantly discriminatory but, at the very least, it is a violation of the First Amendment.

In effect, it establishes a state-enforced dress code that might be likened to the tyranny in Afghanistan and Iran — tyranny that conservatives rail against.

In a country so steeped in values such as freedom, liberty and equality, the Republican Party has led a campaign to keep these very rights from an entire minority block of the United States population. Not only is this immoral and cruel, but it is also shamefully unconstitutional.

Alabama, North Dakota, Idaho and Oklahoma have made it a felony for anyone to provide gender-affirming care to transgender minors. This includes hormone blockers, hormone replacement therapy and surgeries.

More than a dozen bills have been proposed across the country that would make it illegal for schools to require teachers to use a student’s preferred name and pronouns. More than 220 bills specifically targeting transgender students have been proposed in state legislatures.

Restricting access to gender-affirming care and other protections won’t make kids “less transgender.” It will only exacerbate their emotional and mental distress. These laws do not protect children. They kill children.

Harrowing insight from The Trevor Project

The Trevor Project, an organization dedicated to providing support and resources to LGBTQ+ youth, conducted a survey studying the effects of anti-LGBTQ+ laws on children who identify as LGBTQ+.

The findings were harrowing. About 85% of those interviewed reported increased anxiety and depression as a direct result of the new legislation that targets them.

There was also a reported spike in bullying, harassment and hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community, as these laws justify discriminatory action by vigilante-type citizens who feel that their anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is validated by these legislative measures.

About 86% of transgender individuals consider suicide. Many who have suicidal ideation attribute their distress to bullying, harassment and discrimination.

When something is repeated enough times, it starts to feel more and more true. Classmates, family, preachers, political figures, judges and even a former president have castigated the LGBTQ+ community, some claiming again and again that transgender people do not exist. Such treatment must be seen as unacceptable and severely damaging to our community.

It has long been known and supported by medical and psychiatric professionals that being transgender is not a choice. It is not a phase. One does not suddenly decide to be transgender, nor can they opt not to be, no matter how much you wish for us to magically disappear.

Cutting our mics will not keep us from speaking. Passing bathroom bills doesn’t stop us from using the bathroom. Banning medical care and treatment does not suddenly make us no longer transgender. Outlawing drag shows cannot steal a queen’s glamour and pride.

To politicians advocating and propagating hatred against the LGBTQ+ community, I implore you: Why are you so scared of us? Why do you hold so much hate?

America is a country of diversity, inclusion, strength and liberty. How does my very existence challenge, in any way, those values — your values? Your actions cannot change who we are. The only thing you can change is your own attitude toward us.

Ashton Clatterbuck is a local university student and political activist. He is a member of Lancaster Stands Up and a national spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement, which advocates for political action on climate change. He also is on the communications committee of the Lancaster LGBTQ Coalition.

I am a mixed-race, disabled, transfemme individual living in the United States.

During my initial college search around 2014, I would sometimes experience an odd, almost physical sensation while touring campuses around the country. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something about the experience felt very alienating. I didn’t feel like I belonged there, and I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere.

As a trans person, it’s very difficult for me to just “be myself” in public. I’ve been systemically harassed by police, accosted by strangers, and denied access to public spaces. I’ve been denied employment, denied the right to self-identify on official documents, and denied the right to live authentically. I’ve been denied the right to be myself, and I’ve been denied the right to be safe.

To exist freely and authentically is not often a privilege that is allowed to a trans prospective student. It can be hard to let one’s guard down far enough to participate in the college experience, to make friends, to build connections, to ask questions. You never know what latent prejudice lies behind a passing remark, and you’re always expected to be a spokesperson for your entire community. It’s exhausting.

This is the aspect of the trans education experience that must be discussed; the college experience is difficult for everybody, but students in minority groups must contend with increased stress levels and environmental diffculties outside of assignments and campus life. Mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD, which occur more frequently in trans populations due to our targeted minority status, can present difficulties in executive function. This results in students who may appear to be floundering to the outside observer, but who are in fact trying their best against impossible odds.

In my search for grauduate schools, I’ve found that the same issues persist. Even some of the most inclusive colleges and universities are not always necessarily affirming in their systemic assumptions. When entering information into paperwork, forms, and applications, I am often forced to choose from a limited number of options which do not accurately reflect the reality of my demographics and identity. This can be frustrating and confusing at best, or retraumatizing and dysphoria-inducing at worst.

I am often asked to provide documentation of my identity, which can be difficult to obtain for many trans individuals. The process of obtaining legal documentation of my identity is expensive, and can take years. I’m fortunate to be in a position where I can afford to pursue the process, but many trans prospective students are not. This can be an invisible barrier to entry which is difficult to overcome.

It is my hope that by sharing information about these issues, I can help make these invisible barriers more evident. Access to information and higher education must be equitable, and it is our responsibility as a society to make sure that our students are not being held back by systemic issues which are out of their control. Let’s share our voices and our experiences, and together we can create a more equitable world for all.

This editorial was originally published on the Sintelligent Design weblog.

Gender policing in sports has a blatantly racist history, often being disproportionately performed on Black woman athletes regardless of whether their gender identity conforms with their birth assignment. Even just this year, former Polish sprinter Marcin Urbas requested Olympics organizers run a “thorough test” on Namibian athlete Christine Mboma to “find out if she definitely is a woman” after she ran a semi-final time of 21.97 seconds in the women’s 200-meter race. Mboma, an intersex athlete, was not allowed to run her signature 400-meter race due to “elevated testosterone levels.”

Including transgender athletes in sports categories that match their gender identity is the correct thing to do, full stop. Aside from being the affirming thing to do, the underlying assumptions most cisgender people make about trans bodies to justify their exclusion are incorrect from the start, and reactionary transphobes fail to consider the repercussions that gender policing in sports has on everyone, cis athletes included.

Since 2018, cis athletes including South Africa’s Caster Semenya, Kenya’s Margaret Wambui, Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba, Namibia’s Beatrice Masilingi and others have all been banned from competing in Olympic events due to regulations surrounding differences in hormonal development. What these short-sighted and racist policies fail to take into account is the fact that training always trumps biology.

Even the occasional mutations that give a genuine biological advantage—for example, Michael Phelps’ wingspan and double-jointed ankles—aren’t gendered and aren’t useful without relevant training and practice. “One high jumper could be taller and have longer legs than another, but the other could have perfect form, and then do better,” explained Andraya Yearwood, a student track athlete and ACLU client, “One sprinter could have parents who spend so much money on personal training for their child, which in turn, would cause that child to run faster.”

The idea that there are distinct “male” and “female” hormones is misleading. Who would accuse a female-assigned cisgender woman who has elevated testosterone levels of not being a woman? In fact, ovaries themselves produce testosterone. Everybody has varying levels of chemistry determining the effects their endocrine system has on their body. Why choose to discriminate on this rather than any other biological variable, such as lung capacity or limb length or foot size?

But what about trans athletes specifically? The thing is, trans people don’t have any specific advantages categorically, since trans people come in all heights, shapes, and sizes! According to New York Endocrinologist and Executive Director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery Dr. Joshua D Safer, “A person’s genetic make-up and internal and external reproductive anatomy are not useful indicators of athletic performance.” Even if a trans athlete is taller than a competitor, height doesn’t really convey an advantage either—Serena Williams is 5’9″ and still has many more grand slam titles than her taller peers.

Ultimately, the gender divide in sports is another example of a false binary that cisgender society has convinced itself is dictated by something other than consensus agreement. A trans woman who takes estrogen will have about the same muscle density and ability to generate muscle as a cis woman. Likewise, a trans man who takes testosterone can generate about the same muscle density as a cis man. Athletes regardless of hormonal chemistry achieve similar strength gains when training under the same program, and runners who are capable of similar performances do not vary widely in body composition. Wouldn’t it ultimately make more sense to bracket athletes by weight class or a similar metric rather than gender? The goal of making a talking point out of gender inclusivity in sports has never been about fairness or a love of competition—it’s a thinly-veiled push to exclude trans people from society and perpetuate a culture that sees trans identities as shameful.