they're killing the children
March 2, 2023 1:38 PM Subscribe
Coverage via Erin Reed, aka @ErinInTheMorn, of Kentucky's House passing HB470, "one of the worst anti-trans bills in the country". Gov. Lee in Tennesee has just signed into law a bill that enacts a total ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender children, as well as banning drag shows from public spaces. There are signs of hope as similar bills fail across the country, but legislators are turning their gaze to bills which also prevent adults from seeking gender affirming care.
It's so gross, and even their fig leaf of ostensible medical concern is rendered so obviously a lie when the anti-drag and don't-say-gay type bills are being backed simultaneously by the same bigots. Shameful. And while I don't expect more from them today I hope the growing generation banishes these assholes from office and institutes policies so much the opposite of theirs that their tiny, shitty heads will spin. In the meantime kids will suffer and that must be made clear over and over and over.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:20 PM on March 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:20 PM on March 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's so weird how so many republican lawmakers across the country are just so obsessed with children's sexual organs.
posted by nushustu at 2:29 PM on March 2, 2023 [21 favorites]
posted by nushustu at 2:29 PM on March 2, 2023 [21 favorites]
Meanwhile in Arkansas, our state senate is getting ready to vote on a bill that would criminalize transgender adults being in public restrooms when children are present.
Clarke Tucker (15-minute video from Erin in the Morning) is not my state senator, but I wish he was.
posted by box at 2:31 PM on March 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
Clarke Tucker (15-minute video from Erin in the Morning) is not my state senator, but I wish he was.
posted by box at 2:31 PM on March 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
You gotta wonder what group will be next, once it becomes too socially unacceptable to discriminate (blatantly) against this one. There's always a next one.
posted by gottabefunky at 2:33 PM on March 2, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 2:33 PM on March 2, 2023 [13 favorites]
You gotta wonder what group will be next
Gay men will be next. Child abusers and groomers every one of them, and how dare they get married and raise children? Must think of the children.
After that, it's a toss up between lesbians and cross-racial couples. They'll both be in the targets.
Alongside that, we'll see more "tests of faith" coming into play for public office as the Dominionist Xians start to move more publicly into their power grab.
Hrm. Given that every single Right Wing accusation is actually a confession if you wait long enough, I wonder if we're learning that the Dominionist theology types are going to be fixing elections like the accusations against Dominion election machines were leveled. Something to keep an eye on.
I'm living under quite a bit of alarm at the moment. I feel like society is going to close really quickly if we can't find a way around this. We've been sort of skipping like a well thrown stone across the pond of fascism and authoritarianism since 9/11. But right now it feels like it's being actually legislated, instead of just grabbed like it was under Bush II.
posted by hippybear at 2:53 PM on March 2, 2023 [29 favorites]
Gay men will be next. Child abusers and groomers every one of them, and how dare they get married and raise children? Must think of the children.
After that, it's a toss up between lesbians and cross-racial couples. They'll both be in the targets.
Alongside that, we'll see more "tests of faith" coming into play for public office as the Dominionist Xians start to move more publicly into their power grab.
Hrm. Given that every single Right Wing accusation is actually a confession if you wait long enough, I wonder if we're learning that the Dominionist theology types are going to be fixing elections like the accusations against Dominion election machines were leveled. Something to keep an eye on.
I'm living under quite a bit of alarm at the moment. I feel like society is going to close really quickly if we can't find a way around this. We've been sort of skipping like a well thrown stone across the pond of fascism and authoritarianism since 9/11. But right now it feels like it's being actually legislated, instead of just grabbed like it was under Bush II.
posted by hippybear at 2:53 PM on March 2, 2023 [29 favorites]
Once again, the right is weaponizing the "justice" system. The ACLU can't swat these down faster than they're being issued.
posted by kokaku at 3:14 PM on March 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by kokaku at 3:14 PM on March 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
This tidal wave of transphobic legislation and all the visibility of public bigoted seething are having a terrible negative impact, even if a majority of the bills don't pass. I teach large intro college courses at a midwestern university. For many years, I've observed a slow increase in the percentage of my students, average age 19, identifying themselves as LGBTQ+ on a confidential survey I give them in the first week of class. This semester, for the first time, it crossed over the 30% mark, to 31%. But in the space of just three years, the percentage of students identifying themselves publicly to the class as LGBTQ+ when describing their demographic characteristics in written self-introductions has plummeted to 2%. That means only 6% of my queer and trans students today are willing to be publicly out of the closet. Back in 2019 it was over 50%.
For a while, as social acceptance of same-gender marriage grew, a narrative of an inevitable decline in homophobia and transphobia was common, and a lot more young people felt safe enough to come out. And then the rug got pulled out from under them by these attacks. And they are terrified.
I think a lot of folks who are older don't have a sense of how truly scared and betrayed queer/trans/nonbinary young people feel as a result of what is going on now. It doesn't matter that actually, a large majority of Americans--including Republicans--are opposed to laws banning transition care for people under 18 (or 26, or completely). The fact that the bigoted radicals are drafting these bills and making the bomb threats to children's hospitals and hounding school boards are actually a small fringe is irrelevant. That fringe is given a huge megaphone via bothsiderist culture war reporting. Young people have to encounter this hate in their social media and mainstream media daily, even if the people masterminding it are few.
The faces of hate are scary. To look at adults empurpled with rage, screaming about trans kids being deluded victims of groomers, and screeching for the banning of books with LGBTQ+ characters, and calling the few trans girls participating in sports at schools terrible names is disturbing enough when you are also an adult. It's way more frightening when you are young.
What I wish is that mainstream media would report on this topic of culture war transphobia the way they eventually started reporting on Trump's big lie. Stop with the bothsiderism, the "maybe the earth is flat and maybe it is round" approach. When the claims made by a group are false, they don't deserve to be presented as if they have a right to be taken at face value. And for heaven's sake, don't do what the NY Times is doing and give a TERF a monthly column and then say "we are just allowing multiple viewpoints on our opinions page!" How quick the retreat from "lifting up underrepresented voices" was to "bigots deserve equal time."
And I wish that social media moderation, such as it was, hadn't collapsed in the era of Elon and of Republicans in the House asserting counterfactually that this moderation promoted progressive content while censoring conservative content. I have to say, it's dire out there now. I still report social media comments and posts that urge trans people to kill themselves and tell trans women they are hideous men and mock nonbinary people as having nonexistent identities that evince mental illness, but they virtually never result in takedowns of the content anymore, let alone bans. The idea that the "community standards" support the right of users to attack other users with transphobic hate speech seems to have won the day over on the big social media platforms.
You can see why my LGBTQ+ students now report avoiding public social media altogether, and so many avoid watching the news. They are out in private small online spaces--group chats in Discord and Snapchat--but are afraid of public disclosure.
And if the 19-year-olds are feeling this scared, just think of what it's like for a trans middle-schooler today. People tend to eyeroll at talk of these bills and the culture war hate around them being deadly. But I don't think it's hyperbole at all.
posted by DrMew at 3:27 PM on March 2, 2023 [69 favorites]
For a while, as social acceptance of same-gender marriage grew, a narrative of an inevitable decline in homophobia and transphobia was common, and a lot more young people felt safe enough to come out. And then the rug got pulled out from under them by these attacks. And they are terrified.
I think a lot of folks who are older don't have a sense of how truly scared and betrayed queer/trans/nonbinary young people feel as a result of what is going on now. It doesn't matter that actually, a large majority of Americans--including Republicans--are opposed to laws banning transition care for people under 18 (or 26, or completely). The fact that the bigoted radicals are drafting these bills and making the bomb threats to children's hospitals and hounding school boards are actually a small fringe is irrelevant. That fringe is given a huge megaphone via bothsiderist culture war reporting. Young people have to encounter this hate in their social media and mainstream media daily, even if the people masterminding it are few.
The faces of hate are scary. To look at adults empurpled with rage, screaming about trans kids being deluded victims of groomers, and screeching for the banning of books with LGBTQ+ characters, and calling the few trans girls participating in sports at schools terrible names is disturbing enough when you are also an adult. It's way more frightening when you are young.
What I wish is that mainstream media would report on this topic of culture war transphobia the way they eventually started reporting on Trump's big lie. Stop with the bothsiderism, the "maybe the earth is flat and maybe it is round" approach. When the claims made by a group are false, they don't deserve to be presented as if they have a right to be taken at face value. And for heaven's sake, don't do what the NY Times is doing and give a TERF a monthly column and then say "we are just allowing multiple viewpoints on our opinions page!" How quick the retreat from "lifting up underrepresented voices" was to "bigots deserve equal time."
And I wish that social media moderation, such as it was, hadn't collapsed in the era of Elon and of Republicans in the House asserting counterfactually that this moderation promoted progressive content while censoring conservative content. I have to say, it's dire out there now. I still report social media comments and posts that urge trans people to kill themselves and tell trans women they are hideous men and mock nonbinary people as having nonexistent identities that evince mental illness, but they virtually never result in takedowns of the content anymore, let alone bans. The idea that the "community standards" support the right of users to attack other users with transphobic hate speech seems to have won the day over on the big social media platforms.
You can see why my LGBTQ+ students now report avoiding public social media altogether, and so many avoid watching the news. They are out in private small online spaces--group chats in Discord and Snapchat--but are afraid of public disclosure.
And if the 19-year-olds are feeling this scared, just think of what it's like for a trans middle-schooler today. People tend to eyeroll at talk of these bills and the culture war hate around them being deadly. But I don't think it's hyperbole at all.
posted by DrMew at 3:27 PM on March 2, 2023 [69 favorites]
I'm a trans woman. Up until just before the pandemic, I worked in a daycare. A religious daycare.
I preferred my actual job of 5-12yo aftercare, but did have to hold down the fort on occasion, including changing toddlers' underwear.
I am the one they're looking for. I am the monster.
I know how the story ends.
posted by tigrrrlily at 3:36 PM on March 2, 2023 [50 favorites]
I preferred my actual job of 5-12yo aftercare, but did have to hold down the fort on occasion, including changing toddlers' underwear.
I am the one they're looking for. I am the monster.
I know how the story ends.
posted by tigrrrlily at 3:36 PM on March 2, 2023 [50 favorites]
Assimilation was always a bad strategy; tolerance is better. Assimilation just means that people never really get any more comfortable with people that are different from them; it means that the in-group becomes larger but every new “different” group becomes an opportunity for state-sponsored bullying and backsliding.
Tolerance is democratic. Assimilation is not.
posted by rhymedirective at 3:40 PM on March 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
Tolerance is democratic. Assimilation is not.
posted by rhymedirective at 3:40 PM on March 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
I felt at the time that the striking down of Roe was the opening of a floodgate, and everything that's happened since is convincing me more of it.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:40 PM on March 2, 2023 [16 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:40 PM on March 2, 2023 [16 favorites]
You gotta wonder what group will be next, once it becomes too socially unacceptable to discriminate (blatantly) against this one. There's always a next one.
As all this goes down, I remind myself that sooner or later, they always come for us Jews.
posted by mikelieman at 4:35 PM on March 2, 2023 [23 favorites]
As all this goes down, I remind myself that sooner or later, they always come for us Jews.
posted by mikelieman at 4:35 PM on March 2, 2023 [23 favorites]
DrMew, thank you for sharing your perspective. I don't get to interact with young people the way you do, and it's immensely helpful (and horrifying, but helpful) to hear what you've observed.
The two things that give me a bit of hope are:
1. there seem to be a lot of parents who are tuned in to their trans kids and listening to the advice of doctors and other loving parents and being supportive of their kids in ways that seem very different how I remember the parents of my gay friends when I was growing up - today's parents may be able to be a force for positive change in a way that pre-Trevor Project parents typically were not; and
2. SOME of the reporting actually seems to be doing a decent job of clearly stating the value of gender-affirming care for minors, without waffling. I mostly read CNN these days, and Tuesday's article about the heinous Mississippi ban uses wording like this:
... For people like me who react to appalling actions like this with, "... so what can I DO?": the ACLU is great, and has promised to fight these bills in court, but in every story I've seen (I did a quick search this morning), it sounds like they're teaming up with Lambda Legal everywhere, so if you've got any funds you can put toward fighting the good fight, please consider donating.
posted by kristi at 4:43 PM on March 2, 2023 [11 favorites]
The two things that give me a bit of hope are:
1. there seem to be a lot of parents who are tuned in to their trans kids and listening to the advice of doctors and other loving parents and being supportive of their kids in ways that seem very different how I remember the parents of my gay friends when I was growing up - today's parents may be able to be a force for positive change in a way that pre-Trevor Project parents typically were not; and
2. SOME of the reporting actually seems to be doing a decent job of clearly stating the value of gender-affirming care for minors, without waffling. I mostly read CNN these days, and Tuesday's article about the heinous Mississippi ban uses wording like this:
Gender-affirming care is medically necessary, evidence-based care ...and there was similar clear language in their multi-state article two weeks ago.
...
Major medical associations agree that gender-affirming care is clinically appropriate for children and adults with gender dysphoria, which, according to the American Psychiatric Association, is psychological distress that may result when a person’s gender identity and sex assigned at birth do not align.
...
LGBTQ advocates have long stressed that access to gender-affirming care is life-saving health care and is of critical importance to a group that suffers from uniquely high rates of suicide.
... For people like me who react to appalling actions like this with, "... so what can I DO?": the ACLU is great, and has promised to fight these bills in court, but in every story I've seen (I did a quick search this morning), it sounds like they're teaming up with Lambda Legal everywhere, so if you've got any funds you can put toward fighting the good fight, please consider donating.
posted by kristi at 4:43 PM on March 2, 2023 [11 favorites]
I do wish this wasn't always framed in terms of "...and they'll come for you next!" like what they're doing now isn't that bad or scary really, but you should be worried anyway, because if who's next.
What they're doing now is atrocious. What they might do in future is a distraction, it partly cedes the ground on what they're doing now.
posted by Dysk at 9:57 PM on March 2, 2023 [38 favorites]
What they're doing now is atrocious. What they might do in future is a distraction, it partly cedes the ground on what they're doing now.
posted by Dysk at 9:57 PM on March 2, 2023 [38 favorites]
Thank you, Dysk.
I also find the "what will they do next" discourse particularly unhelpful, because they're already targeting Jews, lesbians, gay men and people in cross-racial relationships. They're targeting trans people who fit into all of those categories. The worst possible outcome is already happening.
And don't get me started on the "sure it's bad, but what if it happens to cis people, that would be unthinkable" implication.
Care about us, right now. Care about the trans people who have been warning you about this exact outcome for decades. Care about trans lives, not just trans deaths.
Echoing the above calls to action. Cis people, donate to the ACLU and other local trans organisations. Follow Erin Reed to keep up with the news. But most importantly don't stop talking about this, don't let it fade out like you have every other time we've begged for your help.
posted by fight or flight at 1:07 AM on March 3, 2023 [34 favorites]
I also find the "what will they do next" discourse particularly unhelpful, because they're already targeting Jews, lesbians, gay men and people in cross-racial relationships. They're targeting trans people who fit into all of those categories. The worst possible outcome is already happening.
And don't get me started on the "sure it's bad, but what if it happens to cis people, that would be unthinkable" implication.
Care about us, right now. Care about the trans people who have been warning you about this exact outcome for decades. Care about trans lives, not just trans deaths.
Echoing the above calls to action. Cis people, donate to the ACLU and other local trans organisations. Follow Erin Reed to keep up with the news. But most importantly don't stop talking about this, don't let it fade out like you have every other time we've begged for your help.
posted by fight or flight at 1:07 AM on March 3, 2023 [34 favorites]
Personally, I don't believe that "and it's going to get even worse" implies that it isn't already bad enough.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:03 AM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:03 AM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
Please don't donate to the ACLU. They have enough money.
Lambda Legal is an excellent place to donate.
posted by rhymedirective at 6:25 AM on March 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
Lambda Legal is an excellent place to donate.
posted by rhymedirective at 6:25 AM on March 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
Re the title of this post, I was actually talking to a date, a sweet guy, who had read some author on how to try to connect with Fox-poisoned friends. You start with whatever you can agree on, such as "we don't want kids to die." And I had to say that unfortunately that's exactly what the Republican party is totally ok with.
The real hard part is also that your average Fox-poisoned person is either also totally ok with "bad" kids ending up dead, or in total denial that it happens. Or some murky combination of both.
posted by emjaybee at 7:05 AM on March 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
The real hard part is also that your average Fox-poisoned person is either also totally ok with "bad" kids ending up dead, or in total denial that it happens. Or some murky combination of both.
posted by emjaybee at 7:05 AM on March 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
And this is the supposed "party of freedom." After two generations of the Southern Strategy, the inmates are now running the asylum, and the Republican party is the party of Christofascism and white supremacy.
And I know that our primary argument against this crap is "I don't care what your fucking book says," but what is so maddening about all of it is that they don't even know what their own fucking book says. Jesus didn't say a thing about gay or trans people, and ordered humanity to love one another. Instead, they have embarked on a crusade to make everyone who isn't them suffer.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 7:08 AM on March 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
And I know that our primary argument against this crap is "I don't care what your fucking book says," but what is so maddening about all of it is that they don't even know what their own fucking book says. Jesus didn't say a thing about gay or trans people, and ordered humanity to love one another. Instead, they have embarked on a crusade to make everyone who isn't them suffer.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 7:08 AM on March 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
The real hard part is also that your average Fox-poisoned person is either also totally ok with "bad" kids ending up dead, or in total denial that it happens. Or some murky combination of both.
If they actually cared about kids not ending up dead, they would support child welfare, CHIP, school lunches, pre-natal care, day care, etc. But they don't.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 7:10 AM on March 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
If they actually cared about kids not ending up dead, they would support child welfare, CHIP, school lunches, pre-natal care, day care, etc. But they don't.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 7:10 AM on March 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
> gottabefunky: "You gotta wonder what group will be next"
I thought it would have been obvious, e.g.: from MSNBC, "Iowa legislators propose a ban on same-sex marriage":
posted by mhum at 8:44 AM on March 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
I thought it would have been obvious, e.g.: from MSNBC, "Iowa legislators propose a ban on same-sex marriage":
Nearly eight years after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and several months after Congress codified gay nuptials, Iowa legislators proposed banning such unions in their state constitution.This specific initiative seems like a bit of a long-shot to me, but it doesn't seem like a great mystery to me what conservative reactionaries are trying to do.
[...]
If the measure becomes law, it would conflict with the Supreme Court’s 2015 landmark decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, Obergefell v. Hodges, and Congress’ bipartisan passage of the Respect for Marriage Act late last year. Therefore, it is unclear that such a law could be enforceable, as federal law and the federal Constitution take precedence over state law.
State Rep. Brad Sherman, one of the bill’s eight co-sponsors, said in an email that the joint resolution "would take several years to accomplish."
posted by mhum at 8:44 AM on March 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
Republicans Remind Us: Never Let The Devil Out
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:08 AM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:08 AM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
You gotta wonder what group will be next, once it becomes too socially unacceptable to discriminate (blatantly) against this one. There's always a next one.
Texas shitkickers are going after gay people next: No, really, Republicans are moving fast on the larger plan.
Shades of Weimar, I'm telling you.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:04 PM on March 3, 2023
Texas shitkickers are going after gay people next: No, really, Republicans are moving fast on the larger plan.
Shades of Weimar, I'm telling you.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:04 PM on March 3, 2023
Just in case anyone's wondering how we're doing a couple days later:
posted by fight or flight at 12:48 PM on March 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
Michael Knowles tells CPAC that "there can be no middle way in dealing with transgenderism. ... Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely."Nice to see them going mask off with their genocide fantasies at last.
posted by fight or flight at 12:48 PM on March 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
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(I wish I could say something helpful and supportive. But I can't. I have no words. Just groans.)
posted by Quasirandom at 2:07 PM on March 2, 2023 [15 favorites]