Athena Hallet
Transgender individuals are currently facing intense scrutiny in the United States, the culprit is an increasingly extreme conservative faction of the country. LGBTQ+ issues are easy talking points for conservatives looking to rile up their base, and in the past few years, they’ve focused solely on transgender individuals as the lowest hanging fruit of gay rights issues.
Revising The Definition Of A Person’s “Biological Sex”
One particularly alarming bill is HB 1639, which would define a person’s “biological sex” based on genitals and presumed chromosomes. This would essentially put an end to any state recognizing transgender identities, and would also require all health insurance providers in the state to cover mental health services that treat gender dysphoria “by affirming the insured’s sex.”
This bill has been sitting at the committee level, and isn’t expected to go anywhere, nonetheless a bill of this nature shouldn’t be overlooked. Even if the bill isn’t passed it can still cause harm, and even the smaller versions of these wreak havoc. For example Florida DMV passed a rule that doesn’t allow individuals from changing their state paperwork to reflect their chosen gender identity.
Florida At The Heart Of The Conversation
Florida is smack dab in the center of the conversations regarding trans rights, mainly because of the extreme rhetoric on the part of the governor, Ron Desantis, and extremist conservative groups such as Moms for Liberty.
Just in the last month alone, Florida’s House of Representatives passed three different anti-trans bills, which could cause significant harm, should they be passed into law.
Minor Harm
Some of the harm towards individuals involves microaggressions, such as deadnaming transgender individuals, or using the incorrect pronouns. This is one of the tactics that anti-trans activists use to create a distinction between “us” and “them.”
Legislatures across the country are currently working on passing proposals, amendments, and bills that specifically target trans individuals, in ways that are both small and large.
Allies Are Also A Target
Legislation that aims to hurt the people who support transgender individuals are just as harmful as the ones that single out trans people directly. A perfect example is what is happening in Missouri, where a particularly heinous bill was brought to the floor, the legislation would criminalize the act of teacher’s supporting their student’s social transition.
Teachers that provide educational material as well as support for a student’s social gender transition could be subject to a felony charge, as well as a significant fine, all for supporting their students.
Propagation Harmful And Untrue Rhetoric
These bills have managed to pass, partially because of the false rhetoric surrounding trans individuals. Conservative groups have used propaganda referring to transgender individuals and the gay community at large as “groomers,” language that is traditionally used to to describe sexual predators that target children.
Naturally there is zero data to support this, in fact there isn’t anything that proves transgender people are any more likely to target children any more frequently than other types of predators.
Other Bill That Are Harmful In Missouri
These bills aren’t the only ones to be concerned about. Missouri is currently spearheading anti-trans legislation in the nation, with more than 35 anti-LGBTQ+ bills having been passed in the Missouri House during the current legislative session alone.
Other legislation that has been Missouri include one that allows doctors to discriminate in treatment of trans people, one which fully criminalizes gender-affirming care for all transgender individuals, not just minors, and one that inaccurately redefines “sex” in the Missouri Human Rights Act to completely write transgender, nonbinary, and intersex individuals out of the law.
Transgender Moral Panic
The moral panic that surrounds the gay and transgender community is insidious, and it has sunk its teeth into every corner of the United States. Even sports are not exempt from this conversation, there have been bills passed in many states that target transgender people in sports.
These bills, specifically, focus on the prevalence of transgender women in sports, playing women’s sports. Anti-trans activists have accused trans women of “taking over” women’s sports, and of creating less room for “biological” women when they have to compete against “biological males” for spots on a women’s team.
Advocacy Against Sports Bills
The bill’s veto was ultimately overturned by the Utah State Legislature, and it went into effect last year. Gay rights organizations and Human rights groups have campaigned strongly against the implementation of bills like this one, but the people of the far-right are upset and very vocal about their stance on trans rights.
Anti-trans rhetoric has even come from fellow students of transgender individuals themselves. This presents a significant challenge for trans people, as they often search for support among their peers.
Trans Athletes Are A Target
Legislation in many states has been passed that specifically targets trans athletes, not allowing them to play or creating a roadblock to hinder access to genital examinations in order to play. Disregarding the potential for abuse that this creates, particularly when talking about transgender minors.
The governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, vetoed the bill, stating that he didn’t want to ostracize and draw attention to the half-dozen transgender students that the bill targeted, and that everyone deserved to feel welcome in their school and in Utah.
Causing Tangible Harm Daily
This volatile landscape, which goes beyond contributing to the exacerbated mental health issues of trans people, is also likely to cause tangible harm daily for trans individuals. This recently took place in Washington State, where a trans student lost their scholarship due to anti-trans bullying on the part of former swimmer Riley Gaines.
A highschool student, who also happened to be transgender and also a volleyball player, recently posted about their scholarship offer to the University of Washington, where initially she was offered multiple scholarships. After consulting with her parents, though, the student chose to take only one scholarship.
Competitive Swimmer And Anti-Trans Activist, Riley Gaines
Sadly the students problems started back in December, when a well known anti-trans activist, Riley Gaines, found out about the students scholarship award and outed the athlete in the court of public opinion.
Riley Gaines was a competitive swimmer, who made headlines several years ago when she lost a major competitive medal to a trans athlete. Gaines competed against transgender athlete Lia Thomas in 2022, where the pair tied for fifth place in the women’s 200-yard freestyle race at a championship meet.
A Class-Action Suit Against the NCAA
In the years since the event, Gaines made a name for herself by becoming a lead in the anti-trans activist movement. Most recently, Gaines has even gone so far to sue the NCAA in a class-action suit with other female athletes who claim that they have been harmed by transgender women in college sports.
The lawsuit will require the NCAA to revoke any titles that have been won by transgender women in the past, and give them “biological women” who won those events. The lawsuit will also force the NCAA to prohibit transgender women from competing in women’s events moving forward.
Targeting The Transgender Washington Student
This nationwide support is partially what allows Gaines to target the student in Washington in the way that she did, without facing any significant consequences.
Gaines outed the UW holder, on X She wrote “Male takes women’s volleyball scholarship at @US…a soon-to-be Big 10 school. Stealing the already few opportunities for women at the collegiate level. How can he be proud? @UWVolleyball should rescind the scholarship if they really care about women. He can play with men.”
Celebrating Her Wins
Gaines returned to X three days later so she could publicly gloat about the fact that the transgender student lost her scholarship due to Gaines’ wildly transphobic rhetoric.
Sadly the student’s misfortune didn’t stop there. The student,who is still a minor, became the center of significant backlash from Gaines’ followers.
Gaines Is A Sore Loser
Critics have condemned Gaines for not just being transphobic, but also for being a ‘sore loser.’ Her anti-trans work only started after her tied competition against Lia Thomas, where she criticized fellow female competitive athletes for not seeing anything wrong with trans athletes.
She claims that her “activism,” is her merely speaking the obvious truth, “A trans girl is still biologically male.”
Just A Blip On Gaines’ Radar
The life changing event for the student, is merely a blip on Gaines’ radar in terms of her anti-trans activism. Gaines has continued on with class-action lawsuit against the NCAA mentioned above, and has continued to spout incorrect and bigoted information to her followers online.
To the far-right she is highly regarded in the conservative movement; they have even called on her to speak at various events and fundraisers in support of far-right politicians and organizations such as Moms for Liberty.
Activists Voiced Their Support Of The Student
LGBTQ+ activists and trans rights organizations have since voiced their support for the trans student. Leading members of these programs have released statements supporting the girl, and stating that Gaines’ attack on her was extremely unfair.
They’ve also clarified that, in this particular case with this particular student, there was no additional advantage that has been gained from the student being assigned male at birth. According to the organizations, she transitioned before puberty, negating any potential biological hormone advantage.
Transgender Protections Need To Be A Priority
It is extremely disheartening what happened to this transgender student as a result of Riley Gaines’ hateful rhetoric, but it is clear that the anti-trans movement is only gaining momentum.
Pro-trans activists have an uphill battle ahead of them. Codifying trans rights and protections into federal law would be a good first step when it comes to addressing these systemic issues and inequalities.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings