A Majority of Americans are Against the Republican Anti-Transgender Legislation

As I noted in my post on On Lil Nas X, Gender Variance and Transphobic Legislation, the real paradox following from the current Republican attacks on trans kids is that the new anti-trans laws are not popular in the American electorate.  

The new PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll shows us that the current stigmatization of transgender kids has relatively little support. 

One reason is probably that Americans are more likely to know someone trans these days.

Trans people humanized

PBS reports:

In the PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll, more than half of Americans say they personally know someone who is transgender. That includes 53 percent of Democrats, 39 percent of Republicans and 61 percent of independents.

People under the age of 40 are more than twice as likely as older Americans to personally know someone who is transgender. Sixty-three percent of Gen Z and millennial voters said they do, while just 28 percent of people over 74 years old said the same.

Five years ago, less than a third of Americans said they knew someone who was transgender, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

This is extremely important, as research shows that as soon as people see members of a marginalized group as fellow human beings it becomes much, much harder to dehumanize them. 

The current support for same-sex marriage is partly caused by the fact that people now know gay and lesbian people, and therefore see them as people, as someone like themselves, and not as the alien “Other”. 

The reason the Republicans focus their attacks on trans people today is precisely because it has become so much harder for them to demonize  the other parts of the LGBT+ community. 

I guess the reactionary members of the Republican Party now believe that the war against trans kids is their last chance to turn the clock back to the gender roles of the 19th century.

Take a look at the poll numbers (PBS again):

Fewer than three in ten people support state laws that prohibit gender-affirming care for minors or that criminalize providers of that care. Among Republicans, 26 percent support bills that prohibit this medical care, while 70 percent are opposed. That’s on par with where Democrats landed on the issue, with 26 percent in favor of such bills and 69 percent opposed. 

There is a greater support for criminalizing those who provide gender transition-related care for minors among Trump-voters and Republicans, though, but even there we see no anti-trans majority.

Sports

Nor do we find any broad support for legislation prohibiting transgender students from joining sports teams that match their gender identity.

But when it comes to allowing trans students to compete as their real gender, the population is more equally divided:

For grade school, 50 percent of people said transgender children should be allowed to play on teams that match their gender identity, while 44 percent said they should not. In middle school, the split was 49 percent for, and 47 percent against. In high school, 47 percent were for and 48 percent against. And in college, 49 percent were in favor and 45 percent opposed. 

So it might be that the Republicans are using doubts about  “fairness” in sports to create a sense of crisis that will turn more people against trans people. That might, however, backfire spectacularly, precisely because it has become so much harder to dehumanize those trans. 

Answers to the paradox

So why are the Republican doing this?

One reason may be that they want to retain control over the “red states”, states that the party controls today. Losing Georgia to Biden was a clear sign that their long term prospects are not good in many of these states.

It seems that the Republicans have already given up on changing people’s minds as far as America as a whole is concerned. They cannot win. 

Many  have therefore suggested that the party is now mobilizing its base – its core voters –  in order to justify an undemocratic power grab. The current attacks on voter rights in many states and the timid Republican response to the January 6 coup attempt point in that direction. In this scenario Trans kids have become scapegoats used in to mobilize their prejudiced troops, much in the way the Jews were used by Hitler.

The numbers do show that Republicans are less likely to support the Equality Act, which aims at protecting LGBT+ people. 6 out of 10 Republicans will not use the law to protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 

So what can we learn from all of this? 

The right wing transphobic traditionalists are desperate. They do not have the people on their side. This means that a broad mobilization of good people from all over American (and from all over the world) against these attacks has a great chance of succeeding. 

Hang in there!

The poll of 1,266 adults was conducted April 7 through 13 and has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points for the full sample.

Photo: Vladimir Vladimirov

On Lil Nas X, Gender Variance and Transphobic Legislation

Ari Jewell has looked at the American paradox of rampant transphobic legislation on the one hand existing side by side with a very popular gender nonconforming music video  on the other.

Jewell writes over at Ms.:

“Despite the widespread and vehement transphobia this legislation reveals, polls show most Americans are increasingly supportive of transgender rights. 

And the positive reception of celebrities like Elliot Page, Harry Styles and Hunter Schafer has demonstrated that transness and gender nonconformity are more than just accepted—they’re celebrated, especially by the young people who shape pop culture. 

“Recently, the American public once again proved its celebration of gender nonconformity. Lil Nas X, the gay rapper who found fame in 2019 with his single “Old Town Road,” released a gender-bending music video on March 26 which has already garnered well over 100 million views.” 

No paradox

I would argue that this is not a paradox at all. 

We are at least facing two “Americas”: (1) An fearful conservative white tribe lashing out at anything that seems to threatens the members’ rather narrow ideas of proper living and (2) a colorful and vibrant America that embraces diversity and whose members do not – at least not to the same extent – fear those who are not exactly like themselves. 

As always, we are facing spectrums rather than binaries, but American culture is becoming increasingly polarized, so, yeah, it makes some sense to talk about “a culture war.” And it was the extreme right that started it. 

Feelings vs. facts

Jewell argues that the anti-trans legislators are methodically vilifying trans kids in “a cheap attempt at winning votes”. 

This does not sound like a very good strategy to me, as torturing kids will not go down well outside their own MAGA tribe. Quite the opposite, actually. Those who are not afraid of diversity are more likely to listen to trans people and medical experts. 

Jewell again:

In response to the passage of the Arkansas bill banning this health care, Dr. Robert Garofalo of Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital said, “This legislation perpetuates the very things we know are harmful to trans youth,” and went on to call these bills “anti-science” and “anti-public health.”

Expressing a similar sentiment, a 2019 statement from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry said legislation like these bills “directly oppose the evidence-based care recognized by professional societies across multiple disciplines” and are of “serious concern.”

Health experts maintain the health care these bills have banned or seek to ban is life-saving. Treatments like puberty blockers have been proven to seriously decrease the odds of trans youth considering suicide.

The Republican anti-trans rhetoric is completely removed from any semblance of facts, and they know that it is, because this is no longer about winning an argument. It is only about power. It is truly a tragedy for democracy world wide to see the Republican Party descent into what can only be called fascism.

It might be that the Republicans have given up of winning over the center, and believe that new laws that stops liberals from voting will give them the majorities they need. If the voters won’t support you, you have to give rid of the voters. Maybe, but that makes them look even more evil in the eyes of  moderates as well as progressives. It will probably backfire.

Pop gender nonconformity

So what about Lil Nas X? 

I suppose many do see him as a champion for a tolerant and open minded America (which he is). But I also suspect that many do not see him as a realistic representative of the trans community. They may see his gender variance as pure fiction or entertainment, irrelevant to the lives of “normals” (whatever that is.) 

(I suspect there is more to Lil Nas X’ gender expression that this, but in this context impressions are all that matters.)

Jewell writes:

All this considered, it’s easier to see why the gender nonconformity of someone like Lil Nas X is tolerated by the American public in the same breath that trans children’s rights are being taken away. His adulthood, and his public image as a cis man, is certainly protecting him—as is, obviously, his celebrity status.

Despite his distance from the transphobia sweeping through state capitals right now, Lil Nas X still offers, perhaps, a shred of hope. Contrary to what supporters of this legislation would have us believe, “Montero” proves that gender nonconformity is alluring, exciting and worth celebration.

Indeed it is!

Read the Ms. article here: “Lil Nas X, Gender Nonconformity and the Fight Against Transphobic Legislation”

You can watch the Montero video here.

SE ALSO:
Transphobic teachers in Oregon want to change restroom signs to “anatomically male” and “anatomically female”
The American National Collegiate Athletic Association Supports Transgender Athletes (and that means more than you might think)
A short history of where all this anti-trans stuff came from
A Norwegian Drag King on Expressing Gender
It Wasn’t About Bathrooms, and It’s Not About Women’s Sports
Most young Brits will support a friend who comes out to them as transgender

politijohn:

Isn’t interesting that right wing traditionalists, who insist that parents should be allowed to raise their own kids up to be fundamentalist bigots, suddenly think it is OK to take trans kids away from their parents? Why?  Because these parents love and respect their kids, apparently.

(Source: lgbtqnation.com)

A short history of where all this anti-trans stuff came from

Brynn Tannehill has given us a very helpful overview of the recent anti-transgender activism in the USA over at twitter.

I present it here in an easy to read format:

A short history of where all this anti-trans stuff came from, and why you should be concerned. Worth a read, please take a look. 

2015: Having lost the fight against marriage equality, but winning against LGBT protection laws, religious right leadership decides to shift focus onto trans people via bathroom bills, fear mongering, and making it a wedge issue. 

Photo: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle/AP

2015-2016: Using $10,000 in seed money the [right wing “Christian” organization Alliance Defending Freedom] ADF stands up WoLF, a “feminist” organization whose sole activity is fighting against transgender people, to make their religious goals look secular and feminist. 

2015: The [right wing extremist Family Research Council] FRC publishes it’s plan [for] trans people: no legal recognition, no legal protections, no transition related health care, and no trans people in the military. It encourages religious based conversion therapy instead. 

2016: After passing an anti-transgender “bathroom” bill, NC governor Pat McCrory loses the election as a result of the backlash. He later advises Trump to stay out of trans fights. 

2017: Despite running a campaign that largely avoided LGBT issues, Trump quickly appeases his base and moves to ban trans people from the military and revoke federal protections. The FRC and Ryan Anderson of Heritage are key influencers. 

2018: Project Blitz, a powerful political movement to eliminate the separation of church and state, develops a playbook to pass state laws treating transness as a communicable public health hazard, to be eradicated by the government like measles. 

2020: The [American Principles Project] APP, a religious right PAC, bucks the RNC and tries to make the 2020 election about trans people as a wedge, focusing on trans youth sports and medicine. Though unsuccessful at the time, they succeed post-election. 

2020: A consortium of religious right organizations launch a project to attack LGBT youth and parents, with the aim of passing laws outing trans youth, plus bathroom, sports, and medical bans. They promote conversion therapy as the only option. 

2021: Tucker Carlson and Fox News ramp up the anti-trans coverage to unheard of levels, (several segments a day) largely echoing the stated aims of the religious right and shaming Republicans who aren’t draconian enough. 

2021: The GOP shifts focus to “wokeness” and “cancel culture” which they blame in great part on transgender people. They make it clear that trans people are one of their top issues going forward, and a intention of fear mongering with falsehoods. 

2021: A record number of anti-trans bills are passing state legislatures. Most use model language provided by ADF, and target target trans youth in sports and medicine. Some bathroom bills as well. Many pass. It’s the worst ever. 

March 26, 2021: Tucker Carlson, Fox’s most popular host, openly embraces white nationalism. Her also endorses the notion that if the left doesn’t surrender (presumable giving up trans people as a sacrifice), fascism is the only option left. 

April 7, 2021: Carlson declares that transgender people are a threat to the survival of the human species, implying that minimizing them is more than just a moral imperative, and that they represent an existential threat to eliminated. 

April 8, 2021: [British/American right wing extremist blogger] Andrew Sullivan proposes a “compromise” to the “transgender question” that includes a national bathroom ban, “separate but equal” facilities and sports, national bans on health care for trans youth, and banning any discussion of trans issues in schools.

If “separate but equal” being floated as a “solution” to the “trans question” doesn’t make you nervous, I’ll also point out that Germany took it’s cues from the American Jim Crow South. 

April 8, 2021: Donald Trump wades into the fight, threatening Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson for vetoing a bill banning care for trans youth. This signal Trump has embraced the anti-trans right, and this will drag on for years. 

It also signals this is likely to be a wedge issue in 2022, and in the general election in 2024, making it the first time in 20 years that LGBT issues have been centered in a presidential election, and that the GOP thinks they can win on this openly. 

Read the whole thread with comments here.

Brynn Tannehill is a leading trans activist and essayist, and has written for The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Bilerico, Slate, Salon, USA Today, The Advocate, LGBTQ Nation, The New Civil Rights Movement, as a blogger and featured columnist. She recently published her new book American Fascism.  

Visit her blog here! 

Follow her on twitter!

The attacks on transgender female athletes is just another way of controlling women’s bodies and lives

Policing trans kids is about reinforcing the same rigid gender norms that are used to trap cis women all the time, Amanda Marcotte writes over at Slate.  This is all about how women should look and act — and what their bodies should be used for, based on their gender.

She writes:

The push to discriminate against trans students ends up reducing the entirety of women’s sports to not just athletes’ bodies, but their genitalia, reinforcing notions that women’s reproductive systems should define their entire existence. The primary victims of this shiny new GOP wedge issue are trans kids, but make no mistake, the rhetoric being employed hurts all sorts of kids, cis or trans.

The attacks on trans girls for supposedly not being “feminine” enough to play girls’ sports also affect cis girls whose bodies or behavior don’t conform to what sexists believe proper little ladies should look or act like…

Many of the anti-trans bills in states open the door to gender-testing that affects all kids, trans or cis. Put bluntly, in places like Idaho, the anti-trans laws give permission to schools to force kids to submit to an investigation of their genitals, a process that will be no less traumatic for cis girls who “pass” the inspection. 

The tactic is well know from history, Marcotte points out. 

Women were stopped from voting in order to protect their “fragile” and “caring” nature. Anti-feminists in the 1970s attacked the Equal Rights Amendment by falsely insinuating the housewives would be abandoned by their husbands. I would point out that lesbians were banned from teaching, as they might “corrupt young girls”. 

And instead of attacking the men that abuse women, the traditionalists blame the female victims for inviting the violence through the way they dress and behave. 

All of which leads to the idea that women need men to protect them from other men (and from women who do not follow the gender norms), putting men in control of women’s bodies and lives.

Read the whole article here!

Photo of Amanda Marcotte by Peter Cooper and Slate.

Amazon Removes All Books That Treat LGBTQ+ Identities as Mental Illnesses

Well, this is certainly good news. 

Amazon has informed a group of Republican senators that the company will no longe sell any books that treat transgender or other sexual identities as mental illnesses.

This was in response to a letter to Jeff Bezos  from Republican Senators Marco Rubio, Mike Lee , Mike Braun  and Josh Hawley, where they demanded an explanation of why one particular transphobic book was no longer for sale on Amazon. 

Now, I am sure they will start complaining about “cancel culture” and freedom of speech, so let me make a few things clear here:

1. According to fundamental market principles Amazon, as an independent company, has the right to stop selling books that promotes hate. 
   
   
2. I am sure the books will be available elsewhere, and since these senators can use the  Senate floor to make themselves heard, I am also confident there is no danger of transphobia being banned from the public sphere any time soon. 
   
   
3. The opportunity to destroy the lives of others is not a human right.
   
   
4. The current Republican attacks against trans people is clearly a diversionary tactic. They are trying stop people from thinking about the fact that their leader tried to destroy American democracy and that they have no credible policies addressing the real problems of today: the pandemic, climate change and poverty.
   
   
5. Both the American DSM-5 psychiatric manual and the WHO ICD-11 health manual states that being gay, queer or trans is not a mental illness.

The Daily Beast has more.

Here are the US representatives who voted against the US pro-LGBT+ Equality Act

The US Equality Act is to outlaw discrimination against LGBTQ people in housing, credit, jury service, public accommodations, and federal funding.

The House of Representatives passed the legislation yesterday, but it is unlikely that the Senate will follow up, given the Republican Party’s increasing hostility to queer people. They are currently weaponizing transphobia in an attempt at mobilizing their base.

In the Senate the bill will require at least 10 Republicans to vote with all Democrats to advance past the so-called filibuster.

Metro Weekly has listed the representatives that voted against the law in the House.

Photo of Rep. Marie Newman.

Alabama:

• Robert Aderholt
• Mo Brooks
• Jerry Carl
• Barry Moore
• Gary Palmer
• Mike Rogers

Alaska:

• Don Young

Arizona:

• Andy Biggs
• Paul A. Gosar
• Debbie Lesko
• David Schweikert

Arkansas:

• Rick Crawford
• French Hill
• Bruce Westerman
• Steve Womack

California:

• Ken Calvert
• Darrell Issa
• Mike Garcia
• Young Kim
• Doug LaMalfa
• Kevin McCarthy
• Tom McClintock
• Devin Nunes
• Jay Obernolte
• Michelle Steel
• David G. Valadao

Colorado:

• Lauren Boebert
• Ken Buck
• Doug Lamborn

Florida:

• Gus M. Bilirakis
• Vern Buchanan
• Kat Cammack
• Mario Diaz-Balart
• Byron Donalds
• Neal Dunn
• C. Scott Franklin
• Matt Gaetz
• Carlos A. Gimenez
• Brian Mast
• Bill Posey
• John Rutherford
• Maria Elvira Salazar
• W. Gregory Steube
• Michael Waltz
• Daniel Webster

Georgia:

• Rick Allen
• Buddy Carter
• Andrew S. Clyde
• A. Drew Ferguson
• Marjorie Taylor Greene
• Jody Hice
• Barry Loudermilk
• Austin Scott
• David Scott

Idaho:

• Russ Fulcher
• Mike Simpson

Illinois:

• Mike Bost
• Rodney Davis
• Darin LaHood
• Adam Kinzinger
• Mary E. Miller

Indiana:

• Jim Banks
• James Baird
• Larry Bucshon
• Trey Hollingsworth
• Greg Pence
• Victoria Spartz
• Jackie Walorski

Iowa:

• Randy Feenstra
• Ashley Hinson
• Mariannette Miller-Meeks

Kansas:

• Ron Estes
• Jake LaTurner
• Tracey Mann

Kentucky:

• Andy Barr
• James Comer
• S. Brett Guthrie
• Thomas Massie
• Harold Rogers

Louisiana:

• Clay Higgins
• Garret Graves
• Mike Johnson
• Steve Scalise

Maryland:

• Andy Harris

Michigan:

• Jack Bergman
• Bill Huizenga
• Lisa C. McClain
• Peter Meijer
• John Moolenaar
• Fred Upton
• Tim Walberg

Minnesota:

• Tom Emmer
• Michelle Fischbach
• Jim Hagedorn
• Pete Stauber

Mississippi:

• Michael Guest
• Trent Kelly
• Steven Palazzo

Missouri:

• Sam Graves
• Vicky Hartzler
• Billy Long
• Blaine Luetkemeyer
• Jason Smith
• Ann Wagner

Montana:

• Matthew M. Rosendale

Nebraska:

• Don Bacon
• Jeff Fortenberry
• Adrian Smith

Nevada:

• Mark Amodei

New Jersey:

• Chris Smith
• Jefferson Van Drew

New Mexico:

• Yvette Herrell

New York:

• Andrew R. Garbarino
• Chris Jacobs
• Nicole Malliotakis
• Elise Stefanik
• Claudia Tenney
• Lee Zeldin

North Carolina:

• Dan Bishop
• Ted Budd
• Madison Cawthorn
• Gregory Francis Murphy
• Virginia Foxx
• Richard Hudson
• Patrick T. McHenry
• David Rouzer

North Dakota:

• Kelly Armstrong

Ohio:

• Troy Balderson
• Steve Chabot
• Warren Davidson
• Bob Gibbs
• Anthony Gonzalez
• Jim Jordan
• Bill Johnson
• David Joyce
• Robert E. Latta
• Steve Stivers
• Michael Turner
• Brad Wenstrup

Oklahoma:

• Stephanie I. Bice
• Tom Cole
• Kevin Hern
• Frank Lucas
• Markwayne Mullin

Oregon:

• Cliff Bentz

Pennsylvania:

• John Joyce
• Mike Kelly
• Daniel Meuser
• Scott Perry
• Guy Reschenthaler
• Lloyd Smucker
• Glenn Thompson

South Carolina:

• Jeff Duncan
• Nancy Mace
• Ralph Norman
• Tom Rice
• William Timmons
• Joe Wilson

South Dakota:

• Dusty Johnson

Tennessee:

• Timm Burchett
• Scott DesJarlais
• Chuck Fleischmann
• Mark Green
• Diana Harshbarger
• David Kustoff
• John W. Rose

Texas:

• Jodey Arrington
• Brian Babin
• Kevin Bady
• Michael Burgess
• John Carter
• Michael Cloud
• Dan Crenshaw
• Pat Fallon
• Louie Gohmert
• Tony Gonzales
• Lance Gooden
• Kay Granger
• Ronny Jackson
• Michael T. McCaul
• Troy E. Nehls
• August Pfluger
• Chip Roy
• Pete Sessions
• Van Taylor
• Beth Van Duyne
• Randy Weber
• Roger Williams

Utah:

• John R. Curtis
• Blake D. Moore
• Burgess Owens
• Christ Stewart

Virginia:

• Ben Cline
• Bob Good
• Morgan Griffith
• Robert J. Wittman

Washington:

• Jaime Herrera Beutler
• Cathy McMorris Rodgers
• Dan Newhous

West Virginia:

• David McKinley
• Carol Miller
• Alex Mooney

Wisconsin:

• Scott Fitzgerald
• Mike Gallagher
• Glenn Grothman
• Bryan Steil
• Thomas P. Tiffany

Wyoming:

• Liz Cheney

All Democrats voted for the legislation, as did three Republicans.

Supergirl’s new transgender heroine makes a must hear speech

The latest episode of the superhero teen drama Supergirl is highly political. The writers are using the concept of alien refugees on Earth (Superman and Supergirl obviously being two of them) as a starting point for presenting and discussing xenophobia and the fear of “The Other”. 

The aliens from other planets takes the role human refugees and “illegals” play in the current American political landscape, but the bigoted hatred shown by American racists is the same. 

Now that we know that the Trump administration is planning to remove the official recognition of the real identity of transgender people – a reflection of a similar hatred of the unknown and the unfamiliar – this episode comes right on time, because this news season also presents Nia Nal, the first transgender hero in the DC universe. She is a new journalist in the newspaper Supergirl is working for. 

This episode includes a nasty scene where the identity of one alien is revealed in a pizza restaurant where Nia Nal is buying her coffee. The man behind the desk becomes openly hostile when he realizes that the man ordering pizzas is from another planet, and only Nia Nal stops this from becoming very violent.

In the scene embedded below Nia Nal tries to convince her editor, James Olsen, to write an editorial condemning the increasing racist violence, and she does so by explaining the similarities between xenophobia and transphobia.

This is a clear call for action in a dark time.

Nia Nal is played by transgender actress Nicole Maines. I wrote about her two years ago in the blog post Identical twins: one boy, one girl.

Illustration by Geeks of Color.