Transgender Awareness

[Tolvo]

I've been meaning to do this for a while but kept trying to figure out how exactly to go about it, so here it is. I wanted to do a thread raising awareness about Transgender people, the issues we face, our history, what and who we are, etc. It is Transgender Awareness Week, following after will be Trans Day of Remembrance, for remembering those we know of who we lost to murder this year(As well as others). I also do want to include Intersex people since there is often a lot of overlap with them. And frankly we should do more to include them in our conversations.

https://www.glaad.org/transweek

Glaad also has a good cheat sheet for terminology.

https://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender

Now I put this in this section because it is impossible to divorce our history and lives from the politics of the past and now. Trans people were a big part in the AIDS movement, and the Gay Rights movement, and were there at the start during Stonewall. There are many arguments about who threw the first brick, but it was the most marginalized among the community that there largely there which included Transgender Women of Color who were some of the main founders and forces in the movement. Despite this Transgender people have also been thrown under the bus by the movement at large quite a lot. To this day people try to prop up "Drop the T from LGBT" movements and try to get use removed from spaces whenever possible.

We have existed all throughout history, in many cultures around the world in various forms on every continent(Well maybe not Antarctica). Transgender people have also made important contributions to the world. Without Lynn Conway we might not have much of what we take for granted now in regards to cell phones and computers and other electronics. Without the Wachoski Sisters the entire world of movies would be different. What would our country be like without the whistle blowing of Chelsea Manning? Remember the story of Christine Jorgensen who had her story about her transition published in the news and was called a beauty in the 1950's? She wasn't even the earliest person to publicly transition like she did, that goes to Lili Elbe. But she still isn't the first, as far as we know that honor goes to Dörchen Richter. Who was a patient of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft in 1930's Germany which had most of its research and records destroyed by the Nazis before those they could find were rounded up and killed or sent to Death Camps.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/10/29/trumps-attack-trans-people-should-be-wake-up-call-mainstream-gay-rights-movement/?fbclid=IwAR3a2y5cE3C37EsHCX9Hbmgyhj8FCzSKkzNrV41XB2Pwy9rIf_aen7GrOWo&noredirect=on&utm_term=.6281129ba9c6

At the same time we are seeing improvements, despite Trump's rollbacks and other orders we are seeing some things shift in our favor.

https://theconversation.com/transgender-americans-still-face-workplace-discrimination-despite-some-progress-and-support-of-companies-like-apple-106140

It will be a long and hard battle, but in time we may see things go in a positive way. We now have two states where Trans Panic is not a legal defense, we now have a few states where we have legal protections. There are now more trans women running for and taking hold of political offices.

That would be very American Centric, as the fight for Trans Rights worldwide is far from over. In places like Turkey, Russia, Brazil, trans people are still routinely murdered while having no real power or rights.

Trans people are routinely censored and forced out of online spaces which are usually incredibly hostile to us in the first place, such as Twitter and Facebook(Which often uses Real Name policies to target trans people).

https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/sophie-hemery/online-platforms-enable-deluge-hatred-against-trans-women-uk

If you want just a short little video to get a grasp of some of the things we deal with day to day, here is a little four and a half minute short film.

https://vimeo.com/296667487

It is honestly a bit hard to explain every single thing that we face in one post but a core thing for all of it is that we want to be accepted as who we really are. Whether you are a woman, a man, nonbinary, you are who you are and we shouldn't have to live fake lives to make cis people feel more comfortable because our existence is complex and we don't easily fit into boxes of what a person is or should be.

I'd also like this to be a place where anyone can ask questions and talk about their experiences. I want everyone to feel safe and be able to be honest and try to understand things better and tell their own stories.

[HannibalBarca]

I'm late, but +1 for this.  As the straight cis father of a young gay man who is trans, I started out as an ally but with little knowledge of the transgender community.  I've learned a lot over the past few years, and much of it has come from my fellow Elliquians.  Trump has made the issues my son and other trans people face worse, and if anything, I've felt a lot more stress, anger, and depression from the President's actions as they affect my son and the trans community.  Trans rights are human rights, and I'll stand up for my trans brothers and sisters to my best ability.

[Tolvo]

I'm glad to hear your son has an ally in you! I wish more parents were like that. I hope you're son is doing well and if you ever do have questions about things feel free to ask. I understand if it can't always be easy to ask your son everything.

https://rewire.news/article/2018/11/26/its-time-to-retire-the-medias-sad-transgender-trope/

So something you may have heard or seen trans people talking about was a recent article in the New York Times by Andrea Chu. It was about her personal experiences with transitioning, which is fine to tell, but then goes into using her personal negative experiences to argue against health care for trans people and contains a lot of harmful myths and views. Many transphobic people and other who don't know any better have been sharing it as proof "See even a trans woman says its bad to transition!" The above article is by a friend of mine Kate, she's done a little article on the problems with that narrative and mining the tragedy of transgender lives for clicks, money, and to push an anti-trans agenda. I'd recommend anyone give it a read.

[Fierbali111]

This may be only loosely related but is there a commitee or something that declares something to be a week? Can there be overlap? For example, why not trans awareness day or trans awareness month?  Is there even a benefit to making it trans awareness week when trans awareness should be on a low level constant reminder of how trans people exist, kind of like how gay and bisexual people are consistently represented to exist?

[Tolvo]

Well I typed up a long explanation but it got eaten.

Basically it usually starts local then catches on and spreads.

People focus on short time frames since then you can easily set up events and dedicate time. We'd desire it to be constant vigilance but most people won't do that and generally don't give a shit about trans people. So we take what we can get.

[Tolvo]

I've been wanting to bring this thread back as the things discussed and shared within it are still highly important and ever present especially as transphobic hate is on the rise globally. As a reminder it is alright to ask questions, to ask for discussions on terminology and concepts, about what terms are slurs such as trap, shemale, and why certain terms are frowned upon like transexual, the importance of pronouns, what misgendering is, the harm that can be caused by claiming trans people aren't "real" members of their gender, of bioessentialism and how it is false and that sex, gender, chromosomes, and more, are far more complex and varied than any binary, etc. I know quite a lot and have been in the community for a little while(As I am trans) and have talked with various different sub-communities within the trans community. My goal is as always to help others understand, to share resources and information. For more resources there is the LGBTQIA+ Resources, Information, Help, History, Articles, Important Figures Thread which contains a lot of our history and the history of LGBTQIA+ people in general.

https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/doctor-powers-gender-variant-patient/#gs.n5db3k

An older story but one that is positive of a doctor who spoke out about an insurance form that he could not accurately fill out as his agender patient id not fit into a "Male/Female" checkbox, and how gender, sex, karyotypes, and more, are varied and don't fit within a binary.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48756370

As a revival to this thread, it has been published that in England, Scotland, and Wales, Transgender hate crimes have increased by 81% over the last year. Note this does not include all police groups as some would not publish their reports, keep in mind in general hate crimes are under reported.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/14/homophobic-attack-bus-outrage-media-white

Hate crimes against LGTBQIA+ people in general have been on the rise, here are the words of one half of the female couple that were in a viral image after they were beaten in a hate crime on how transgender people and poc are erased i discussions of hate crimes and how they face the worst violence.

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/06/26/white-nationalist-threats-against-transgender-people-are-escalating

White nationalists have been targeting trans people more and more. This is by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors and reports on various hate groups. They have been increasing their efforts to doxx transgender people, including transgender children, with calls to exterminate them all.

https://theoutline.com/post/6536/british-feminists-media-transphobic?zd=1&zi=fcrskhum

British media largely has a lot of transphobic feminists. They are in part to blame for much of the transphobic panics we see in Europe and also America as they come over here and work with far right anti-LGBTQIA+ groups.

https://www.intomore.com/impact/anti-lgbtq-activist-admits-bathroom-predator-myth-was-concocted-as-cover-for-transphobic-hate?fbclid=IwAR2yEY1mzPBgZevqgcyRHJRYyGsarOg3HR37Nx3O5CDNyte2dP1revzuUmI

Now as a reminder it has been openly admitted by various people perpetuating various myths about transgender people that the fears they stoked are unfounded, and that they fabricated the threat trans people could present to women.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/06/09/ask-chelsea-cain-about-her-trans-exclusionary-radical-feminist-agenda/

Recently there was condemnation of the feminist comic creator Chelsea Cain. Her works have been pretty bioessentialist, and don't consider that trans or intersex people exist despite writing stories entirely about bodily autonomy. When someone gave very mild criticism she got very defensive, then relented that she'll do better. She then put the person's tweets on the walls of the concentration camps for cis women where anyone who menstruates goes in her story, breaking the forth wall and frankly being really creepy and seeming to allege the criticism would come from someone who would put all cis women in concentration camps. The whole thing became a train wreck where the train would get back up and onto the tracks then immediately fly off and crash before getting back up and repeating the process over and over.

https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2019/2/15/lesbian-terf-spreads-anti-trans-agenda-fox-news

To help solidify connections to the far right, here is a feminist lesbian appearing on Fox News with Tucker Carlson to talk about how they agree regarding trans people.

https://theoutline.com/post/7556/lgbtq-media-disaster?zd=2&zi=zque3fsj

There is also largely a serious lack of LGBTQIA+ reporters and journalists at large publications where many anti-LGBTQIA+ stories are published.

https://www.advocate.com/women/2018/12/19/female-editors-reject-afterellen-other-sites-anti-trans-agenda

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2018/12/famous-lesbian-site-taken-anti-trans-feminists-now-lesbian-media-standing/

AfterEllen used to be a great site for queer women and news, it has devolved into a lot of raw hatred for trans people. This has to do with a major change in management, which went on to delete all positive stories about trans women on the site even.

https://www.shoutoutuk.org/2019/07/01/terf-activists-are-weakening-the-lgbt-community-why-doesnt-the-movement-respond/

Shout Out UK has published an article about standing up to anti-trans activists and bigots.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/07/02/2020-debates-trans-issues-227257

An article by a friend of mine, Katelyn Burns, with very mild criticism of a presidential candidate who during a debate referred to transgender women as those who re in need of abortion care, which is a slip up and one which he originally reinforced before eventually being corrected and learning, as transgender men and nonbinary transgender people who were AFAB(Assigned female at birth) are who would need access to abortion care(At least until uterus transplants are readily available for trans women, they are already available for those born with a uterus).

https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/03/as-iceland-strengthens-trans-rights-hate-crime-in-the-uk-rises-we-should-be-ashamed-10101844/

An article on how while some countries such as Iceland make strides forward for transgender rights and acceptance others such as England take steps back or are amid furious political battles.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/07/01/protests-pakistan-father-murder-transgender-daughter/

News about the transgender teenager who was murdered by her father in Pakistan, her father's arrest, the protests that have gone on in response to her brutal murder, and how police are seeking other family members that are likely linked to the hate crime. Pakistan has some protections for transgender people more akin to certain US states.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/07/01/illinois-transgender-students-youth-executive-order/

In Illinois, our Governor JB Pritzker, has given an executive order for protections and support for transgender youth in schools that includes the creation of a task force dedicated to affirming support and care for trans students with funding to do so.

[Tolvo]

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/07/05/jeremy-corbyn-horrible-anti-trans-campaign-op-ed/

Jeremy Corbyn has done an opinion piece for PinkNews about how the UK government has left behind the LGBTQIA+ community, he references Stonewall and the erasure of the black trans people who were there since the start, and talks about the need to fight anti-trans legislature, and the need to continue to fight for LGBTQIA+ rights broadly to prevent any from sliding back such as the need to always fight for marriage equality.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/07/06/scottish-parliament-launches-inquiry-transgender-healthcare/

Scottish Parliament has launched an inquiry into the state of transgender healthcare in Scotland.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/movies/imdb-transgender-names.html

Various members of Hollywood, LGBTQIA+ organizations, and the Screen Actors Guild, are calling for IMDB to remove the deadnames of transgender people who are listed on the site. Currently IMDB publishes all deadnames that are known of people who are listed on the site.

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/trans-hormone-coverage-health-canada_ca_5d1e4551e4b04c481410c698

An article on the struggles transgender people face regarding financial stability, how governments can easily provide care for them but chose not to. This focuses on Canadian trans people and their experiences.

https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/terfs-protest-stonewall-london/#gs.nsmchw

TERFs(Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) have protested the Stonewall Children and Young People Conference with images of surgeries to try and claim that trans affirming surgeries are disgusting and dangerous and unnatural, a tactic adopted from Anti-Choice Christians who protest abortion. Largely the conference was very trans positive and helped highlight how while the British media is over run with TERF talking points, they're actually very few in number and largely the LGBTQIA+ community seems to be more accepting and considerate of trans people than them.

To note, the surgery photos of trans people would be shocking to witness sure. They're surgery photos. Heart transplants can save lives even if they're not pleasant to personally witness.

Additionally I likely will leave this thread without further updates after this. I don't want it to be considered spam or anything of that sort, and I can end up basically just posting to myself in here with no one reading or replying so I'll wait to see if any others have any interest in trans rights or discussing the struggles of trans people or news about us, or who have questions that they want help with, or people who are confused and just want to understand things or would like advice and help(Though I can only go so far with that if it's healthcare related, I'd be directing them to orgs that can help).

[Oniya]

I was debating posting this link for three reasons:  One, the Boston Globe Ideas page does require either a free registration or a 'sign in with Facebook' thing.  Two, I'm a little hesitant as a cis-female to poke my nose into these threads, simply because it sometimes feels like I'm intruding.  (Should this be the case, let me know and I will refrain from further comment.)  Thirdly, I actually know (as in, have 'sat in the living room of and chatted with while my child played with the cats' levels of 'know') one of the people interviewed.  Not going to say which person, as I feel really awkward name-dropping. 

Those disclaimers aside, I think it's an important article, and very well written.  The upshot is that gender identity is something that people have a deep and abiding conviction about, to the point that - akin to religious identity (which is a protected class) - it is a part of their very souls.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2019/07/05/trump-wants-deny-transgender-rights-religious-grounds-but-what-gender-identity-itself-matter-soul/A7VFzaO6rUCn3krlLum4tO/story.html

[Tolvo]

Ah yeah it's annoying when news sites do that. At times I can get doing it but it's really annoying when important stories are walled behind stuff like that.

It's alright for cis people to post in here. I encourage people with things they want to discuss and ask to post really, despite worries one might have. My hope is people can judge for themselves if they're intruding or not. Typically the best way to tell is when they've come to talk at rather than talk to. And I don't think what you posted is talking at but is sharing something instead.

The article is interesting, I might have used slightly different phrasing at a few points, such as the part about "trans people and transphobes alike." "Some trans people" might have fit better, as many trans people fin trying to find a biological basis/the trans gene for transgender people to be very harmful. It can be evocative of race science, finding the "deformity" then trying to remove it. As far as I've observed, read, lived, many trans people are trans in various different ways. It can be purely social, it can be more physical, spiritual, it depends on the person. I don't see these as contradictions but as variances of being trans. And I don't find that all that hard to legislate around either, self identification I don't see as a problem and would cover all of these variances. Someone isn't more or less trans.

Trans people and the idea of soul is often an interesting topic, as the article mentions. At times I'll have people come to me who are deeply religious and want to accept a transgender friend or family member but can't figure out how they can exist if their god makes no mistakes. The simple way I put it is that as their god(The Christian God) doesn't make mistakes, but still puts challenges in the world to test their faith, the body they dislike could fall under that. It could be a challenge for others to become better people to accept them, it could be a learning experience to learn compassion for what they don't understand or experience, for unconditional love. That perhaps their soul is the real them, and regardless of the genitals they're born with that soul is the true them and them making their body more like their soul is their god's plan. If their god created people and allowed science to form and prosper, that science is an extension of their god and so is transition based healthcare. I'm not religious at all, but Christianity for instance has the grounding for such a logic and basis for trans people to exist especially since we're not really mentioned in religious texts. It's harder to use Christian doctrine to support queer relationships actually(Though everyone still should and there are still arguments one could make about what texts are for who, the core beliefs of love and compassion triumphing over texts, etc).

[Oniya]

I typically counter the 'relationships' arguments by explaining why exactly Leviticus (the usual scripture quoted) was important to a small band of nomadic people who didn't know about gametes and didn't have conveniences such as icehouses.  Bit of a tangent here, but many of the restrictions make perfect sense for that specific situation, which is hardly relevant to an overcrowded, scientifically advanced, settled civilization.

[Tolvo]

A lot of religious texts are written for times and places, by people. Who may or may not have connections to the divine, but no matter what are people and there are various easy ways to logic around having to strictly following texts that simply do not consider all people who may exist.

Nothing shows this more than how many don't even have a concept like transgender, nonbinary, or intersex people, within them. Though some do. A lot of older religions had such concepts and we've seen them in some pretty big religions and Pantheons such as in Ancient Greece, Rome, in India, the South East in particular has a lot of concepts relating to nonbinary genders and cycles of life and change.

[Tolvo]

https://www.newsweek.com/transgender-dennys-north-carolina-1447817

A transgender woman was arrested at a Denny's after a cis man called the cops on her for using the women's restroom. According to police the trans woman was arrested because the argument escalated and she spat in the direction of the family. The embedded video in the article is not from that incident but a different one from 2018 when a congressional candidate filmed herself harassing a trans woman in a restroom and filmed the stall while calling her a man and saying her using the restroom violated her rights. In the Denny's incident Denny's has come out in defense of the transgender customer.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/07/08/mumsnet-users-boycott-co-op-strawberry-ad-trans-woman/

Mumsnet users are now boycotting Co-Op for an ad that featured a transgender woman that mentions proceeds from strawberry sales will go to supporting trans rights and services. Mumsnet is notably one of the sites where transphobia is most openly found, it is where many transphobes gather and plan harassment campaigns. Notably Graham Linehan, creator of The IT crowd has used the site to help organize his targeting of children's charities before.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/07/07/mhairi-black-toxic-fearmongering-trans-rights/

Mhairi Black, a Scottish MP, on the toxic fearmongering that transphobic people spread about trans people.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/pride-trans-work-office-coming-out-job-interview-a8991196.html

An article and video about the struggles of being trans in the work place.

https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/anti-trans-women-kicked-out-of-national-theatre-over-protests/#gs.oal6ov

It was reported by outlets that a group of lesbians were kicked out of an event for their t shirts fighting for women's rights, it turned out however this was false as witnesses shared videos and pictures and the organizers gave their side of the story. It turned out that were anti-trans activists who came in and were disruptive when a performer was on the stage.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/07/06/trans-inclusive-lesbians-lead-pride-london-march-anti-trans-protest/?fbclid=IwAR0RzXd-K-VaACHhdBJ1KhC5YATTirGOTNIDBBnOqWJysdD545Jk04lfOtQ

I posted this in News as well, but would go here, an article on the lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals, who are trans allies who led the London Pride March, along with trans people many of which who are also queer.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/pride-anti-trans-activists-parade-march-london-a8991371.html

An article about the recent history of TERF's/anti-trans activists and hate groups, of them invading the spaces of others, attacking cancer research and treatment organizations, with as well the video uploaded by one of two of them harassing Sarah McBride in person.

Video of Posie Parker and Julia Long harassing Sarah McBride

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/01/unhinged-feminists-bully-demean-trans-woman-helping-children-post-video-attack-online/

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2019/01/31/women-harass-delaware-transgender-activist-sarah-mcbride-meeting-d-c/2730193002/

An article on that event. Note they are British and are there in Delaware harassing transgender women over a US law.

[Oniya]

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2019/01/31/women-harass-delaware-transgender-activist-sarah-mcbride-meeting-d-c/2730193002/

An article on that event. Note they are British and are there in Delaware harassing transgender women over a US law.

I only wish I had that much spare cash, to be able to make an intercontinental flight to attend a protest.  I'd probably donate said spare cash to a cause that I support back home, though.  Much more likely to make any sort of difference.  (Translation:  These people are harassing folks in a foreign country because they want to shit-stir and make other people miserable, not because they want to make anything better for anyone.  Bonus points if the miserable people are different in some way.)

[Tolvo]

We should all be thankful that they took the time to come here and make people in our country miserable in between making people in their country miserable. Though many transphobic British organizations are tied to far right US religious groups. As well as the Russian government, which was kind of a weird one when that first started happening with the likes of Julie Bindel, a British TERF, who got published in Sputnik News. On top of writing for Quilette, despite describing herself as left wing and progressive, and a feminist.

It's sort of a sad thing to see when you see people selling out their own or those even more vulnerable out of hatred or for benefit. They'll gladly work with Neo Nazis, anti-LGBTQIA+ orgs, misogynistic hate groups and PUA, as long as it means our erasure from the world. But if they get rid of us they're just the next target. "Alright lesbians you helped us exterminate the ugly feminine men." "Yay!" "Now it's time to exterminate the lesbians!" "Yeah-wait what?" Though it should be mentioned most lesbians are not TERF's, honestly a lot of them are not lesbians but politically identify as lesbians. And many others are just cishet women, it's just usually the lesbian TERF's are the faces of their organizations.

[Tolvo]

So there is something I want to share, to help with getting a grasp of how common the hatred of trans people is and how these debates go. People often think of transphobia as isolated, yet it's incredibly common. Following I'm going to link a video of parents and community members in Stafford County on camera in public record arguing to the School Board against accepting trans students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6280&v=QOGxR5fg_fc

At around 1:42:00 a man will go on a rant even about how inclusivity and diversity is evil. He rails against acceptance of trans people while talking about how people are allowed to swear in front of his children which enrages him yet he's not allowed to call trans girls boys. He claims he is a police officer. "You're love and inclusion and tolerance, is disgusting! Would you want your children seeing this!" He yelled this after someone in the back laughed at his vile rant. People went up and talked about what is "Objectively true" and "biology" without any knowledge about what they were speaking about. This is not to single these people out but to understand this goes on around the country. And people like this, doing these things, can have a lot of sway and influence on communities. After his rant he got a lot of claps from the crowd of people who enthusiastically agreed with him. This is a county with over 140,000 people. If you've ever read the records for such meetings when the topic of transgender students comes up it is vile. Similar to how queer people in general are treated though now trans people are a greater focus of this hatred and willful ignorance.

The BBC just published an article arguing against puberty blockers.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49036145

In the article there is a lot of factually incorrect information and they cite and interview people who are open bigots. They put in quotes from a sociology professor of Harvard, Michael Biggs, who on twitter likes to harass trans people and spread misinformation.

https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2018/10/26/transphobic-tweets-linked-to-oxford-sociology-professor/

https://medium.com/@kirstyentwistle/an-open-letter-to-dr-polly-carmichael-from-a-former-gids-clinician-53c541276b8d

Kirsty Entwistle was also interviewed and quoted. She is rather transphobic, and is often a talking point in rags like the Daily Mail due to her belief that transgender kids are just confused because they've been abused and aren't really transgender.

While in other better places regarding trans people this is happening.

https://growinguptransgender.com/2019/07/22/new-zealand-healthcare-guidelines-affirm-support-trans-children/

New Zealand has been updating affirmative guidelines for trans children and supporting them, while also offering asylum to trans people who need to escape from highly transphobic countries such as the UK and USA which fall under the classification of being in an ongoing genocide of transgender people.

[Tolvo]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/gender-neutral-bathrooms-womens-prisons-time-trans-people-carried/

In The Telegraph there has been an article written suggesting trans people need a special ID they would carry to prove thy are trans and show they are trans as a way of identifying them and allowing access to public spaces. This was written by a trans member of the Telegraph and published, a problem is one can't even see the entire article without being premium but opens with a statement that people treat you worse if you supported Leave over Remain than if you are trans.

The suggestion itself is one explicitly used in Nazi Germany, of sewing identifiers onto marginalized groups as a way to target them and dehumanize them. One might say you shouldn't compare the plight of trans people to the plight of Jewish people and I'd agree, which is why I compare this to the plight of queer and trans people who were exterminated during the Holocaust.

https://www.newsweek.com/pink-triangles-prison-sentences-nazi-persecution-homosexuals-337840

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/gay-prisoners-germany-wwii/

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/01/26/holocaust-memorial-day-pink-triangle/

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/lgbtq-institute-in-germany-was-burned-down-by-nazis

https://magnus-hirschfeld.de/ausstellungen/institute/

Another case I wanted to discuss was that of Luna, a story about a Texas man arguing his child is really a boy and that the mother is forcing their child to transition to being a girl, but every article is just laden with so much transphobia and hatred and outright lies that I can find through pages of searches(They're also all right wing and often Christian news since they're the main ones that care about this story). But in essence as a reminder puberty blockers are not applied at age 7 they are applied around puberty to prevent it, one can stop taking them then they'll have their puberty, when a child transitions it means calling them a different name, letting them dress differently, calling them by the pronouns they desire. Nothing medically irreversible is permitted until someone is roughly 18(Some places have different laws for when one can consent to medical procedures so this can be as young as 16).

[Tolvo]

https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/23/jury-rules-against-dad-who-wants-to-stop-transgender-son-7-from-living-as-girl-10971471/

Just to mention after dozens of pages I did manage to find one, it still misgenders the child, which is a part of what I wanted to avoid but at least contains more actual information instead of nothing but speculation. Important aspects being 3 different doctors diagnosed Luna with gender dysphoria and multiple witnesses confirmed that Luna said that was the name she wanted to go by and to use feminine pronouns.

[Skynet]

https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/23/jury-rules-against-dad-who-wants-to-stop-transgender-son-7-from-living-as-girl-10971471/

Just to mention after dozens of pages I did manage to find one, it still misgenders the child, which is a part of what I wanted to avoid but at least contains more actual information instead of nothing but speculation. Important aspects being 3 different doctors diagnosed Luna with gender dysphoria and multiple witnesses confirmed that Luna said that was the name she wanted to go by and to use feminine pronouns.

I found a rather in-depth YouTube video regarding the Younger case. There's a lot of misinformation being propagated by right-wingers about the case, to the point that even an otherwise trans-friendly YouTuber fell for it. I'm still in the process of watching (25 minutes in), but court records and psychological interviews have been as sources.

[Tolvo]

https://thetexan.news/breaking-dallas-jury-grants-mother-sole-custody-of-purported-transgender-child/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-right-weaponized-a-7-year-old-trans-child

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnstaceyennis/2019/10/26/texas-is-afraid-of-a-7-year-old-transgender-girl/#78b4a88b56fa

The case has gotten more and more tragic, with vile people like Ted Cruz and many conservative politicians using their influence to support bigotry and spread misinformation, the court ruling was overturned from being in support of trans affirmation of Luna to joint custody with the father needing to approve any aspect of transition. Just sickening, just fucking sickening.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50166900

There has been a new investigation looking into how trans people are discussed online.

https://www.brandwatch.com/reports/transphobia/

This involved collecting and examining over 10 million posts across various social media platforms and websites. It found that anti-trans hatred has been spiking and growing, the focus of where the hatred was rooted and other forms of bigotry that were connected to it in posts, what websites had higher or lower ratios of conversations that were openly anti-trans and hostile to trans people. As a warning there are many slurs for the sake of discussion such as the t slur and trap.

[Tolvo]

https://twitter.com/vademocrats/status/1225169624188231680

Danica Roem recently gave a passionate speech regarding a bill to prevent anti-LGBTQIA+ discrimination(There's actually multiple pieces of legislature involved). In it she tells the stories of James and Morgan. James is a trans boy who was discriminated against by his teacher who constantly misgendered and harassed him at school. Morgan is a trans girl who during a live school shooter drill was told she could not actually join other students in hiding as the hiding spots were locker rooms and bathrooms which she is not allowed in and was abandoned. For those who don't know Danica Roem she is a transgender Virginian Delegate who deeply understands these sorts of experiences.

https://www.virginiamercury.com/blog-va/virginia-becomes-first-southern-state-to-pass-sweeping-lgbtq-nondiscrimination-bill/

One of the bills has been passed, which is fantastic.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginia-poised-to-approve-sweeping-lgbt-rights-measures/2020/02/06/2053a190-48f8-11ea-bdbf-1dfb23249293_story.html

Additionally Virginia will be adding nonbinary options for legal documents and ID's.

[CrimsonAlt69]

I'd just like to add that I think the acceptance of transgender people have a long ways to go and that I'm in support of it(the acceptance). I'm bisexual, but honestly I feel very accepted, and personally don't care about being represented, although I'll address that in a minute. Meanwhile, trans people are not nearly accepted as lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. I heard a couple of my classmates state that they support gay rights but "aren't sure" about trans rights and it makes so... mad? Frustrated? Disappointed? Sad? Probably all of the above. Unfortunately, I think it's just something that will just have to happen over time. The same thing happened for black rights, gay rights, etc.(and I know black and gay rights aren't perfect but we are getting there). Said person who said they supported gay rights but not trans right would have been homophobic 25 years ago and racist 50 years ago. People like that simply follow the social norm and are idiots who don't think for themselves. Well, here's hoping for complete transgender rights as soon as possible.