In response to the passage of the Arkansas bill banning this health care, Dr. These bills that emerged out of this inflammatory coverage fully criminalize gender-confirming health care for children, banning essential care including puberty blockers, hormone treatments and gender-affirming surgeries. If you found this article helpful, please consider supporting our independent reporting and truth-telling for as little as $5 per month. While the legal battle focused on Luna’s father’s refusal to let her socially transition, conservative sensationalists launched a disinformation campaign, claiming that Luna’s mother was intending to “chemically castrate” her. The second group of bills grew out of a conservative media storm surrounding a 2019 custody battle over Luna Younger, a 7-year-old trans girl. Language for these bills, it’s worth noting, was drafted by the Alliance Defending Freedom-an organization that’s been deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The first and more common set of bills are the trans sports bans. Two different flavors of transphobic legislation have been proposed throughout the country. Trans Sports Bans and Gender-Conforming Health Care Are Most Common Types of Transphobic Legislation Instead of focusing on improving the lives of their constituents, these lawmakers are methodically vilifying trans kids, most of whom already feel unsafe at school-and doing so in a cheap attempt at winning votes. But this legislation comes from anything but concern-rather, it’s a calculated Republican tactic to misinform voters and win votes.Ī 2019 New York Times article reported that when conservative strategists found that anti-trans “bathroom bills” weren’t pushing voters to support their right-wing candidates, they moved on to anti-trans legislation centered on school sports.
Those advocating for anti-trans legislation have been quick to paint these bills as responses to dangers they claim trans and gender nonconforming people pose, particularly to women and children. The fact that such a music video and song became an instant hit at the same time that anti-trans legislation swept the country demonstrates a serious contradiction-if the American public is increasingly supportive of trans rights and increasingly celebratory of gender nonconformity, why are Republican legislators hooking their talons into revoking trans rights? Notably, it highlights the musician’s gender nonconformity: Throughout, he dons a bodysuit covered in rhinestones, thigh-high stilettos and towering pastel wigs. The video, released for the chart-topping single “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” celebrates Lil Nas X’s queerness through campy (and controversial) reimaginations of Christian imagery. 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. Recently, the American public once again proved its celebration of gender nonconformity. 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. Three states- Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi-have already passed this legislation.ĭespite the widespread and vehement transphobia this legislation reveals, polls show most Americans are increasingly supportive of transgender rights. And dozens of states are currently considering bills which would prohibit trans youth from playing sports on a team that matches their gender.
Last week, the Arkansas legislature became the first state to ban gender confirming health care for trans youth after it overrode Governor Asa Hutchinson’s veto of the law. Throughout the country, over half of all states will vote on transphobic bills in the 2021 legislative session.
( Twitter / new year ushered in an onslaught of dehumanizing anti-trans state legislation. Over half of all states will vote on transphobic bills in the 2021 legislative session.