03-30-2024, 10:55 PM(This post was last modified: 03-30-2024, 11:13 PM by boom. Edited 2 times in total.)
This is going to be stream of consciousness, so bear with me.
I was gonna just do my normal "hey it's March 31, sending love to all the gender diverse people on the site" post that I do every year, but honestly, it just doesn't feel like the right tone this year because there's a lot of built-up feelings that have to go somewhere, so here they are.
I'm fairly open about my identity, but to reintroduce myself, I'm boom, I'm an SHL GM, and I am a transgender woman (she/her pronouns). Three years ago tomorrow, I came out publicly for the first time, and while I've been fortunate enough to have a supportive family who affirms my identity and close friends who have been there for every step of my transition, the past two years have shown me just how fragile that sense can be and how many people are not afforded that. I am opening with this because I feel it is important to show that trans and gender-diverse users are here on the site, we exist and we're affected by everything going on.
To drop a number, translegislation.com counted589 anti-trans bills proposed in the United States in 2023. As of March 30, the running total for 2024 is 533. For comparison, for all of 2020-2022, there were 383 bills proposed.
Those numbers sound scary, but they're also impersonal. It's important to remember that at the heart of each one of those bills are trans people, some of whom may be on this site, who are going to be personally and significantly harmed by them. My own province has declared an intent to propose the most extreme anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Canada, and there's a good chance more could come down the pipe in 2025 depending on how things break. I only realized I was trans when I was an adult, long after physical changes had already happened, but many trans youth know exactly who they are from a young age and are being denied the ability to access the gender-affirming care that is right for them or even just to be themselves in safe, affirming spaces. People in my field and life are scared, unsure, angry, and they have every right to be with what's going on.
Please. Follow and amplify trans voices. Look up what is happening in your state, province, or country, and find out where your representative stands on these issues. If they're shitty, help out in whatever is within your means and headspace to make change - it is an election year, after all. Listen to trans folks when they express how these policies and laws are going to hurt them - they know best what the effects will be.
And in the meantime, this post is also an affirmation to all the trans people here. To you I say, you are seen and loved for who you are, even if the world might not seem like it at the moment. You know who you are at your heart, and nobody, regardless of whatever bigoted laws may pass, can ever take that from you. I can't pretend it's not gonna suck for a while, but we will come out the other side and we will be okay. There is no greater rebellion than just being yourself in the face of this opposition. We are still here, we are brave, and we're not going anywhere. Protect trans lives. Happy Trans Day of Visibility.
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