We will survive, and we will continue to push and thrive,
even in the margins that they push us into.
We've been targeted before as a community, but we do have strength.
We do have such community and support
for one another.
There are a lot of trans people that are very worried and afraid right now.
And I more than understand that fear;
I live it on a daily basis.
There are a lot of people doing amazing work in the shadow of all of this
dark legislation, and they are shining lights in the darkness to me.
I mention often Machaela Cavanaugh, because her work in Nebraska right
now—she has halted the Nebraska Legislature for 3 weeks
to stop a gender-affirming care ban there from progressing.
And her speeches, and, and testimony, and passion for these trans
youth is palpable.
It's about doing the right thing.
It's about the fact that the children of this state and the children across the country
deserve to have adults standing up for them,
to stand up for trans children.
This year, we have the most trans elected officials in office.
And I'm seeing people like Leigh Finke in Minnesota
make Minnesota a safe state for transgender refugees
from these criminalizing states,
where she's essentially pushing forward a bill
that would state that if you make it to our borders in Minnesota,
we will not extradite you, we will not honor subpoenas from other states
to look into your medical care or the medical care of your children.
If you are a parent who has custody of a trans kid
and another state wants to take that custody away
because a non-affirming parent lives in that state, we're not gonna honor that.
It's because of what Leigh did in Minnesota
around this bill, which I believe will pass,
that the governor himself of Minnesota has decided to release
an executive order that covers all trans people in the state.
The Trans Health Equity Act passed in Maryland, which is my home state.
It mandates modern standards of care for transgender people be covered by Medicaid.
So the people that typically
have the hardest trouble affording transgender health care treatments
are now no longer gonna be cut out of modern standards of care.
We also see states like California S.B. 107
passing a safe state law for people that flee to the border of California.
We are seeing places like New Mexico pass H.B. 7,
which essentially, protects the right to access gender-affirming care.
It codifies the care itself into New Mexico law.
This is really important, considering that the border states of New Mexico, places
like Oklahoma, places like Texas, are currently criminalizing care
and that could future criminalize care. This essentially gives them an out.
It gives them a place where they can flee to if they can flee.
But not everybody can flee.
And I think that it's important that these states continue to pass bills
that protect the community.
It's these things that, I think, could help save the community
in some of these darker times where other states are criminalizing our care.
There are a lot of things about what I'm currently seeing in the general public
that do give me hope.
There is increased identification across the board on LGBTQ identities.
And like I've heard before, people talk about this explosion of trans
people as if it's a trend.
But that's not the case because in reality, all across the board,
people are more free to express being gay, being lesbian, being bisexual.
This increase in visibility will lead to a change in culture.
It's hard to hate somebody that you know.
One of the biggest shifts in public opinion was around gay marriage.
It became less this ephemeral gay person
that you were advocating against, and it—rather than that,
it became your gay uncle, your gay brother, your gay niece.
And, and this, this changed things.
And I do think that we are seeing that among trans people, as well.
We're seeing an increase in people that know a trans person.
Find your community.
We, as a community, have survived through worse.
32 states passed gay marriage bans.
And yet, we finally saw a reversal of that.
The way that we got through that was through
joining together, organizing at the community level,
being there for each other, to have each other's backs.
Whether that means going to your local gay club, or your gay bar, or to your local
P flag group,
or starting a gay-straight alliance in your high school.
That's what I did.
Seeking community is what will get you through this.
And together, we are stronger, and we have a history
of being able to overcome the worst of the worst.