Transphobia: The Disturbing New Trend Sweeping Our Nations

[Upthorn]

Sorry, couldn't think of a witty name for this one.

Basically: The Governor of Texas has directed the state child protective services to consider support of a transgender identity as child abuse:


There's currently someone organizing a list of volunteers to provide resources/support for families that may wish to flee Texas as a result.


Seeking volunteers from US and Canada who have space to provide, or from anywhere who can provide financial support

Being organized via a google sheet, so like... use your own judgment on whether or not you feel safe to sign up.

And This Twitter thread is collecting a list of other resources/charities to spread/donate to.


Edit: Here is a twitter thread collecting links to gofundmes of families with trans children requesting assistance for relocation efforts

[Grath]

[Upthorn]

To clarify, I understand that relocation is not a good option, and certainly should not be presented as the only option, nor was I intending to present it as the only option.

However, it does appear that there are trans-affirming families in TX currently investigating it as possibly the least worst option.

[Thad]

Jon Stewart's season premier is free to watch on AppleTV, and bits of it are on YouTube.







On the whole I'd say the second segment is the most valuable, because that's the one where he talks to parents of trans children, an ACLU attorney representing trans issues (who is trans himself), and an endocrinologist. But the third segment's the one that's designed to go viral, and has. That's the one where Stewart interviews Leslie Rutledge, the Arkansas AG who helped pass, and has fought to enforce, a law banning gender-affirming care for minors.

It's a prime example of an adversarial Jon Stewart interview, the kind that generate headlines using the word "eviscerate". He's done his homework, she hasn't; he makes his argument clearly and effectively, she doesn't; mostly they just go around in circles.

There's an argument that interviews like this don't actually accomplish anything except make the audience feel good. Maybe that's true. Ain't no Republicans going to watch this and change their minds.

OTOH, I'm sure Stewart's got some fans who consider themselves liberal (or moderate) but are skeptical of trans rights, or just haven't paid attention to the arguments. Maybe this will explain the issues to them in a way they haven't thought of, and bring them around. As Stewart acknowledges early in the episode, he himself hasn't always been sensitive to trans people. People can change.

And public advocacy is an end in itself.

[JD]

To answer the question of who the experts are that the Arkansas AG is citing, there's an Twitter thread by someone previously involved in litigation against several of them.

It's a total of four doctors, described as "bigots and quacks with no expertise on treating gender dysphoria." One runs a botox clinic in a strip mall and has never treated gender dysphoria. Another objects on religious grounds and most of his testimony was stricken as invalid. Another is known for a subsequently discredited study which claimed gay couples made worse parents.

Opposed to these four "experts" is a lengthy list of over 20 medical organizations.

[Upthorn]

Updated the thread title so as not to baselessly exclude TERF Island's shenanigans, or journalistic malpractice

[Thad]

It's a total of four doctors, described as "bigots and quacks with no expertise on treating gender dysphoria."

Well who could have possibly foreseen that?

*Jon Stewart earpiece gag* Everybody? I'm being told everybody could have foreseen that.

[Mongrel]

Texas again

[Thad]

Judge strikes down Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for children as unconstitutional Tuesday, the first ruling to overturn such a prohibition as a growing number of Republican-led states adopt similar restrictions.

[...]

In his order, Moody ruled that the prohibition violated the due process and equal protection rights of transgender youth and families. He said the law also violated the First Amendment rights of medical providers by prohibiting them from referring minor patients elsewhere for the care.

“Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients and that, by prohibiting it, the state undermined the interests it claims to be advancing,” Moody wrote in his ruling.

[...]

The ruling affects only the Arkansas ban but may carry implications for the fates of similar prohibitions, or discourage attempts to enact them, in other states.

“This decision sends a clear message. Fear-mongering and misinformation about this health care do not hold up to scrutiny; it hurts trans youth and must end,” said Holly Dickson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas. “Science, medicine, and law are clear: gender-affirming care is necessary to ensure these young Arkansans can thrive and be healthy.”

[Mongrel]

It would be nice if the end result here is enough people asking "Why in the fuck is chess gender-segregated in the first place?"

[Niku]

is there like a list of the "best places for trans people to just be alive that doesn't cost half of a Bezos toe to live there" because if nothing else, damn, at least losing my job might be an excuse to get us the fuck out of texas

[Thad]

Erin Reed keeps an Anti-Trans Legislative Risk Map which she updates periodically; the latest version is from June.

Business Insider put together a list of the average cost of living in the 13 safest US states for trans people based on her map (that's every state she classifies as "Safest States with Protections" except New Jersey; write your own joke). According to them, New Mexico is the least expensive by a pretty substantial margin, with an annual cost of living of $40,028. The next two are Minnesota at $48,615 and Maryland at $48,650.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of any of this but it may be a good place to start.

[Mongrel]

I would say all three of those states have crappy climates, which is probably part of the lower cost of living. But Niku's leaving Texas, so

If nothing else, I bet they all have a functioning electricity grid!

[Niku]

Yesterday was the first day in like a month the high hasn't been in triple digits so yeah, New Mexico ain't exactly anything new. Also I do have a little bit of family there so it might be the first place I keep in my back pocket while I hunt around

[Büge]

come live in Seattle!

It's probably not going to burn down!

[Mongrel]

*Cascadia Subduction Zone continues to snooze... for now*

[Friday]

I actually put a lot of thought into this when my house burned down.

Limiting to the US, and factoring:

1. Civil protections/blue states
2. cost of living
3. natural disasters typical of the area
4. climate (for me, that means warm. this list if vastly different if you don't mind snow/cold)

My conclusions were:

A- Tier: California
Warm, good civil protections, in norcal you have fires and some flooding, in socal you have earthquakes and fires and flooding. Cost of living is on the higher side, though Norcal is better than Socal and especially better than central cal, which is like the most ridiculous shit ever for housing.

A Tier: Oregon
Slightly less warm, good civil protections, absolutely beautiful. High property taxes but no sales tax, so eh. Fires. Southern Oregon is better for me because it's warmer. I would probably not mind living in like, Medford or Ashland. Stay the fuck away from Portland.

B+ Tier: Washington/Seattle
Too cold and overcast. Good civil protections. High rent if in Seattle. Absurdly beautiful. No real big natural disasters UNTIL the big one which will probably kill you! Don't live in the flood zone!

A Tier: Colorado
Literally the best in all categories except it snows and is cold during the winters. If you don't mind the cold, fucking move here, it's not close.

A+ Tier: Hawaii
My preferred tropical warm climate. Absurdly beautiful. High cost of living, mostly gas and goods due to island. Rents are absurd if you're near the beaches but fine inland. Probably the most leftist state to live in. No billboards! Don't live on the big island though unless you want to deal with lava blowing up your house. Vog sucks. Living on Maui is probably the best balance of city to rural. If you prefer city life, Oahu, if you want more rural, Kauai.

Thad Tier: Arizona
There IS something to be said for moving here as a leftist and voting to help flip the state.

A- Tier: New Mexico
I honestly don't know a ton about it but I hear good things. Sort of like if Arizona was slightly less stupid and hot.

I can't speak for the east coast/great lakes really, except that I fucking hate the cold and snow so.

[KingRoyal]

is there like a list of the "best places for trans people to just be alive that doesn't cost half of a Bezos toe to live there" because if nothing else, damn, at least losing my job might be an excuse to get us the fuck out of texas

That really sucks, Niku. And yeah, get the hell out of Texas if you can

I can second the recommendations for Minnesota and New Mexico. New Mexico is solidly blue and when you drive around the more rural parts you don't see any Trump flags, just Love Your Neighbor tinged with pot culture stuff. And Minnesota recently passed trans refuge legislation

In New Mexico, half the state is concentrated in the Albuquerque metro area, and it's a pretty decent city with a bike trails that can be used to navigate, a really nice climate, and plenty of enjoyable outdoor shit. Half the population of 2.1 million people, and the rest is dispersed throughout the state, gathered in places like Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and Clayton. So the state is really, really empty, it's a lot of absolutely gorgeous desert mountains.

Albuquerque's actually got pretty low rent and low cost of lifting, at least compared to most metros. On the downside, you'll have to learn how to spell Albuquerque properly

And in Minnesota you have Minneapolis and St. Paul as the twin cities and you can get to each by a train ride, it's neat. The Minneapolis area actually has been doing really, with the aggressive building of housing keeping their rents near pre-2020 levels, which is incredible. And if you decided to buy, it's possible to get a lot of square footage in a house. Overall the city is easy to get around in, their bike infrastructure is good but is really great when sending you on trails, still improving in the general traffic network though. Still way, way better than Texas or Albuquerque

[Mongrel]

I can't speak for the east coast/great lakes really, except that I fucking hate the cold and snow so.

Anything rustbelt is still mostly post-apocalyptic hellhole, even if the rustbelt is slightly better off in the aggregate than it was say, ten years ago. The good bits in those tend to be gentrified oases, which, ugh, no.

No real big natural disasters UNTIL the big one which will probably kill you!

To be fair, this is probably also true of Oregon, and maybe NorCal as well? The main problem is that too many buildings, at least in WA and OR are woefully not up to any sort of earthquake code requirements, let alone built to survive an M9+ event. I don't know anything about building preparedness in NorCal.

[Thad]

Thad Tier: Arizona
There IS something to be said for moving here as a leftist and voting to help flip the state.

FTR it's rated "low risk within 2 years" on Reed's map because we've got a Democratic governor who will veto any anti-trans legislation that comes out of the state legislature (and, unlike the last time we had a Democratic governor, this time the next person in line is also a Democrat so even if Hobbs were to fuck off to Washington she wouldn't completely fuck us like Napolitano did).

The biggest caution, as far as moving here, is that the summers are getting worse. It's not as bad up north (and I never would have moved back from Flagstaff if I'd been able to find work there), but I'm legitimately concerned about the Phoenix area's long-term prospects. (They've got some serious long-term water-supply issues up north, too, but at least it's not as goddamn hot. I typed "hate" instead of "hot" at first and seriously considered keeping it.)