Anti-trans legislation poses escalating threat to transgender population
Conservative lawmakers push transphobic rhetoric as violence rises
AP
Jordyn Hautz, 21, right, attends rally for the “Transgender Day of Visibility,” Friday, Mar. 31, 2023, by the Capitol
Warning: This article contains mention of suicide, transphobia, violence.
I fear the US might soon be facing a genocide.
Transgender people have faced a rising level of violence, both fatal and not. 2021 was the deadliest year for transgender people in recorded history in the US, with almost 60 trans people killed. And that’s only the reported cases. Murders of trans people fueled by hatred happen every single week. Those numbers add up. And these attacks are not individual incidents when speakers at Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) are calling for a complete eradication of “transgenderism.” These murderers are carrying out the dirty work of the bigoted politicians. The transphobic rhetoric pushed by the GOP cannot be separated from the death of these transgender individuals.
Not all fatal violence against transgender people is physical. Across the US, there has been a wave of anti-trans bills targeting gender affirming care for minors which quite literally saves lives. Gender affirming care statistically improves satisfaction with life for trans people, as well as significantly lowering the risk of suicide. Banning this healthcare creates a hostile environment for trans youth, and will, almost definitely, end with their blood on politicians’ hands. Transgender children and teens who are forced to detransition will be miserable, and some will end their lives. That too is murder.
Healthcare is a basic human right, and transgender individuals ought to have access to the care that they and their doctor agree would be the best option for them. It is not the government’s place to dictate who can receive medical care and what care they get. Therefore, the US ought to protect the right to gender affirming care through federal and state legislation, guaranteeing access for all transgender and non-binary individuals.
One of the most important factors that decreases suicide risk among transgender youth is a supportive parent or guardian. But Texas wants to pass legislation calling it child abuse to support a minor’s gender identity, and take trans kids away from supportive families. This unjustified removal of children from environments they can thrive in, and placement in an unsafe environment can and likely will result in significant damage to mental health and possible suicides.
Republican politicians, pushing anti trans bills that range from banning gender affirming care for minors to banning “crossdressing” in public (which target trans people and drag queens), are creating unlivable conditions for transgender folks in the US. It is too early in this wave of legislation to have data on the increase of suicide among the trans population, but transgender youth are already almost eight times more likely to attempt suicide, and this will not make their chances of becoming adults any better.
And so, I fear the US will soon be facing a full-fledged genocide.
No genocide that ends in mass murder starts with mass murder. The definition of genocide is quite wider than just that. There are steps leading up to it, steps that can be dismissed by naysayers, but in hindsight are a clear path to a full scale genocide.
Transgender individuals in the United States are facing an impending genocide. Now, before you dismiss this statement as a fear mongering exaggeration, hear me out.
The United Nations outlines five possible aspects of a genocide, including causing serious bodily and/or mental harm and forcibly removing children from a prosecuted group of people, with the intention to at least partially exterminate the said group.
Transgender people are currently not victims of mass murder in America. But of the five aspects of genocide that the UN outlines, four have been influenced upon transgender individuals in the US, including killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, inflicting conditions which cause physical destruction at least in part, and forcibly transferring children away from the group.
These deaths, suicides and murders are a part of a much larger issue. While the government is not executing mass numbers of trans and nonbinary folks, many Republican politicians are creating conditions for them that they cannot live in and almost pushing many people into suicide. The blood of trans people is on the hands of every politician that helped pass anti-trans legislation.