State Attacks on Transgender Health and Rights are Out of Control

Less than two months into 2023, 325 bills aimed at the health and rights of transgender folks have been introduced in state legislatures around the country— more bills than the last four legislative years put together. Erin Reed, a queer legislative researcher and activist covering transgender legislation and life around the world, gives us an update on transgender health and rights in America, including what attacks to look out for and actions to take to protect bodily autonomy and human rights.

 Bans on healthcare for trans youth, drag show bans, systemic abuse in schools, bathroom bills: these are just some of the vicious measures that have impacted the daily health and life of transgender and gender non-conforming Americans. 1/3 of bills introduced this year—97 bills—are designed to limit or ban gender-affirming care for trans youth. Often misrepresented as an interference to serious surgeries for minors, these laws end up restricting life-saving care, such as puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Arkansas, Alabama, Utah, and South Dakota have passed healthcare bans, with many moving through other state legislatures.

20 states have passed bans on transgender youth competing in sports, with 40 similar bills introduced just this year. And, despite anti-rights legislators claiming that their bills introduced to ban drag shows are meant to “protect children”, bills attacking drag shows ultimately stifle “male and female impersonators” or the performance, monologue, or dance of people dressed in clothing opposite to their assigned gender at birth.

It’s important to remember that many of the same tactics used in these attacks can be found in attacks to reproductive health and rights. Both the health and rights of trans folks and reproductive health and rights are issues rooted in bodily autonomy that often intersect with each other.

The sliver of good news? Even in the harshest state where these bills are being proposed, Democrats are holding the line in protection. Progressive states are continuing to increase support of the transgender community in response to anti-trans legislation around the country. In addition, sports ban bills seem to be losing traction.

Links from this episode

Erin Reed on Twitter
Erin Reed on Substack
The Anti-Trans State Of The States by Erin Reed
AAP Policy Statement Urges Support and Care of Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children and Adolescents
50- State Report Card on Reproductive Health and Rights

Transcript

Jennie: Welcome to rePROs Fight Back, a podcast where we explore all things reproductive health, rights and justice. I'm your host, Jennie Wetter, and I'll be helping you stay informed around issues like birth control, abortion, sex education and LGBTQ issues and much, much more-- giving you the tools you need to take action and fight back. Okay, let's dive in.

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Jennie: Welcome to this week's episode of rePROs Fight Back. I'm your host, Jennie Wetter, and my pronouns are she/her. So y'all, after almost three years, COVID finally got me. I got it... I guess when you hear this almost two weeks ago. I got sick right after the last episode came out and was down for about a week. Uh, so not fun. Do not recommend. So as you can maybe hear, my voice is still not a thousand percent yet. Uh, I'm still working out the last of my cough. Um, I feel so much better now. Um, I feel human again, which is delightful. Um, but yeah, I have a cough that is still lingering. Hoping it goes away soon, cuz it is not fun. But it gave me a chance to like, take some time away from everything. And like I really, I stepped away from like social media and just like watched tv. I did some reading once I felt up to it. Um, that first, uh, that first bit where I had it, I had a bad fever and so I couldn't focus on anything. But, once I got better, I was able, once I got past that and was just like, had a really bad cold, felt like I really had a bad cold, um, I was able to do some fun reading and just take some quiet time. I had a lot of pho which was my happy place. I think I ordered pho like two or three times while I was sick. I mean, just having a giant bowl of noodle soup, there's nothing more comforting than that. And it was definitely my happy place while I was trying to recover. So yeah, I'm feeling a lot better. But it meant that I didn't do like, wasn't up for doing a lot of things. Like I didn't do my normal baking over the weekend or, or anything. I just like, the energy I had was to like, watch tv, take a nap, order takeout, read a book, take a nap. I'm slowly working back to working full days. I've had to do a couple days of like taking a nap at lunch. But I think I'm finally maybe at the place where I can work a whole day. We'll see. I get a little tired. Let's see, what else. So I, I know, uh, we talked about on the podcast that rePROs grew beyond just the podcast. We grew into an initiative that is working on these issues beyond the podcast. And so we had our first big report come out. I think I've talked about this report I do, uh, in my old position when I was the Director of Public Policy at the Population Institute, we did a 50 state report card on reproductive health and rights. Well, this year was the first year we released it as a, an a product of rePROs Fight Back. And, that just came out, last week. I'm so excited to release the report. It's, it's exciting to see it come out under rePROs . So it, it shows that things are not good, right? The US we gave an F because clearly things are not good for reproductive health and rights right now. Um, and we had 26 states got failing grades and only four states got an A. So we'll make sure to include a link to the report card in the show notes and we might talk about it more, do on an episode. But, it was really exciting to release this big product under the new initiative. So I hope y'all get a chance to check it out. Okay, with that, let's turn to this week's interview. I am really, really excited to talk to Erin Reed, who is a, um, trans advocate, about all of the anti-trans legislation or bills that are happening at the state level. It was really wonderful to talk to Erin about these issues and uh, I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Jennie: Hi Erin. Thank you so much for being here today.

Erin: Hi, thanks for having me.

Jennie: Um, before we get started, do you wanna take a quick second and introduce yourself, including your pronouns?

Erin: Yeah, absolutely. My name is Erin Reed. I am a legislative researcher and activist, I use she/her pronouns and I cover transgender legislation and life moving all around the country in the United States and even worldwide.

Jennie: I am so excited to have you on today. I have really, I mean, I feel like again, talking about all these issues is… enjoyed isn’t the right word. I have appreciated following you on Twitter cause it has really kept me so up to date on all of the things that are happening in the states that may be easy to miss, um, particularly around trans rights.

Erin: Yeah. And there's, there's so much.

Jennie: Yes. And I feel like before we like dig into like the specific buckets of things, maybe we should do like a little big picture scene setting on like this moment right now. It just feels like there is so much happening and I feel like we say it every year, but it just feels like another big escalation and attacks happening around trans rights.

Erin: Of course. So this year we have, um, as of last, I checked, this morning 325 bills targeting the transgender community have been moving around the country at various steps along the process of getting passed. This is more than the last four years put together. And in fact likely more than the rest of the history up until this put together, we simply weren't tracking before four years… bills that are currently being proposed and moving around the country includes everything from healthcare bans for trans youth, um, to even some trans adults. Uh, we see drag bans that also target the trans community, and gender nonconforming folks. We've seen the right to bully and misgender transgender peers, bathroom bans in schools. We've seen pronoun bans…um, bans to driver's license changes, uh, the whole nine yards. We've seen, uh, several different kinds of legislation proposed this year.

Jennie: It, it really reminds me of like, um, maybe like 10 years ago around abortion where it was like there were always like low level attacks and then you just like hit this like cliff where it just like kept going up and up and up. And so many, they just like multiplied across the states. And I really feel like we're seeing this exact same thing happen from the exact same actors in with trans rights now.

Erin: Indeed. And in fact, it is exactly some of the same actors using some of the same methods. We see the same organizations that were really active in the, um, anti-abortion uh, fights also doing the same thing in the anti-trans fight. We're seeing even some of the same tactics such as the increasing in the age of what they're targeting, mapping onto how they used to handle or how they handle things like gestational ages. And so we see essentially them using the exact same tactics so we even see some of the same argument. In fact, um, just now, like just before I got on with you, I was watching [state] Senators essentially argue that this is a pro-life issue. That this is an issue of um, of the right to reproduction and the right to have a have a baby essentially, according to, you know, republicans that say that essentially allowing gender affirming care, uh, would reduce the number of babies being born. And so yeah, this is, this is all part of the same fight.

Jennie: It's just so enraging. I… just like working on both issues or talking about both issues, it just feels like this never ending like nonstop attack, uh, on all fronts of bodily autonomy trying to keep them siloed. I think often you see as well, like trans rights are over here, abortion rights are over here without seeing that they're very intersectional and overlapping, right? Trans people have abortions. Like we, people who have abortions are trans. Like, like all of this is all related and it's all bodily autonomy and we need to make sure that the, that all of these communities are talking together, especially when you're seeing the same tactics used.

Erin: Absolutely. And I, I feel like the siloing can, can be a little bit unfortunate sometimes cause there are, there, there are areas where activists for both can work together in amazing ways and accomplish amazing things. So like, give you a really good example. Um, I have been tracking bills that are, uh, essentially called safe state bills. And they're bills that I've seen passed in several places now. We saw it in Washington DC, Illinois. We saw it in California, Massachusetts. And, and these bills essentially state that if you are leaving a state that criminalizes your care, be it abortion care or trans healthcare, the state will give you certain protections against your health data being, um, subpoenaed against you being pulled back into the other state against providers of that care from having to provide data to the criminalizing state. And so, you know, we are seeing places where, where there is a joint effort in the movement and in those places we've seen these bills pass.

Jennie: I am, I have say there was the, um, the, the Florida School Board thing where they were, um, wanting to track girl’s periods and as much as I work on things where [I interact with] both buckets of issues, I have to say I really had my totally my abortion hat on as I was thinking about it and only thinking of it as an attack on abortion rights. And like, that's why they were doing it. And I, when I saw the like, well this is also a trans rights issue, it was like, well obviously like obviously this is about trans kids playing sports. And I just, I was so mad at myself for like missing like the obvious connection.

Erin: And in fact, if I remember correctly, the questions about, um, about periods, uh, were replaced with biological sex questions. And so, you know, there, there are definitely ways that they're trying to use the same tools to target, uh, both people who have abortions as well as people who are trans. Uh, you know, I'm, I'm also looking at like, for instance, last year in Idaho, there was a bill that would criminalize leaving Idaho to get affirming care. There was also a bill in, in Missouri, a proposal Missouri to criminalize people leaving the state to get abortion care. And we're still seeing like this pop up in some of these states. And one of, one of the, um, representatives behind that bill in Idaho, a representative, stated that they saw this conversation as an extension of the pro-life argument. “We're not talking about the life of the child, but we're talking about the potential to give life to another generation.” And so there are so many cases where it's clear that they are linking these issues on the right. And I think that like recognizing all of these and even other issues as sort of like a constellation of attacks on bodily autonomy, attacks on trans people, attacks on women, attacks on gender nonconforming people, um, all designed to uphold essentially a biologically hierarchy and supporting the patriarchy and everything kinda works to that end to some of these people.

Jennie: Ok. So maybe let's talk a little bit about the big buckets of attacks we are seeing on trans rights. And I think the biggest, and I was gonna say most scary, but they're all really scary in their own way, is the attacks on, uh, young people's access to gender affirming care. So the bucket of like health. So what are we seeing?

Erin: Yes. So, um, one third of all bills that have been proposed, that's 97 bills this year, have targeted gender affirming care, uh, for trans youth. Um, some of these bills are rare you, but some of them also target it for trans adults or six years old. Uh, and we're seeing in fact in these hearings, and I've watched hundreds of hours of testimony both this year and the last couple years…and essentially what these bills do is they ban gender affirming care for transgender youth under 18. Typically gender affirming care for trans youth starts with puberty blockers. Um, whenever the age of puberty begins, typically we see that happen around 12, 13 years old, they allow you, the first couple stages, to use puberty blockers which are safe and reversible. They've been used for decades now. Um, and then following that around the age of 14, 15, 16 years old, after they've lived as their gender for, for a while, uh, they'll transition to hormone therapy to experience puberty alongside their peers. Um, surgery is not done on trans youth, although most of these bills, the which they are being fronted in the hearings and the way that they're being argued in the Senate and the way that even news articles are reporting about them is that they're on trans surgeries for trans youth. And, and the reality is, you know, nobody’s having surgery under the age 18, almost imperceptible number of people are having top surgery, which is just essentially, um, breast augmentation or um, basically a flat chest surgery. And so for, for these groups of people, you know, we see the focus on these edge cases, again, drawing back to like the abortion stuff, very similar to how, for instance, like we saw late-term abortions and so, you know, they would focus on late-term abortion. These gender affirming care bans have been passed in Utah and South Dakota this year, uh, they passed last year in Alabama, the year before Arkansas, Florida. Texas is currently in an area where they're defining gender affirming care as child abuse and attempting to [take children away from parents]. Several of these are currently held up in court, but uh, this is the landscape that I'm seeing. And then I'm also seeing 10 to 12 states probably likely to pass a similar ban this year.

Jennie: And I think it's really important to mention that like gender affirming care is lifesaving healthcare, like it is so important to trans youth. I just find this absolutely horrifying.

Erin: Absolutely. So in a um, recent, last year, the journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics showed that the provision of gender affirming care reduces suicide rates by trans results in very meaningful ways, it saves lives. Trans youth have very high suicide rates and they tend to find that after providing gender affirming care, trans youth suicide rates, mental health improves dramatically. And we've seen this, seen improvement in lives. I've seen so many testimonies. I remember in Nebraska, there was one testimony that, that I had watched where the mother was pleading with, um, the legislature stating that, you know, prior to gender affirming care, she had a dark and depressed and suicidal son. And after starting gender affirming care she had a and vibrant and happy daughter. And I think that like so many of us have seen this happen with, with trans youth. And so yeah, it's, it's lifesaving care.

Jennie: Um, and I think anybody that knows the that knows that it has been, um, just really disconcerting to watch it just to again, go from state to state and just see trans kids be used as like a culture war topic and not as people and like having their autonomy respected. I, it's just, I, yeah, it makes me so angry and just my heart breaks for like all of the kids who are gonna suffer because of this.

Erin: Absolutely. And I, you know, I also wanna point out like how quickly the window has changed and how quickly we've progressed on this. Like how, how quickly things have gotten bad. Cause three years ago the debate was like sports in a handful of states and it was never about sports. It was never, never about bathrooms. You know, the people that are pushing these bills, the Alliance Defending Freedom and the American Principles Project, Heritage Foundation, also big names for people that track for abortions. They've outright admitted in a recent article that they want entirely-- the goal, the goal is elimination. The goal is to remove transgender people from being able to exist in public, just like the goal to eliminate abortions entirely. And I, I think that, um, yeah, it's the people that are, the way that this is, the way that this is proceeded has been very troubling to a lot of people that care about this population. And among, as a member of the population myself, it's been very troubling to me.

Jennie: It just, again, like that, that abortion reminder of like where the, the six-week abortion bans were like first introduced were, they were like wild out of the box. Like very few states would even consider them. And then all of a sudden it like sped up and like that's where I feel like we're at right now with, with trans rights of like, there were like a couple states that were trying to do it and they were really outliers. And then now, you know, like you said, it's, it's the most there's ever been and that's pretty horrifying.

Erin: It's, it's, I'll say like the one, there are, there are a few little rays of hope…number one, even in the harshest states where these laws are being proposed, it would appear that Democrats are holding the line and that there's no like, crossover on this. And so what I'm seeing like in terms of national picture is the states that are supportive are increasing their levels of support and then the states that are not supportive are, are decreasing and targeting the community more. And it's, it's, it's interesting because, you know, like I see a state, like my state, Maryland, even Maryland needs a lot. They need to do a lot. And there's a lot that needs to be done to protect trans people here. And they're now, like this year they're hearing a bill that would provide modern standards of care for insurance coverage. Cause even in, even in states where things are not being criminalized can be very hard for transgender people [to get care], procedures are very expensive. And so, like seeing that movement makes me, makes me feel good. And then also like this is not a winning issue for them nationally and it's not a winning issue for them electorally this last election, they tried to make this a big issue in so many states and they failed. They poured a million dollars into Michigan trying to campaign at the state legislature level to ban trans care. And we've got our first trifecta in Michigan ever. We saw this in Pennsylvania, we saw this in, you know, Wisconsin. We saw this in Arizona where in the final week of the election, uh, we saw the Republican candidate attack the Democratic governor's candidate with, with a message that like her husband was a therapist that saw trans people and like was attacking the candidacy for that. We saw in Georgia, Hershel Walker on the last week of the campaign released an ad sitting next to an athlete and they, it was like against trans athletes. And so like, these aren't, these aren't, these aren't winning issues for Republicans in the general election, really. It's the far right that is sort of trying to seek ideological of their party. And so, you know, there's work to be done and I think that things will still bend in the positive in the future.

Jennie: That gives me hope. And, and I needed that a little bit and I really appreciate like, cuz you're right, like there, I, there has been a lot of unity in the Democrats and like not giving in on this. And as somebody whose background is mostly on abortion, I really appreciate that. Cuz that's not always the case on our issues.

Erin: Um, unfortunately not. No.

Jennie: Okay, so you mentioned, uh, the Herschel Walker ad. So are we still seeing attacks around, uh, sports as well this year? Or has that kind of fallen by the wayside to the like more blatant attacks?

Erin: So we are, um, but I will say that there have already been 20 states passing sports bans. So they, they've already gotten their low hanging fruit on sports bans. And so I've seen, um, 40 bills targeting trans folks in sports this year. Most of these are going into swing states or they're going into light blue states. I have not seen them progress at all. Um, they seem to be getting shut down. Um, one of them did pass the Virginia legislature or the Virginia, um, House delegates and it just moved to the Senate. And from what I'm seeing it's gonna stall in the Senate. So, you know, they're trying to push on sports and they're trying to see if they can make ground in light blue states or in purple states. It doesn't appear that they're able to. Um, as of right now, you know, we do have a situation where half the country, um, is banning trans people in sports and half are, are protecting or like allowing trans people in sports. And it makes for very difficult circumstances for our few trans athletes that are out there. And I'll say that like this, this fight is over a handful of people. You know, I, I remember in Utah whenever they passed their sports ban, there were five total athletes in Utah in the entire state. And they had set up a commission. And within a week of that the bill was, um, halted in court. And you know, I think that like, it's, it's a little, a little unfortunate because it's like, you know, of course as soon as it starts to affect cisgender people, they're like, oh, we can't do this anymore. But, but I’ll say that like this is, this is just a handful of people, this small amount of people now has to navigate a very difficult landscape. Like how do you as a trans athlete compete in states that don't allow your competition? How do you not travel with your team? Do you, um, do you hide your gender identity? Which is something that like, is a very common thing. Uh, people do feel a lot that they have hide their gender. And so yeah, we do still see sports bans, um, sports bans are in effect and the effect of those bans is still sort of being sussed out right now.

Jennie: Yeah, I just, sorry, I was just thinking about like the um, the five athletes in in Utah. Like how do you not feel that? So I mean like I'm sure everybody feels it like so personally because it's like an attack on like you, but when there's like five of you and there's like this big conversation at a statewide level, like, I don't know, there's, it's even feels even more of a personal attack.

Erin: Yeah. Like, I mean the state literally spent over a million dollars to create this panel because of five people in their state. And like, again, the thing is that, you know, most trans athletes are not dominating their sports. Like there's no, there are a lot of trans athletes that just enjoy playing intramural sports with their friends... And so like also, they, they target like kids, kids that haven't even been through puberty yet. Like you have like an eight-year old that can't be in a ballet class because they're at a school that classifies it as like as intramural. And so, you know, there's, there's a lot of discrimination… Again, it's, it's not doing what people think that it does.

Jennie: It just like goes back to like me thinking of the mental health and like, um, of like trans people and how there's that much higher suicide rate and like, things like this are only going to make that worse.

Erin: Exactly. I mean, again, like the way to really help trans people just by giving them full inclusion society and giving them the same sort of treatment you give anybody else of, of their gender and you know, trans people, one of the questions…like the real question we should be asking is why are trans people so underrepresented in sports? Because of all of the trans people that are out there, you know, something like 1-2% of society, um, under the age of 30 years old, publicly identifies as transgender. Why do we only see five athletes in sports? And it's because, you know, trans people are already systematically shut outta sports in ways that go beyond just just sports bans. Sports is human right. And I think a lot of people, um, a lot of athletes believe that and, and, um, trans people are far from dominating sports. They're underrepresented in them.

Jennie: I think this leads to like, you know, the, uh, like boogeyman of it, right? So you have like, they were like using the trans athletes as they're like boogeyman and now it's like going after drag performers. And so now you're seeing a spate of, uh, bills introduced around drag.

Erin: Yes. And these bills are one of the new kinds that we're seeing this year. They have been moving through legislatures, uh, and what they essentially do, I, I'll tell you what they mean for them to do, and then I'll tell you like sort of more what they actually do; drag show bans actually… read in of two sorts of languages around these “male and female impersonators “or “people dressed in clothing other than their assigned gender at birth” doing performance dance or monologue. There are other kinds of, like, there are always other kinds of wrinkles that they throw in here, for instance, a lot of times, um, they will, uh, claim to only ban if it's appealing to the interest, which is a, a complex sounding word that, you know, most people don't use that word very often, but it essentially means sexualized or causing sexualization in. And the important thing to mention here is that like a lot of times Republicans will push these bills and in the hearings they'll say, “oh, well this doesn't ban like anything other than sexualized performances.” And then in the same hearings you'll hear the proponents of the bill and the witnesses that come speak for the say that like, “trans people and people in drag is [inherently] sexualized.” And that drag queens, like sitting and teaching children how to read is sexualized inherently, or that dressing in drag inherently is a sexual act. And even some people that will make no distinction between trans people and dressing in drag. And so being trans is like an inherently sexual act that should be kept away from kids. And this goes back to LGBTQ history, like in the fifties, sixties and seventies, we had something called the Three Article laws. And the law essentially stated that like every person had to be wearing three articles of clothing, clothing that match their gender identity, or they could be targeted with arrest and, and fines. And these laws were used to target gay clubs, to target pride, to target gay people, trans people. And so like whenever one of these bills passed in Arkansas, um, in their senate, one of the senators got up on, on the floor, one of the democratic senators and said, “will this bill ban pride? Probably.” And because like you can't hold pride without people walking around in clothing that might be gender nonconforming. Another thing that these do is that they have a drag show…what this is gonna do is if a gay club or if a gay bar hosts a drag show, you're gonna see cops come in and essentially take the bar's license away. I mean, this is something that we've seen before. This goes, this is part of our history. We've seen this in the sixties and seventies. This is what Stonewall was about. This is going all the way back to Stonewall. It's the return of obscenity laws, uh, meant to target the trans community. And while most of these bills do have like that section, there are several bills that go way above and beyond on this stuff. So like we've seen in West Virginia, uh, one that would make it a crime for “transgender exposure,” essentially exposing kids to being trans or a transvestite or whatever. And like, it's scary. Like even to see these proposed is scary. Um, in Arizona we actually saw a bill that would essentially exaggerate gender signifiers. It was, it was like, like this ban's a lot of, like, if Dolly Parton came to Arizona, this would ban it…You know, I've, talked to theater people who are involved in theater and lot of people are concerned about performance or how we could see shows like Rent banned, we could see, you know, Peter Pan banned. Um, we could see like all these, all of these things could be banned. And so, yeah. Um, it's very troublesome, thankfully the two places where it's passed both declined to [inaudible] at the very last minute. And so we're seeing positive movement on that front. I'm watching Tennessee. I think Tennessee is one of the more dangerous states for this to potentially pass.

Jennie: That's so scary for some, I mean like, they're all scary, but like, it really just seems like they want to stop trans people from existing, right? Like because if just existing and being outside is a crime, like you're, you're trying to get rid of trans people.

Erin: Well, yeah, and I mean like if you take word for all the things they achieve, you know, and can go down the list, it's like they wanna ban learning, medicine, schools, and libraries. They wanna ban exposure to us in public. They wanna ban companies working on LGBTQ issues. We see like companies and we see acts that are targeting the companies, especially in Florida. They wanna ban online resources for trans people. I think that, like Senator Hawley in Missouri just wanted to forward a social media ban for, for anybody under like 16 or something. And so they wanna ban, they wanna ban the states that are trying to be refugee states for people that are leaving these bad states that criminalize our care. They wanna label us child abusers or groomers. They wanna ban pronouns in schools. I mean, if you, if you take this…I can just continue to go on and on and on. This all amounts to essentially banning existence. It's, it's hard as a trans person already to navigate all of the things that like we have to navigate society and to add just restriction after, after, after restriction on us. It makes a lot of trans people wanna stay inside, which is I think part of the goal.

Jennie: Okay, so let's like pause on the bad. Let's focus on what, what can we do? Like what, what needs to happen? You've already talked about some of the positive bills you've seen, um, with safe haven states. Um, what are some other things you would like to see happen?

Erin: Yeah, so like positive bills are obviously a good thing. Safe Haven states. Um, seeing, seeing places codify the right to gender affirming care. We've seen Massachusetts and in a way Nevada passed, I believe it was a referendum on adding gender identity to a list of protections. Um, that was a really good thing. So like seeing those things get codified, I think that your listeners, especially thinking about some of the failings and some of the, the shortcomings of the way that, like the abortion was, was done in the post- Roe world, seeing triggers happen, like people weren't proactive. And like, one of the things that I wanna be really clear about is that we need to be proactive both in ensuring that like the right to abortion is enshrined within all of our states and ensuring the right affirm care is all states. That way we're not depending on the courts to completely make decisions that day could ruin things for everybody. And so like I think focusing on that, focusing on not just what's happening now, but what could happen in the future and being proactive about our protections, um, I do think obviously like the safe state laws are important in that providing, um, healthcare coverage is huge for trans people. Uh, we only have three states right now that protect gender affirming care in all of its forms, um, Colorado, Washington and Hawaii all mandate modern coverage… a lot of the insurance codes for coverage of trans people come from are understanding of trans people in trans medical care 20 or 30 years ago. And that has evolved tremendously... It’s important for individuals, I really think for our allies to, you know, definitely get to know like their local organizations and, and look at the fight in their own backyard, but also to take part in the conversation to, to diversify their media diet. One thing that I remember reading about early in my transition several years ago, and it's really stuck with me, is that like as a trans person, I have had to get around and get over so much internalized transphobia around trans existence. Cause I was raised like everybody else. Um, that's, you know, over the age of 30 with very strict, you know, gender hierarchies that we were brought up with. And I think that like I was exposed to media depictions of trans people and, and who trans people are. And, and I, I just remember like every time a trans person was on the tv, we were, the butt of the joke, we were the laugh, we were the, the tragic, you know, we were either depicted as the person who was murdered, the person who was murdering or the butt of a joke. And like that's, that was the entire existence of transgender people for the longest time. And, and it's like that's changing in the media and I think that it's so important that like people diversify their media sources and start to consume media that has trans people and watch something that Elliot Page, you know, watch something that, watch Amy Schneider's historic jeopardy run. Like include trans, you know, trans people in your social media, um, diet. You know, there are so many doing good out there. I think that like this is more than just a legislative. This is a, and this is one that like, I think part of the reason why Republicans are focusing so hard on these legislative fights right now is cause they know that they've already lost the culture war and so they're trying to legislate away what they can't win in public. And so anything that people can do to help that along, to expose, you know, your kids to transgender people, let them know that they exist. Expose yourself to transgender people. I think that that's a big thing that can, that can be done.

Jennie: Read the banned books!

Erin: So many banned books that are really good, that are just so good and so that would be nice too.

Jennie: Or not banned books, just books by trans authors.

Erin: Exactly.

Jennie: Well I definitely recommend following Erin on, on social. I found her on Twitter and learned so much and have been able to keep up with all of the state level attacks. Um, also check out her Substackck um, we'll make sure to include links to all of the things in our show notes. Um, but Erin, thank you so much for being here.

Erin: Of course. Thank you so much for having me on.

Jennie: Okay, y'all, I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. I am ready to quit talking because my voice sounds like it's about to give out. Uh, I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Erin. Like I said, I had a wonderful time talking to her, uh, and learning more about everything that is happening about the state level and saying that there is some good news happening at, at in some states, so it wasn't all bad. Yeah. Make sure to follow Erin on social. She's on TikTok and Twitter and she has a great, uh, a great Substack that you should check out.

Jennie: Thanks for listening everyone. And we'll see you on our next episode of RePROS Fight Back. For more information, including show notes from this episode and previous episodes, please visit our website at reprosfightback.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at RePROS Fight Back, or on Instagram at reprosfb. If you like our show, please help others find it by sharing it with your friends and subscribing, rating and reviewing us on iTunes. Thanks for listening.

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