Trans Formations Project Newsletter ∙ 11/4/22
Hello everyone! At time of writing, it is November 4th, 2022. And as such, new bills have begun to be proposed and the midterm elections (November 8th) are very, very fast approaching! Act accordingly. And we can TELL it’s the midterms, because as HRC reports, Republicans are investing ungodly amounts of money in attack ads centering upon trans children and promoting unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about Democrats turning children trans. In particular, these ads are targeting Black and Hispanic voters, hoping to siphon them away from the Democratic party using transphobia as a wedge issue. White supremacist and concentration camp advocate Stephen Miller is behind many of these attacks.
First, the elephant in the room is the continued assault on youth access to transgender care in Florida. Following up from last week’s resolution to promulgate rules heavily restricting if not outright banning youth access to gender affirming care last friday, TODAY, November 4th, 2022, the Board of Medicine will meet again to nail down the exact particulars of what they’ll be doing. There is, once again, supposed to be a public comment period.
The details are:
The Holiday Inn at Disney Springs at 2 PM Holiday Inn, Disney Springs @ 2:00p.m. ET 1805 Hotel Plaza Boulevard Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830.
And the agenda is linked here.
It is worth recapping that the meeting that took place last week was pure farce, with the vast majority of the speakers being biased or notably compromised. For a thorough, complete breakdown of the meeting and who, specifically, was in evidence, see here and here. What’s particularly notable is that the “public comment” period was ended hours ahead of schedule after allowing people in support of the rulemaking–many of whom were associated with Florida’s attorney general and are party to an ongoing lawsuit over a related Medicaid ruling on gender affirmative coverage. This period was ended before state representatives, trans people, or their allies could speak despite there clearly being time scheduled to allow for this.
The meeting was blatantly partisan, with this exchange occurring:
“Don’t shout,” he continued. “You’re not going to win.” He added that people would be provided with an email for the state of Florida and that whatever information people send in would be on the record.
“There’s blood on your hands,” one person chanted while people clapped in support.
“That’s okay,” he said. “Let’s have some decency and decorum here.”
It is also worth noting that Governor DeSantis has escalated attacks on trans and non-binary people in the run-up to the election–and that those responsible for making the decisions today are compromised. The members of Florida’s Board of Medicine are known to have made five-figure donations to the Governor, and any pretense of apoliticality from them should therefore be immediately dismissed as blatant lies. Further, one member of the Board in particular is closely linked to anti-trans pseudoscience organizations SEGM and Genspect–Patrick Hunter.
It also MUST be noted that across the U.S. TERF groups from the U.K. are actively courting alliances with the American Far Right, including militants such as the Proud Boys. Specifically, Kellie-Jay Keen, better known as Posie Parker, has been holding misleadingly titled “Let Women Speak” rallies, with security provided by far right figures. I say “misleadingly titled” because when female minors speak against them, the attendees of these rallies apparently saw fit to assault them with chemical weaponry. A thread detailing these events can be found here, and also here, with additional coverage here. Details regarding the aforementioned macing-of-a-minor-in-the-face can be found here.
Further convergence of far-right and TERF talking points can be found in the embrace of limited holocaust denial from prominent anti-trans online presences. In particular, they deny that the Nazis could have persecuted trans people, because trans people “didn’t exist” then. We suggest that anyone who finds this convincing click on this link, which is just a google search for Magnus Hirschfeld.
There is also an action item that should be attended to: a reminder that the 2022 US Transgender Survey is live until November 21st. The survey is open to individuals of trans and non-binary identities, ages 16 and older, who live in the United States and U.S. territories. The survey is anonymous, available in English and Spanish, and takes about 60 minutes. Make your story heard and take the survey before November 21st at www.ustranssurvey.org.
The Thing(s) We Won This Week
Rather than detailing what else went wrong this week, as all eyes are on Florida and TERF-Far Right mobilizing, it must be noted that there was a major victory in Ohio this week.
The ongoing attempts to use Ohio school regulations to forcibly out trans students, implement bathroom and don’t say gay or trans policies, and other such policies has been defeated. Despite the odds, despite this looking like a slam dunk for transphobes, they failed. Organizing worked. And here’s the story of how–because we’re going to need to make more stories like this in the coming months.