In December, Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives
passed two different bills to ban life-saving gender-affirming healthcare for minors. Then, later that same month, the Trump administration announced that it would
cut all federal funding to any hospital that provides gender-affirming care for youth.
And then Trump's team finished the month up with
threatening 12 clothing companies that sell chest binders, a type of shapewear undergarment worn by many trans and non-binary people.
This has to stop. Trans people aren't doing anything wrong - they are simply living their own lives, just as anyone else is trying to do. Demand that the Trump administration back off and leave trans people to live their lives in peace!It's unclear why Republican lawmakers are
so obsessed with other people's bodies and identities, to the point where they feel the need to legislate personal, private matters that have nothing to do with them. But apparently they do feel the need to weigh in and
control these extremely intimate aspects of other people's lives. And one of their main current targets is trans people - people who have the 'audacity' to live their lives authentically and fully.
The two anti-trans
Congressional bills have not yet been voted on in the Senate, though they did pass in the House of Representatives. The first law would make it
a crime for parents or healthcare providers to help young people access the care they need - threatening them with
up to 10 years in prison. The second bill would block Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care for minors.
As for the new hospital funding policy, that comes from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK). His plan to revoke all federal government funds from
any hospital that helps minors feel safe in their own bodies would
ruin many hospitals - hurting absolutely everyone in the process. Medicare and Medicaid, the two main sources for federal hospital funding, amount to
around 45% of hospital spending.
So now hospitals are forced to make a choice: sacrifice trans people and their care, or refuse to be intimidated?Meanwhile, Trump's team is also
claiming that underwear frequently worn by trans people - specifically,
chest binders that compress chest tissue to create a flatter appearance - is supposedly a 'medical device.' The administration has warned 12 clothing companies that they're
supposedly violating the law by selling this underwear. But companies that sell push-up bras, sports bras, and other shapewear haven't received similar warnings or threats.
Gender-affirming care, and gender-affirming clothing choices, are extremely important to help combat the suicidal ideation that can accompany being born in the wrong body. These types of options aren't just "affirming" - they're life-saving.
Trans people are already extremely marginalized in society and subject to violence at much higher rates than their non-trans peers.
For the Trump administration to pick on this already "othered" community and try to erase them from existence is unfathomably cruel. Sign the petition to demand an end to this targeting and villainizing!