A short history of where all this anti-trans stuff came from
Brynn Tannehill has given us a very helpful overview of the recent anti-transgender activism in the USA over at twitter.
I present it here in an easy to read format:
A short history of where all this anti-trans stuff came from, and why you should be concerned. Worth a read, please take a look.
2015: Having lost the fight against marriage equality, but winning against LGBT protection laws, religious right leadership decides to shift focus onto trans people via bathroom bills, fear mongering, and making it a wedge issue.
Photo: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle/AP
2015-2016: Using $10,000 in seed money the [right wing “Christian” organization Alliance Defending Freedom] ADF stands up WoLF, a “feminist” organization whose sole activity is fighting against transgender people, to make their religious goals look secular and feminist.
2015: The [right wing extremist Family Research Council] FRC publishes it’s plan [for] trans people: no legal recognition, no legal protections, no transition related health care, and no trans people in the military. It encourages religious based conversion therapy instead.
2016: After passing an anti-transgender “bathroom” bill, NC governor Pat McCrory loses the election as a result of the backlash. He later advises Trump to stay out of trans fights.
2017: Despite running a campaign that largely avoided LGBT issues, Trump quickly appeases his base and moves to ban trans people from the military and revoke federal protections. The FRC and Ryan Anderson of Heritage are key influencers.
2018: Project Blitz, a powerful political movement to eliminate the separation of church and state, develops a playbook to pass state laws treating transness as a communicable public health hazard, to be eradicated by the government like measles.
2020: The [American Principles Project] APP, a religious right PAC, bucks the RNC and tries to make the 2020 election about trans people as a wedge, focusing on trans youth sports and medicine. Though unsuccessful at the time, they succeed post-election.
2020: A consortium of religious right organizations launch a project to attack LGBT youth and parents, with the aim of passing laws outing trans youth, plus bathroom, sports, and medical bans. They promote conversion therapy as the only option.
2021: Tucker Carlson and Fox News ramp up the anti-trans coverage to unheard of levels, (several segments a day) largely echoing the stated aims of the religious right and shaming Republicans who aren’t draconian enough.
2021: The GOP shifts focus to “wokeness” and “cancel culture” which they blame in great part on transgender people. They make it clear that trans people are one of their top issues going forward, and a intention of fear mongering with falsehoods.
2021: A record number of anti-trans bills are passing state legislatures. Most use model language provided by ADF, and target target trans youth in sports and medicine. Some bathroom bills as well. Many pass. It’s the worst ever.
March 26, 2021: Tucker Carlson, Fox’s most popular host, openly embraces white nationalism. Her also endorses the notion that if the left doesn’t surrender (presumable giving up trans people as a sacrifice), fascism is the only option left.
April 7, 2021: Carlson declares that transgender people are a threat to the survival of the human species, implying that minimizing them is more than just a moral imperative, and that they represent an existential threat to eliminated.
April 8, 2021: [British/American right wing extremist blogger] Andrew Sullivan proposes a “compromise” to the “transgender question” that includes a national bathroom ban, “separate but equal” facilities and sports, national bans on health care for trans youth, and banning any discussion of trans issues in schools.
If “separate but equal” being floated as a “solution” to the “trans question” doesn’t make you nervous, I’ll also point out that Germany took it’s cues from the American Jim Crow South.
April 8, 2021: Donald Trump wades into the fight, threatening Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson for vetoing a bill banning care for trans youth. This signal Trump has embraced the anti-trans right, and this will drag on for years.
It also signals this is likely to be a wedge issue in 2022, and in the general election in 2024, making it the first time in 20 years that LGBT issues have been centered in a presidential election, and that the GOP thinks they can win on this openly.
Read the whole thread with comments here.
Brynn Tannehill is a leading trans activist and essayist, and has written for The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Bilerico, Slate, Salon, USA Today, The Advocate, LGBTQ Nation, The New Civil Rights Movement, as a blogger and featured columnist. She recently published her new book American Fascism.
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