On the topic of trans Texans: Y'all have no clue. If you haven't lived there you cannot possibly know how beautifully diverse and strong the trans community is there.
I helped organize the second ever pride in my mid-size Texas town and we had only one protestor. I regularly had meetings with people of all ages, backgrounds, and identities about safety, resource sharing, and community building. My neighboring town passed an anti-trans bathroom ordinance and we were coordinating carpools to get people to go speak on it. Our organization was and still is one of the only ones in the area that requires masking at meetings. Our local org set up workshops to help get people's names changed before that wasn't an option anymore, open clinic days for STI screening, and more. I have gone to local drag shows more times than I can count, even while local politicians exclaimed on the radio that the latest one would be 'inviting degeneracy'.
I didn't live in any of the big blue cities but I still was surrounded by queerness in every size, shape, age, and color. We exist in these places, we find each other regardless. Some of us grew up there, others moved for work or to be with family. But it's our home as much as it is anyone else's.
There are people doing the work, fighting the fight, keeping the faith, genuinely using joy as an act of resistance (the day Texas tried to pass an anti-drag law we had a show to spite them. No one did shit. It was a great night.) They don't need you to tell them what to do, most of us have been figuring that out ourselves for years. Just listen. Just do your own work in your own corner of the world and lend support where you can.
As a crowd of people I love once screamed into the rafters on the night Texas tried to ban drag, 'We're here, we're queer. Get FUCKING used to it!'
