*Content warning: contains mention of suicide
Conservative parents and lawmakers are terrified of queer people. They are scared of queerness and queer joy, and the fact that openly queer people do not subscribe to their old-fashioned religious ideologies is appalling to them. This disdain and ignorance can be seen in the slew of anti-LGBTQ legislation being presented across the country so far this year. One of the most notorious of these bills is the Parental Rights in Education bill, lovingly dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by queer activists, that was proposed in Florida earlier this year.
As of March 8, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill passed the Florida state Senate with a vote of 22-17. This means all that is left in the lawmaking process is getting the bill signed by governor Ron DeSantis, who obviously is going to do so. Following the passage of the bill 69-47 in the Florida House on February 24, students across the state held walk-outs against the bill. One high school student who orchestrated a demonstration was suspended “indefinitely” for handing out pride flags and creating discourse on campus about queer rights and education. Despite the pushback from young people and the nation as a whole, the state continued to go through promoting this legislation as “parental rights.” Supporters of the bill claim that it is not bigoted, rather it promotes the rights of parents to have a say over what their children are being taught in schools. Florida Representative Joe Harding stated on the topic, “Families are families. Let the families be families. The school district doesn’t need to insert themselves at that point when children are still learning how to read and do basic math.” But as someone who grew up going to public school in a swing state, I never once was impressed upon by the school district to become queer. Rather, my school did not have any discussion about relationships, gender and sexuality until fifth grade when many students began puberty. Even throughout high school I don’t remember being taught about safe sex practices for non-heterosexual sex.
The fact that legislators claim that this is a genuine problem is laughable and horrifying, as the true nature of the bill is sinister. The text of the bill states that “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” Vague wording and the “or” clause in this bill is what is worrying queer Americans and allies. Who is to determine what is “age-appropriate” or “developmentally appropriate” in a state that allows conversion therapy for LGBTQ minors and does not have any state-wide anti-bullying and anti-discrimination laws in place to enforce equality for LGBTQ Floridians? The precedent that is being set with this bill and its support is disgusting, obvious and purposeful. Even a sponsor of the bill, Senator Dennis Baxley, was unable to point to any instances of classroom instruction that the bill is meant to be targeting when asked.
This harmful bill is one of many in the slurry of anti-LGBTQ and anti “divisive concepts” bills being proposed across the country. My home state of New Hampshire recently shot down a bill criminalizing parents who sought gender-affirming treatments for their transgender children. A few other anti-LGBTQ bills in New Hampshire had less fortunate outcomes though. HB 1077 was introduced in January and was written to repeal the current ban New Hampshire has on conversion therapy for minors. This bill recently passed committee with amendment — that the children would have to seek out the conversion therapy themselves — and is set to be voted on in the full house later this year. HB 1180 is another bill focusing on restricting queer individuals’ safety and liberties and, if passed, would require “state recognition of biological sex”. It’s especially painful to see these bills pop up in my home state, that, for a short period of time, I assumed was past this type of bigotry.
Iowa is another state that has caught sizeable media attention recently with the passage of their HF 2416 into law, effectively prohibiting transgender girls and women from participating in sports according to their gender identity. There have been many debates surrounding this topic, as opponents of trans rights claim that transgender women and girls have advantages over cisgender women and girls in sports, despite having no actual proof of their claims. This bill does not benefit cisgender athletes, it only adds another layer to the dysphoria, social stigma and danger that transgender women and girls deal with every day. Sports practices are where students and adults alike can find community and an outlet for stressors in their lives, which transgender athletes need just as much—if not, more—than cisgender athletes. Supporter of the bill, college student Ainsley Erzen, smiled excitedly about it’s passing and stated at the signing ceremony that the passing of the bill means, “women are so much more than a hormone level, that the things girls love are worth protecting and their hard work and dedication is recognized and their dreams can become a reality.” To this I say: define being a woman then, define femininity, explain why you’re so afraid of allowing transgender girls’ dreams to become a reality too. Additionally, Erzen wrote in a nauseatingly transphobic Op-Ed in the Des Moines Register that “if you try to ignore biological differences, I guarantee there will be nothing left of women’s sports.” But, in this opinion piece, Erzen was unable to cite a single example of a transgender athlete that would dominate women’s sports. Instead, she only cited examples of cisgender men beating women in athletics competitions—brazenly ignoring the fact that cisgender men and transgender women are not at all the same.
Texas also has been under fire recently for its treatment of transgender youth and their families. Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services on February 22 asking for them to investigate any known instances of gender-confirming medical treatment. This follows the February 18 opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, which states that when performed on children, gender-affirming “procedures and treatments … can legally constitute child abuse under several provisions of chapter 261 of the Texas Family Code.” The summary of this opinion also states that in considering child abuse cases, the court must factor in “the fundamental right to procreation” and “issues of physical and emotional harm associated with these procedures and treatments,” but largely ignores the mental and emotional toll that gender dysphoria has on transgender individuals. Additionally, the “genital mutilation”, also known as medically assisted gender affirmation, mentioned within the opinion does not occur often for individuals under the age of 18. Most surgeries of these kinds occur when transgender people are over the age of 18, and are not allowed for individuals under 16. The belief that a parent would forcibly make their child medically—or even socially—transition is appalling, as even the most progressive parents often struggle to fully accept their transgender children and treat them with the respect they deserve. What this opinion and its follow-through by the governor does is criminalize the few families who are supportive of their transgender children and who allow them to begin hormone therapy to ease their gender dysphoria. Texas Children’s Hospital has now stopped offering hormone therapy in response to the governor’s order, and multiple families have claimed to be under investigation and scrutinized by the DFPS. The ACLU recently filed a case to block the investigations on behalf of transgender families, stating that the order of the governor and the attorney general “isn’t rooted in the needs of families, the evidence from doctors and the expertise from child welfare professionals.”
It’s so clear what all of this legislation is meant to do. Conservative lawmakers and parents are saying the quiet part out loud—they don’t respect or care about LGBTQ individuals. These bills are based on absolutely no tangible facts, rather they are created out of hatred and used for political gain alone. The lives of LGBTQ children, adults and their families are on the line with these bills. Promoting stigma around queer identities is very literally going to kill people. In the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS), 82 percent of respondents reported ever seriously thinking about suicide in their lifetimes, 40 percent reported that they had attempted suicide at some point in their lifetimes. A 2019 analysis of the USTS determined that for those who face discrimination, these numbers increase. 51 percent of respondents who had experienced four instances of anti-transgender violence reported attempting suicide in the past year, and 98 percent of respondents who faced significant discrimination seriously thought about committing suicide. One factor associated with lowering the risk of suicide is gender-affirming care. Implementing anti-bullying laws specifically for preventing bullying regarding sexual orientation has also been found to reduce risk of suicide among all children, as reported in 2019.
These bills, orders and opinions are egregious. If you have the ability to vote a homophobe and/or transphobe out of office, please do so this election season. I know I will.
