Living While Trans

Kansas just retroactively revoked the drivers licenses—and birth certificates—of trans people who’d gone through all the legal hurdles to change their sex marker. Not uncoincidentally, this also stripped trans Kansans of their right to vote unless they’re willing to accept a legal ID that misrepresents who they are. Republicans at both the federal and state levels have been blocking, if not outright, criminalizing trans healthcare for trans youth—and are working to do so for all trans people, regardless of age. This includes trans people like me who’ve had bottom surgery—my body doesn’t make estrogen, and no longer makes testosterone. I.e. no sex hormone at all, which is bad for one’s long-term health. Without estrogen hormone replacement therapy, which I’ll need to do for the rest of my life, I face:

• Severe bone density loss, leading to osteoporosis and an increased risk of fractures.
• Cardiovascular complications, as hormone balance plays a key role in heart health.
• Cognitive decline and mood instability, often leading to severe depression and anxiety.
• Metabolic dysfunction, impacting weight, energy levels, and overall health.

This isn’t hypothetical, it’s established endocrinology. Removing essential hormones from post-op trans individuals isn’t a political statement, it’s medical malpractice. [Note: it’s also really shitty for those who haven’t had bottom surgery, speaking from personal experience, but that’s a story for another day.]

As the resident Top 10,000 Blog’s Official Trans Correspondent™ I’ll be talking about that—including how trans prisoners (both pre-op and post-op) in federal and some state prisons, and in ICE custody, are being forcibly being de-transitioned and denied these life-saving hormones—and so many other horrors. But there’s entirely too much ground to cover.

So for today, let’s just focus on where it all began—banning trans people from public (and private) restrooms. Sounds minimal, but really it’s a urinary leash. Imagine going about your day without being able to pee until you get home. It’s not fun. Ask me how I know. Trans femme, trans masc, and non-binary folks all have higher rates of UTI, because many of us just hold it in rather than risk someone calling the cops, or being harassed or even physically attacked. (Which happens all too once, and ironically the targets almost always cis women who are deemed “not feminine” enough.)

The “justification” is the mythical boogyman who’s actually cisgender (because trans women don’t really exist doncha know) but pretends to be trans to assault women in restrooms. Come on. That sign on the with a little figure in a dress ain’t gonna a stop a would-be rapist. Besides, our society treats rapists better than trans women. The other tell is that some of these laws even ban trans people from using single stall public/private bathrooms.

It’s the constant drip, drip, drip of these efforts to make our lives unlivable which the haters hope will be the death by a thousand cuts that drives us out of public life, out of existence altogether.

I suppose the silver lining is that polls show that trans issues are not remotely a priority among voters despite the ferocious efforts by Christopher Rufo, FTFNYT, and Republicans to demonize us. Unfortunately, the flip side is that—much like the decades of the Cuban embargo, or the early years of the AIDS epidemic—the vast majority of the general public also doesn’t care enough to actually do anything to force a change. We trans and non-binary folks are a tiny minority, a percent or two at most of the population. We can’t do it alone. There will be so much to be done during Reconstruction 2.0 and I fear we’ll be yet again told to STFU and take a seat because there’s more important issues to focus on. O you who know what we suffer here, do not forget us in your prayers, nor in your activism,

Addendum: Rereading this just before it goes live, I do want to say that I am heartened by the way many Democrats are showing lately that they’re no longer willing to throw trans people to the wolves. Whether they’re willing to spend political capital to restore and expand trans rights and services remains to be seen. But this is already a long post, so I’ll talk about that another time. However, my main point about how things unbelievably worsened for us during the past decade still stand.

Note: A quick reminder that I use she/her pronouns. Also, as our Blogmeister has made clear, anyone who wants to engage in transphobic and queerphobic shit isn’t welcome here. Those who do so in this thread will get up close and personal with the Mallet of Loving Correction. As was said by ACT UP! activists in the AIDS days: “You killed off all the nice queers, now you’re gonna have to deal with the pissed-off cockroach queers.” So please don’t test me. Ain’t nobody got time for that.