Thread by @SarahEMcBride

Donald Trump's roll back of health care protections for LGBTQ people puts millions at risk.

These protections were my late husband Andy's life’s work - an advancement he didn't see before he passed away from cancer. (Thread)

I know the fear of discrimination in health care. I’ve felt it myself. And I saw it in Andy’s eyes as he battled cancer as a transgender man -- the creeping fear that his disease might meet discrimination that could be deadly.

Despite Andy’s cancer eventually taking his life, we were still both lucky -- lucky not to have faced discrimination, lucky to have care, and lucky that his care bought us time to live and love as much as possible. Many aren’t nearly as lucky.

We both knew someone who lost his battle with cancer because discrimination kept treatment out of reach for too long. We knew reality that 70% of trans people face discrimination in health care -- everything from outright refusal of care to a provider refusing to touch them.

A year after Andy’s death, @BarackObama and @JoeBiden issued the lifesaving protections that Andy had spent his short life advocating for. And yesterday, during both Pride Month and a global pandemic, Donald Trump repealed them.

The Trump administration has literally said it's okay for a doctor to refuse to treat someone just because they are trans. We finally adopted clear protections for our trans neighbors - and the Trump Administration repealed them.

I don’t need to tell you how gutting that was for me as both a trans person and as Andy’s widow.

I worry for other LGBTQ, especially trans people of color, who are less likely to have access to care at all - let alone care that doesn’t discriminate against them.

But while I’m mad and deeply frustrated, I remain hopeful.

I’m hopeful because of the LGBTQ people who will fight back and the millions of allies who will be by our side.

I’m hopeful because I believe that we will elect pro-equality candidates up and down the ballot - including a record number of LGBTQ people - who will continue our long march toward justice.

And I’m hopeful because I know that @JoeBiden will be a president who will restore these rights and pass the Equality Act to make this discrimination permanently illegal, once and for all.

I’ve seen @JoeBiden’s compassion up close: the tears in both of our eyes as we talk about our loved ones who we’ve lost to cancer and the passion in his voice when we’ve fought together for equality and health care.

This November, our rights and our lives are on the ballot. For me personally, Andy’s legacy will be on the ballot. I’ve known @JoeBiden my entire life. I know he’ll be a president that Andy and I can both be proud of. /thread