Women and girls who are trans are biological women and girls.
In the few instances when men and boys seek to participate on teams for women and girls, they *do not* claim to be women or girls. The practical and legal questions are different.
The impulse to police some women and girls out of the category of woman opens the door to the widespread and insidious policing of all women's bodies.
If a trans woman isn't enough of a woman, why? What makes her not enough for you? And what if she shares those characteristics with cis women? Then what?
Policing lines of sexual differences has everything to do with political choices connected to power.
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A few notes on women and girls who are trans in sports. There is a relentless effort to situation trans people as a threat to cis people in sport and elsewhere. There simply is no threat.
The foundation of these arguments are based on two dangerous and faulty premises. First, that men and boys are always better, stronger, faster and more skilled than women and girls. Second, that sex categories are binary, fixed and easily identifiable at birth.
Both of these premises are rooted in misogyny and white supremacy. The interest behind these narratives is not in "protecting women" but rather protecting the power of the state to control people's bodies and constrain people's identities.
I expect we will soon see at least 15 states attempting to criminalize or otherwise ban health care for trans young people (under 18, and sometimes, under 21!). These bills are incredibly, dangerous, misguided & part of a larger project to enforce binary norms of sex difference.
The bill language is different in every state but the goal is to punish parents and doctors who affirm trans youth people - and ultimately, to hurt trans youth and try to stop us (trans people) from being trans.
Lawmakers and other supporters of these efforts attempt to cast treatment for trans people as "dangerous" "experimental" and "unethical". None of this is true. Every major medical association in the US supports this case. The American Academy of Pediatrics...
On Wednesday, Montana will be the first state to hold hearings on dangerous anti-trans bills in 2021. We need your help! The House Judiciary Committee will be voting on HB 112 and HB 113 (links below). These bills bar trans people from sports and ban health care for trans minors.
HB 112 is a carbon copy of Idaho's HB 500 which has been preliminarily enjoined because the court found it likely violated the Constitution and was passed due to animus and not because of any important gov't objective. leg.mt.gov/bills/2021/bil…
HB 113 is a ban on health care for trans youth. It would punish doctors for treating trans young people consistent with the standards of care. It would immediately jeopardize trans lives. leg.mt.gov/bills/2021/bil…
I need people to understand how terrifying and sad and scary what is happening in the UK is for trans young people there and for trans people around the world. Please read and raise all the alarms that you can.
Yesterday a court ruled that trans youth under 16 and possibly all trans minors likely cannot consent to gender-affirming care even where they (1) request the care; (2) have the support of their parents or guardians; and (3) their doctor deems it necessary.
Though the decision will be appealed, as a result of the court ruling puberty suppression care that young people have been receiving and care that they have been waiting for potentially for years has begun to be cut-off and appointments cancelled.
There is a very aggressive effort in the UK and the US to end care for trans youth. The escalation is leading to high profile litigation and legislation that will lead to care being cut off in extremely dangerous ways.
We have a responsibility to counteract these narratives in every way that we can. That means building support for trans existence generally, validating trans youth every day, and working to minimize medical gatekeeping for everyone.