I am very concerned about all the ways that current criminal laws and new acts will be disparately enforced against trans people and drag performers but I think the widespread commentary on Tennessee's "drag bill" is wrong. The bill was amended and the amended text prohibits certain enumerated acts including "male or female impersonators". But the prohibition is operative only when the performance is ALSO deemed "harmful to minors" as already defined under TN law.

I spent two weeks in AR for trial over the state's ban on care for trans minors. I grew to love it there and have family there in @immissmajor, Beck and their beautiful family, as well as with @intransitiveAR. But soon it could be a crime for me to go to the bathroom there. This bill, SB 270, makes it the crime of sexual indecency with a child for a trans person to enter a public restroom when a minor might be present. arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/Detail?i…

In 2016 I began lobbying against anti-trans bills in state legislatures. At the time we were fighting back against the proliferation of the anti-trans bathroom bill and the false and weaponized narrative that trans people posed a threat to women and children in bathrooms. In the years the followed, those pushing these bills (and ballot initiatives) admitted that the "safety" narrative fueling the bills in public discourse was entirely fabricated (which...of course it was). They shifted to focusing on privacy.

I had top surgery 13 years ago. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about how it was the best thing I have ever done for my survival. I also had orthopedic knee surgery at 14 and often regret it. But no NYTs pieces about orthopedic regret I see. Pediatric ACL surgery is very common, particularly for athletes in girls’ sports who are not supported in strength training. It comes with a lifetime of potential complications. Many surgeries do. And yet this is how medicine works.

The insidiousness and disingenuousness of the conversation over trans health care continues to escalate. There are a few critical points that I think we need to make about the care and about the conversation. A Twitter thread is not ideal but here is a start. What is the care & what is the "concern"? When we talk about care for adolescents we are talking about post-pubertal adolescents *only*. Surgeries on pre-pubertal children DO NOT happen for gender dypshoria. But these surgeries are forced upon infants with intersex traits.

Been thinking a lot about the cost of our failures to build across movements for trans and reproductive justice. This is about so much more than language, semantics or equality. It is about how we learn from each other and build meaningful care networks. Trans masculine people have vital insight to share about what it means to organize for, demand and access criminalized, stigmatized health care. We have existed at the intersection of multiple forms of health denial & multiple ways that bodies are deemed illegible and disposable.

The incoherency of anti-trans logic is going to hurt us all. A thread. Once again trans people are being blamed for reifying reductived categories of sex. For example, anti-trans people are claiming that trans people are reducing womanhood to facile notions of femininity. Not so.

The NYT's horrible coverage of and fixation on trans people has been central to the progression of anti-trans bills and policies nationally. I have been trying to raise alarms about this for the past 6 years but the stakes could not be higher than they are now. Here is what I said in 2016: medium.com/gender-2-0/is-…

This latest NYT op-ed is so deeply offensive and also so unbelievably incoherent. I hope more cis women speak out against this repeated and deeply unproductive fixation on demeaning trans people. In addition to casting women who are trans outside the category if womanhood, the piece does the incoherent thing of blaming trans people for reducing women to body parts while literally defining womanhood based on “biological” body parts.

I agree with this and think that is how most people talk about it and simply want to note at times that some people who are not women can also become pregnant. What is jarring is the resistance to the peripheral acknowledgement of this fact.

https://twitter.com/AriBrostoff/status/1522601267658383363

There is also a distinction to be made between people articulating needs for services and personal experiences and the way we talk about the systems and structures involved in restricting access to reproductive health care.

🚨Raising emergency funds to support trans-led food justice work in NYC. @CITGny founded by our beloved Lorena Borjas is partnering with FIG to expand food access for members. They are currently working with this tiny fridge and need more space to effectively support their members.

In the lead up to the 2022 mid-terms and the 2024 presidential election, things are about to get a lot worse for trans people. The GOP has decided that our bodies and survival opportunities are a priority for political debate. Here is how we fight back: We are not going to win this fight in political debates. We need to build infrastructure to support trans people in their communities. Today, I am asking you again to take action to support trans-led work with this fundraiser from @TeamAriana pledge.to/protect-defend…

Tomorrow is #TransDayofVisibility and truthfully, visibility without power and mobilization just leads to violence so let's get active today leading up to #TDOV. We got you covered at @Trans_Week and I am going to list the most urgent actions you can take NOW. In Arizona, Governor Ducey has just 3 more days to veto TWO anti-trans bills - SB1165 (banning girls from sports) and SB1138 (banning medical care). Please get loud about these bills, contact Ducey, and take action. secure.everyaction.com/Eo8Aar77L02DLb…

One thing we hear over and over from those seeking to ban trans care is that we don't have enough evidence that it "works". First of all, we do have a lot of evidence that the care is safe and effective, which is why it is supported by every major medical association. Second, the fact that trans youth still experience depression and other mental health conditions even with treatment does not mean the care doesn't work. It is hard to be trans in this world and these conditions of the discourse escalate those mental health outcomes.

What is happening in Texas is terrifying and unimaginable. It is also part of a global attack on trans people, fixated on trans youth as a gateway into attacking all of us. If you want to take action start with Texas but do not stop there. Always donate to trans-led orgs first. In Texas, you can donate to TENT: transtexas.org. If you want to find trans-led orgs around the country, check out @TransJusticeFP.

We Must Love One Another: Why Trans & Repro Justice Movement Should Be Building Solidarity | A thread by me & @rkidvai, Director of the Repro Legal Defense Fund. We are seeing an escalation of state-level attacks on trans people and reproductive justice. Trans and repro justice are either seen as separate or in conflict but they are interdependent. We must uplift and invest in each other as we collectively fight this state violence.

To be clear though, Ken Paxton's "opinion" and Gov. Abbott's statements on affirming trans kids have no legal effect. These are also the same people who are supposed to be fixated on "parental rights". What they are doing is terrifying. They are scaring kids, their families and their doctors into believing they will be investigated if they affirm their trans children and patients.

This is poised to be a troubling week in the trans justice context with really dangerous bills moving across the country. Here is what is happening and what you can do. In Arizona, we have SB1165 now in the House (having passed the Senate) - that would ban trans girls from sports.

SB1138 - which would ban health care for trans minors is set for a hearing in Senate Judiciary on Wednesday 2/9.
Take action: action.aclu.org/send-message/t…

We have reached a very painful and depressing escalation in the legislative/non-legislative policy attacks on trans young people. What is perhaps most disheartening is the lack of national attention and outrage from our supposed allies to meet the fixation from our opponents. South Dakota has passed an anti-trans sports bill (SB46) that will be signed by Gov. Noem today. SD also passed an anti-trans bathroom bill through the House (HB 1005) that now moves on to the Senate.

It is January which means states will be starting legislative sessions soon and we will again see gratuitous attacks on trans people, particularly trans youth. I will pin this thread to add bills and action items as sessions progress. Remember to begin contacting your state senators and representatives to tell them to oppose any anti-trans bills. There will also likely be anti-abortion, anti-"Critical Race Theory", and voter suppression measures. Be sure to follow proposed laws in your state and TAKE ACTION.

I hate engaging in these conversations about people with large platforms who make trans people's lives miserable & more precarious. In all my despair & anger over the current landscape of course I do not want anyone else to be in danger. But let's talk about precarity.... Trans people are facing so many systematic and interpersonal assaults on their existence. From violence at home, in the street, in employment, shelter, health care. The rates of unemployment, homelessness, poverty set off a cycle leading to criminalization & premature death.