It’s like that old proverb that says hate exists so that we can know what love is.īut I don’t need to hear old clips of Bobby Riggs to know what a sexist is. The proof that days like today are effective is in their bigoted and hateful efforts to outlaw us and strip us of our right to life-saving medical treatment and prevent us from being protected equally according to the law by failing to support the Equality Act. They are loud but they are outnumbered, and so they are fighting harder than ever, mainly because we are succeeding in being seen. We face some mighty fierce political forces who are opposed to transgender rights, aided and abetted by the likes of the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Heritage Foundation and The Federalist. But if the reputation that trans athletes are unbeatable is already ingrained in the public conscience, then I say let’s show them we cannot be beaten in court, in the statehouses, and in the streets. Just because the media doesn’t cover those results doesn’t mean they aren’t searchable. In fact, like every other athlete, they lose more times than not. The truth is, trans women and girls don’t always win.

The time has come today to be what they accuse us of being: unbeatable. “If the reputation that trans athletes are unbeatable is already ingrained in the public conscience, then I say let’s show them we cannot be beaten in court, in the statehouses, and in the streets.” biological boys.” Those lopsided mainstream accounts treat our identities as ratings fodder, as if debating our rights and our existence is somehow fair, while at the same time giving credence to those who claim it is unfair for us to compete as we really are. Nearly every news report singles us out as something “other:” The headlines scream about “trans athletes and women” and “girls vs. As if our transgender identity somehow cancels out our citizenship, our rights and even our humanity. We don’t have it anywhere as bad as the migrants fleeing oppression huddled at our southern border, but sometimes it feels as if we are just as unwanted. Who else in the United States is at risk of being denied their very existence by a right-wing, religion-fueled political machine that finds itself creeping toward extinction and oblivion? Not being able to do the things every other woman can, would mean I, Dawn Stacey Ennis, am not able to exist. No, laws that stop any trans child, student athlete or adult from living authentically in every way a cisgender person can, that is the very definition of discrimination and erasure. That’s not me being overly dramatic, which, as a former child actor, is certainly a valid criticism for some things. These laws and the bills in the works in more than two dozen states threaten not only our visibility but our very existence. ACLU attorney Chase Strangio correctly labeled it “the single most extreme anti-trans law to ever pass through a state legislature.”Įarlier this month, Mississippi got the ball rolling with its trans ban and we’re still waiting for a federal judge to decide the case of Idaho‘s law banning trans girls and women from competing in sports according to their gender identity. And now headed to his desk is another bill that would make gender-affirming treatment a crime. Asa Hutchinson also gave health-care workers the right to discriminate, by refusing to treat anyone if they have a moral or religious objection. In addition to signing a law banning trans girls and women, Gov. Bill Lee banned trans athletes without a single word in the new bill calling them “trans” or “transgender.” Instead these girls are misgendered as boys.Īrkansas is on a tear.

Kristi Noem signed executive orders that will ban trans girls and women from school sports, from grade school all the way up to college. Look at what they’ve done just this week: Well, unless you’re a Republican governor hell-bent on erasing us from sports and affirming health care, that is.

Trans visibility day 2021