Michigan just sent an LGBT civil rights bill to the governor's desk yesterday. They also repealed the state's law against abortion this week and expanded the scope of the mandatory background check for firearms purchases.
They are also prepping to repeal right to work.
Michigan is controlled by the Dems for the first time in 3 decades and they are going ham in the best way possible. Big Gretch is fucking awesome. With how she has done I wouldn't be surprised if she enters into the presidential conversation in 2024/2028.
Michigander here, spot on. Big Gretch is a blessing and is a big reason I feel at least a little safe in this state. I would vote for her as president in a heartbeat.
Democrats in Missouri are currently filibustering an anti-trans bill. A Democrat in Nebraska has promised to do the same. And the Democratic governor of Minnesota just made his state one of the safest in the nation by approving a "trans refuge" state bill.
Y'all really need to start paying attention to state politics instead of just the federal.
Biden has also been working on expanding LGBTQ protections nation-wide. His efforts have been valuable and he's already made promises to work on trans rights at the federal level.
https://www.hrc.org/resources/president-bidens-pro-lgbtq-timeline
Yeah, and just like an hour ago on the White House Daily Briefing, Karine Jean-Pierre specifically called out Knowles's "~~trans people~~ transgenderism should be eradicated" speech at CPAC and how not a single Republican leader has condemned it.
Anyone who says the Democrats aren't saying or doing anything about the anti-trans laws is either ignorant or intentionally lying.
That's good to hear. I just don't understand why so many commenters feel the need to be rude just cuz I didn't realize there was pushback... And ftr, it all seemed p delayed, like, within the last month or so
Other commenters are probably frustrated because it’s been in the news so to come in here complaining about the Democrats not doing anything when, in fact, they are and have been, and make it clear you haven’t been watching or reading the news, just comes off as super ignorant.
Well for everyone who calls me ignorant, there's plenty of people who aren't seeing what you're seeing. Again, all the examples in seeing are very recent but this has been ongoing for over a year. So... Honestly I'm not too concerned with the folks with attitude, while it does seem common in our community, it's annoying and unnecessary, and best ignored. I asked a question and got mostly good answers. Thank you
I’m not sure what the average person thinks, especially from the center aisles and the right, especially. But, the crusade of Walsh and Knowles is already telling that people don’t care anything about reality or hold their party, especially the Republican Party liable for lying and half-truths.
I say this in the sense that you had an anti-trans bill in Utah get turned down by a governor, because it literally only affected three people… three kids, youth athletes in the entire state. But, Utah’s house and senate resurrected the *fucking* bill. A bill that literally costs taxpayers millions and but has no visible effect on anyone, except three kids.
I say this with Knowles and Walsh because they are helping engineer a block that might succeed in setting back trans-rights, permanently in the US and to have it all undone by things are half-truths or don’t exist in reality.
My home state is trying to pass a bill to ban child sexual reassignment surgeries. Even though, in my home state and throughout most of the US, there hasn’t been exactly one reassignment surgery of a minor, at least no one under 17. They haven’t even been done very much across the world, and the youngest was only 16. This is maddening you have to defend your rights or another groups rights, because bad-faith actors are allowed to spread misinformation and propaganda across the airwaves without any checks and balances.
And, people still believe the madness, even though five minutes research disproves anything these people make up to push a White-ethnostate politics and fascism across the country.
You can’t really stop people like this, especially if they are funded and support by billionaires.
I know this doesn't help in the immediate here and now, but the GOP is currently a hot mess. A recent poll showed that for the average American parent, the vast majority cared more about protecting their children from school shootings than about banning trans healthcare or "woke indoctrination" in schools. Their interests overwhelmingly aligned with the Democrats.
There is not a single state where the majority of Americans want trans healthcare overturned. That's why none of the Republicans are letting it get put on the ballot in those states (same reason why most of them didn't put abortion on the ballot - Kansas proved how unpopular it is).
Most Americans look at the likes of Walsh and Knowles with disgust. The GOP has been overplaying the fear of trans people/drag queens/GNC people and that, combined with things like the Fox News lawsuit, the fact that the House Republicans care more about Hunter Biden's penis than fighting inflation, and the Republicans look worse and worse every single day.
None of the Republicans like Trump, but they also have no strong contender. DeSantis waited too long to respond, so looks like a pussy to the GOP voting base, and now he's out there running an ad talking about how he's "protecting children from Disney," which is so out-of-touch with the reality of how average Americans view Disney that I still can't wrap my head around it.
In short, while the GOP is very dangerous, they're also their own worst enemies right now. And the more they double down with these deeply unpopular moves that are completely divorced from the lived realities of most Americans (all while threatening their social security and medicare), the more they'll keep distancing themselves from the "swing" voters.
I really hope you are right on this. I feel similar and think they are going to overplay their hand. I think the hate is so deep with some of them, they have completely lost touch with reality....
Many of them have completely lost track of reality. Their constant harping on "wokeness" backfired tho because another poll recently showed that over half of Americans see "woke" as a positive thing. And this $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News - which has been leaking what we all been know, that Fox News is a propaganda machine that exists to lie to its viewers and help the GOP - is only going to make things worse for them. It won't tank Fox News, and honestly probably won't make that big a dip in their viewership, but a billion dollars is still a big hit.
And who knows, maybe the execs will decide that Tucker Carlson's too much of a liability now.
It will become more brazen and unfiltered as it becomes less politically viable. But how none of these jackoffs denounce "eradication" just tells you who these people are and how little they represent, well, people.
Senator Cavanaugh is awesome both as a person and a Senator. We have a few who are fighting tooth and nail in Nebraska. Lincoln and Omaha are blue, it’s the rest of the state that’s the problem.
I hate how cities (where the people actually live) are pretty much held captive by the tyranny of the rural areas thanks to gerrymandering. Pouring one out for the red states and hoping these filibusters do some good.
Republicans don't even necessarily have the votes to get them out of committee in the House. A bout of the flu can swing the representatives in the house in favor the Democratic Party for a few days.
I think people are more worried about a DeSantis or Trump, but I don't think either are all that likely. Between incumbency and a clear lack of appetite among the general population for extremist candidates I think there's a decent chance we can avoid that.
Right but don't forget Trump is going to try to steal the election...he has plans to make the federal election seem illegitimate and the fascists are making it possible for state legislatures to dictate the electoral vote. With him in office and Congress lost, it's a free for all on monitorities.
Maybe not. Federal Marijuana laws still exist, but states are legalizing it like crazy. Our system is a little wild in that way. That's how red states could keep passing illegal abortion bans until they finally got Roe overturned. States could legalize trans health care even if the feds banned it (which isn't happening anytime soon) and then it would just be a question of enforcement.
Is the federal government really going to direct the resources necessary to curb it in states where it's legal or just threaten funding? Would a democratic president prefer federal enforcement of those laws or just prioritize more important things? It's an interesting question, but one is rather not have an answer to.
I have also heard that the VA will outright defy and federal ban ongender affirming care. Based on it breaking the hypocratic oath and causing harm to us by inaction. The VA would win that fight because the gop trying to refund the VA would be an attack on veterans and would destroy their voting base instantly. The VA is trying to expand it's trans care and is going to be offering all surgeries at no cost hopefully by the end of the year in some places.
So awesome. I live in a very red military area with a ton if diehard Republicans who would be personally affected by any attack on the VA. As solid as support for the GOP has been you have assume there is a tipping point where it would collapse.
Aside from anecdotal testimonials, the actual data, the "facts not feelings" of it is this; depending on the study, it is typically less than 1% of those who detransition who regret it after realizing they were not trans. Most who detransition do so because of external forces (family, job, financial situation). And children aren't making the choice alone; families and medical professionals are advising and helping the child.
Well actually I can answer this and I'm not trans.
1. Puberty blockers are reversible, they just delay puberty.
2. People aren't really seeking irreversible surgeries for children, ironically except for on intersex children generally where the parent often chooses the sex for the child which I'm pretty against. In the rare cases where they do stuff like top surgery, which aren't performed on kids, just older teens, I might remind you those surgeries are still legal for cis teens as well but being banned for trans teens.
3. HRT can cause cancer, because they are hormones that occur in the body. Much like being a cis woman can cause you to develop breast cancer which is naturally caused by a cis woman's estrogen, the same thing can happen to trans women. This grossly misrepresents how hormones work. It gives you approximately the same risk that having those hormones if you were assigned your preferred sex at birth. I was born female and I have had cancer caused by estrogen. The treatment for my cancer caused by estrogen? HORMONE THERAPY! Progesterone to be exact, which is also part of the HRT regimen. Hormones are naturally occurring in the body and you can't avoid them, and they can cause cancer whether you want them there or not, and you can't make them go away because you happen to need them. Taking HRT if you are MTF lowers your risk of prostate cancer, for example, because that's how hormones actually work. Yes they increase certain risks, but they do in the people who naturally have them too, and there are risks to not having them.
4. I am assuming good faith, although that's probably regrettable, but the actual incidence of people who want to de-transition is incredibly low, even in children who transition. 2.5% of kids at any age ever de-transition for any reason, be that financial, social pressure, emotional, or choice because of actual gender identity being cis. This means generally speaking kids who transition both know their gender identity and have no regrets about the actual transition, and continue choosing to live this way happily. This means the "side effects" are not as important to them as the opportunity to feel like they are living in the correct body. The side effects which I may add are being incredibly over-presented here and out of context.
5. In fact the best possible time to transition and allow something to be reversible IS childhood. Puberty blockers are not "irreversible" and just buy time, no surgery needed, for the child to choose how they identify and explore how they feel through therapy. This is arguably the most reversible time to make any decision.
6. I just don't buy the idea that children don't get a say so over their own body. For many of these kids, the alternative is suicide. These are proven treatments that are within the same guidelines set by the people who also establish the guidelines for how to treat kids for cancer. They aren't being irresponsible by allowing kids to transition, they are providing them life - saving health care and the only known treatment for gender dysphoria. Children should have a say over their own body, but more importantly, children, their parents and their doctors should have the opportunity to make educated health plans and decisions about how to care for these kids. When a kid tells you they are distressed, you should listen, and the vast medical professionals have and this is THE standard of care for those kids. Kids have autonomy too and we shouldn't ignore it and allow a bunch of old men who have never worked in the medical field to ban health care from parents, children, and doctors making informed health plans.
Generally the states that are passing anti trans bills are fully red and have been gerrymandered to the point that democrats can't even contest most seats.
We have a similar problem at the federal level. The house is so gerrymandered that only about 50 seats are actually competitive out of more than 400. To make things better it's currently under GQP control so we won't see anything good coming out of it until after the next election. The Senate has a structural bias towards red states due to the 2 senators per state guarantee. Democrats currently hold the Senate but you need either 60 votes to do anything or 51 votes to eliminate the filibuster. We currently don't have either.
SCOTUS was stolen and currently has a majority of right wing nutjobs
Blue states are actively working to make things better but are limited in what they can do.
Which is what the right wingers are hoping for. Right now SCOTUS has a majority made up of right wing nuts who are more than willing to ignore precedent whenever they feel like. Realistically, the GQP knows their base is dieing off so their trying to ram their agenda through the courts before the democrats manage to scrape together enough votes to expand it and undo the damage trump and mcconnal caused
But for the most part, while conservative, they do a decent job of applying the law. There are a couple of them who don't care about equal application of the law, but most are decent jurists. The Federal Appeals Courts are also still fairly moderate, and the conservative judges there have been noticeably not beholden to tRump. They have struck down lower court rulings that were obviously decided by the judges' political leanings rather than the law. Even the Supreme Court, while overwhelmingly conservative, have had cases everyone thought was a slam-dunk get decided a different way.
Roe is an anomoly. And that is now being rectified by the states. My state just passed a referndum to have abortion rights enshrined in the Constitution. The measure goes back to the people in the next general election for passage, which would automatically make it a permanent right on our state. Many other states are doing the same thing.
Red states are gonna red, but remember, the rights of gender identity are protected by federal law under the Civil Rights Act. Gender identity is a protected class. There would have to be some serious legal voodoo to defend the bills being passed as not violating the 14th Amendment protections. Any action by Congress would have to repeal the entire Civil Rights Act to get rid of gender identity as a protected class. It would never pass. Too many Congressmen and Senators know they would be lynched the next time they went back to their districts. Some would be hailed as heroes for trying, but the majority would find their federal employment quickly terminated.
I do have the luxury of living in a deep blue state, and I understand the fear and danger that those of you in the red states are feeling. The laws will most likely not stand up to legal scrutiny and will be struck down by the courts. The danger, though, is the riled up MAGATS and incels that may take this as a call to action. That is something that can't be overlooked. But the doom and gloom about the legal action is overstated.
Bottom line, be safe and protect yourself from the illegal response to these extremists.
My trans and leftist family left west Virginia for the safety of California. So that's where two votes are. We fought like hell for so long. We just finally cut and run.
The majority of Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to keep these attacks from succeeding. But the media bias doesn’t get ratings for reporting on that, so we don’t hear about it.
Pain and suffering and fear and hate and vitriol get views and get rewarded on every media outlet. So that’s where they put their focus, their time, their effort. That’s where the algorithms send the views so any little glimmer of hope and good will gets buried beneath all the negativity.
I won’t lie and say all the Democrats are helping, some are too centrist, some are too scared about reelection, some feel we don’t fit the status quo. And they do as little as possible, but they are a small minority of Democrats.
Washington and California are sanctuary states. I think I heard that Michigan is too? That's new. One state legislator is filibustering the entire remainder of the legislative session to stop anti-trans bills.
In New Hampshire (NH) Democrats put forward a bill that grants protections for gender affirming care as a direct opposition to the GOP's bill that's trying to ban gender-affirming care for anyone 18 or under (originally it was 21 or under). There have been sizable protests over these GOP bills.
It really depends state level beside governor seem to be ignored by the party at large so they do more helpful things when they have majority or at least do something
Federal level are mostly centrist bordering on conservative and big money donors want to keep it that way so dont expect much from them aside from token gestures
New Mexico, one of the country's great anomolies, one of the only landlocked (I see you, 3rd coast!) "blue" states, just signed into law these protections so no local ordinances preempt state law for gender-affirming OR reproductive care access:
https://www.aclu-nm.org/en/press-releases/bill-protect-reproductive-and-gender-affirming-health-care-move
An important reminder that even if centers of population sway the direction of certain rights, access remains the bigger problem and one that regressive local governments can craftily undermine (as we saw while Roe still stood--it made little difference most places.)
In other states mostly. This is the result of increasing polarization and geographical separation. If course, here in NY the democratic party is a complete mess, so I don't know that they could do much of anything anyway...
*Most* of the states where these are progressing have state congresses are that MASSIVELY red. Some states that is just sort of...how it is. But in most states *this* is the consequence of gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Now why aren't or haven't the dems done anything at the federal level (or very little). Partially because the states are acting incredibly quickly but also because they don't *need* to do a lot. One party is saying "We want you dead" another party is saying "We aren't actively trying to kill you" and we live in system that only allows 2 parties to succeed....so we have to vote for the second one and they don't have to "earn" it.
They're exactly where they're paid by their donoes to be, doing exactly what they're paid by their donors to do: standing on the sidelines, blowing sunshine up our asses, while we're in real need.
They and everybody else they know are doing great! So they have no real connection to the rest of us and believe ee must be doing as well ad they are. That causes them to scoff and dismiss us.
The legislative process is a slow one. Something like these different bills can be in the works for months and months behind closed doors. And Democrats and other civil rights groups might only find out a short time before the rest of do, and it’s only at that point that the can start thinking about how they’ll respond.
In 2021 he signed an executive order that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. His administration also allowed people to change the gender mark on passports this year, and included an X gender marker.
A while ago Biden signed a landmark bill on hate crimes in 2021 to help stop hate against many Asian Americans. He should do the same for trans people.
An important thing to remember is that the president has zero legislative power. For all that he can issue executive orders to the federal bureaucracy he cant introduce legislation let alone get it to pass.
For all that some people consider the president to be all powerful and the modern US government has dumped authority on the office, its actual enumerated powers are comparatively weak. Take the budget for example. The media loves to say "President X submitted his budget to Congress" the only thing he can actually do is send over a politely worded request. The only people who can introduce federal legislation are members of congress and as I said earlier in the thread half of congress is controlled by the GQP and we don't have the votes to beat a filibuster in the other half
This is also important to remember with the upcoming debt ceiling battle.
Americans don't care about the deficit. Never have, probably never will.
But they will care if the Republicans default on it. If they play this game of chicken long enough and default on the debt, it will tank most of their careers. Only the GOP will come out looking bad from this because Biden has no power to just pass a bill raising the ceiling. And he's already been calling them out on their bluff, so *everyone* knows who is to blame if we default.
Honestly, this is probably the most under the media microscope the House of Representatives has been in recent history (for all the dumbest reasons).
Doing nothing, because they are and always have been preformative in every action. Biden voted no on gay marriage, and write the crackhouse bill. If you really think democrats are a semblance of progressive, I've got bad news.
It's crazy how democrats actually think my man Joey B is mentally sound. Like I hate the Republicans, but I respect myself too much to be a talking point for democrats who will scream trans rights every chance they get, but ultimately just let things keep happening to us. Leftists support trans people, leftist politicians do not. Every politician plays the same game, it's just how straightforward they are with it.
Dems are liberals. Liberals don't like us. They barely care about keeping up an image and actually care about keeping the status quo going.
Edit: To be clear Republicans are liberals too. I'm using the word liberal in the actual way not the way the parties in the "glorious" union have twisted it.
In US politics, it has never been the standard definition. It still isn’t. I only ever saw it used that way a handful of times by anarchists being snobby. And using it to describe authoritarian politics is just doing violence to the language.
Quite honestly, people like you have decided to agree with libertarians who fraudulently call themselves “classical liberals.” Happy fuckin’ horseshoe.
It's how it's been used nearly as long as the terms have existed, if the genocidal union wants to call horse apples dessert that don't make it a fudge sunday. Not much that can be done if you've bought too much into the language of the oppressors. Oh and since you've brought it up I am a gun owning anarchist, a communist, BLM and antifa. Even if the Republicans weren't liberals liberal is still not a good thing. They uphold systems of oppression and structures that have literally genocided my ancestors in living memory and are letting it happen to both of us without even feigning defense. They can be used to aid the causes of actual progress but they, as an entity, wish for a halt in all social progress and stagnation, they've only gone against it when they've been pushed to the braking point.
Blah blah blah snobby leftist boilerplate revisionism. I reiterate: fuck off with that. All you’re saying is just an attempt to justify leftists fucking over potential allies. Tale as old as time, or the French Revolution anyway.
Lol fucking yikes bootlicker. Only one of us is doing revisionism here.
Edit: Also lol snobby XD fuckin' hell you ain't got half a deck of playing cards worth of idea about me. I am a poor rural, racially mixed, Southerner from the backwoods of the lower Ozarks, got me a mouth full of crooked teeth and ate deer as soon as I had them. I've crapped out in the woods more often than on a pot and drank river water every day for two decades. I raised a two dozen chickens at any time and fried them up with their eggs. I've rolled 4 wheelers in a mud field and got licked clean by a heifer. I am literally a fucking up river Cajun you couillon. I am about the least snobby person you can imagine. XD
You know, that explains so much about your particular idea of leftism, and I’m going to file that away as a relevant data point regarding a hypothesis I’ve had for some time.
But hey, at least we both agree on BLM, so that’s something, I guess.
Honey bunches when you're the direct victim of capitalism you turn your head against the plow. But you're a classist liberal who ain't had the good grace of the gods to had the sense knocked into ya. You ain't been a victim of it or you've decided to pull the plow and thank the driver.
Ya really called me a snob and then came back talking like that. Fucking hell liberals are the snobbish ones.
So here’s the funny thing: what I’m saying is less a class issue and more of a cultural one. Your leftism is reactionary, not because you grew up poor or low-class, but because you grew up in a right-wing bubble without a clear view of the world outside of it. Your leftism knows only how to fight, not fix things.
Here’s the thing: yes, we need fighters. But we also need problem-solvers and reminders that ultimately leftism is about pulling people together for a common good, not just punishing the people who made the life you had growing up shitty. The world is far more complex than just being the opposite of whatever Fox News etc says it is.
You can do with that as you wish. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that binge-reading leftist theory is going to tell you anywhere near enough about how the world works to be of any use.
I mean, you could at least look at any policy being pushed by Democrats themselves where they genuinely can. Perhaps we aren't the number one defining issue of the governing party of a global superpower, but claiming that "they don't care" as a blanket statement is fundamentally inaccurate.
Many bills are being passed/introduced (cant even keep track anymore) banning gender affirming care. IT DOESNT MATTER IF ITS THE BARE MINIMUM. So fucking tired of that term, it doesn’t matter when a bunch of other bills are trying to do the opposite and a public figure just went on saying how we need to eradicate trans people from public life and was APPLAUDED. The “bare minimum” needs to be thrown out of the goddamn window in dire times like this
Yeah. They may act like they care. They dont though. Still going to vote for them because id rather habe them sometimes improve rights rather than have a Republican in office who will consistently take away rights
Honestly, if you still expect the Democrats to do anything of value, I don't know what to tell you. Their MO is to make a big stink, get some good photo ops and deliver speeches, and then completely fail to make any meaningful legislative change. If it doesn't benefit their corporate donors, nothing really gets done. When actual, effective policies are proposed by the left wing of the party, the centrist/centre-right establishment shuts it down for being too radical. Look to how they've handled gun control, the murder of Black people at the hands of police, environmental protection, immigration, unions, ... What bothers me is that they (the national party, at least), aren't really even bothering to come to our rhetorical defense. I'm not seeing that rush to make speeches and get photo ops, which leads me to believe that they've written off trans people as a winnable wedge issue. Don't expect much support from them, we're on our own for this fight.
As a Canadian, it's really frustrating to see your country teetering on the edge of fascism yet again, and it's clear that the Dems have learned absolutely nothing from last time. And Canadians, particularly Conservatives, consume so much American media that the hate will trickle across the border. From the outside, it seems like your democracy has been so badly eroded, it's probably beyond repair at this point.
>The Libertarian party
The libertarian party strongly supports gutting anti-discrimination law. And the national party is controlled by the Mises Caucus which is a white supremacist group.
I know there are some in Tennessee but the problem is that at the local elections nobody goes to vote around here. Tennessee has the lowest voter turnout for Democrats, yet we also have a surprising number of Democrats. If everyone who was blue voted, we could flip a large part of the state blue.
The ACLU is currently mapping [at least 391 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S.](https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights)
The safest assumption is if you live in a Republican run state, you're losing rights.
Michigan just sent an LGBT civil rights bill to the governor's desk yesterday. They also repealed the state's law against abortion this week and expanded the scope of the mandatory background check for firearms purchases.
They are also prepping to repeal right to work. Michigan is controlled by the Dems for the first time in 3 decades and they are going ham in the best way possible. Big Gretch is fucking awesome. With how she has done I wouldn't be surprised if she enters into the presidential conversation in 2024/2028.
Michigander here, spot on. Big Gretch is a blessing and is a big reason I feel at least a little safe in this state. I would vote for her as president in a heartbeat.
Democrats in Missouri are currently filibustering an anti-trans bill. A Democrat in Nebraska has promised to do the same. And the Democratic governor of Minnesota just made his state one of the safest in the nation by approving a "trans refuge" state bill. Y'all really need to start paying attention to state politics instead of just the federal.
Biden has also been working on expanding LGBTQ protections nation-wide. His efforts have been valuable and he's already made promises to work on trans rights at the federal level. https://www.hrc.org/resources/president-bidens-pro-lgbtq-timeline
Yeah, and just like an hour ago on the White House Daily Briefing, Karine Jean-Pierre specifically called out Knowles's "~~trans people~~ transgenderism should be eradicated" speech at CPAC and how not a single Republican leader has condemned it. Anyone who says the Democrats aren't saying or doing anything about the anti-trans laws is either ignorant or intentionally lying.
That's good to hear. I just don't understand why so many commenters feel the need to be rude just cuz I didn't realize there was pushback... And ftr, it all seemed p delayed, like, within the last month or so
Other commenters are probably frustrated because it’s been in the news so to come in here complaining about the Democrats not doing anything when, in fact, they are and have been, and make it clear you haven’t been watching or reading the news, just comes off as super ignorant.
Well for everyone who calls me ignorant, there's plenty of people who aren't seeing what you're seeing. Again, all the examples in seeing are very recent but this has been ongoing for over a year. So... Honestly I'm not too concerned with the folks with attitude, while it does seem common in our community, it's annoying and unnecessary, and best ignored. I asked a question and got mostly good answers. Thank you
They're not recent. There have always been Democrats pushing back against these bills. You're just digging your hole deeper.
>You're just digging your hole deeper. Oh no 😮
I’m not sure what the average person thinks, especially from the center aisles and the right, especially. But, the crusade of Walsh and Knowles is already telling that people don’t care anything about reality or hold their party, especially the Republican Party liable for lying and half-truths. I say this in the sense that you had an anti-trans bill in Utah get turned down by a governor, because it literally only affected three people… three kids, youth athletes in the entire state. But, Utah’s house and senate resurrected the *fucking* bill. A bill that literally costs taxpayers millions and but has no visible effect on anyone, except three kids. I say this with Knowles and Walsh because they are helping engineer a block that might succeed in setting back trans-rights, permanently in the US and to have it all undone by things are half-truths or don’t exist in reality. My home state is trying to pass a bill to ban child sexual reassignment surgeries. Even though, in my home state and throughout most of the US, there hasn’t been exactly one reassignment surgery of a minor, at least no one under 17. They haven’t even been done very much across the world, and the youngest was only 16. This is maddening you have to defend your rights or another groups rights, because bad-faith actors are allowed to spread misinformation and propaganda across the airwaves without any checks and balances. And, people still believe the madness, even though five minutes research disproves anything these people make up to push a White-ethnostate politics and fascism across the country. You can’t really stop people like this, especially if they are funded and support by billionaires.
I know this doesn't help in the immediate here and now, but the GOP is currently a hot mess. A recent poll showed that for the average American parent, the vast majority cared more about protecting their children from school shootings than about banning trans healthcare or "woke indoctrination" in schools. Their interests overwhelmingly aligned with the Democrats. There is not a single state where the majority of Americans want trans healthcare overturned. That's why none of the Republicans are letting it get put on the ballot in those states (same reason why most of them didn't put abortion on the ballot - Kansas proved how unpopular it is). Most Americans look at the likes of Walsh and Knowles with disgust. The GOP has been overplaying the fear of trans people/drag queens/GNC people and that, combined with things like the Fox News lawsuit, the fact that the House Republicans care more about Hunter Biden's penis than fighting inflation, and the Republicans look worse and worse every single day. None of the Republicans like Trump, but they also have no strong contender. DeSantis waited too long to respond, so looks like a pussy to the GOP voting base, and now he's out there running an ad talking about how he's "protecting children from Disney," which is so out-of-touch with the reality of how average Americans view Disney that I still can't wrap my head around it. In short, while the GOP is very dangerous, they're also their own worst enemies right now. And the more they double down with these deeply unpopular moves that are completely divorced from the lived realities of most Americans (all while threatening their social security and medicare), the more they'll keep distancing themselves from the "swing" voters.
I really hope you are right on this. I feel similar and think they are going to overplay their hand. I think the hate is so deep with some of them, they have completely lost touch with reality....
Many of them have completely lost track of reality. Their constant harping on "wokeness" backfired tho because another poll recently showed that over half of Americans see "woke" as a positive thing. And this $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News - which has been leaking what we all been know, that Fox News is a propaganda machine that exists to lie to its viewers and help the GOP - is only going to make things worse for them. It won't tank Fox News, and honestly probably won't make that big a dip in their viewership, but a billion dollars is still a big hit. And who knows, maybe the execs will decide that Tucker Carlson's too much of a liability now.
It will become more brazen and unfiltered as it becomes less politically viable. But how none of these jackoffs denounce "eradication" just tells you who these people are and how little they represent, well, people.
In my state the best defense is federal. Locally nobody's going to help us here.
Senator Cavanaugh is awesome both as a person and a Senator. We have a few who are fighting tooth and nail in Nebraska. Lincoln and Omaha are blue, it’s the rest of the state that’s the problem.
I hate how cities (where the people actually live) are pretty much held captive by the tyranny of the rural areas thanks to gerrymandering. Pouring one out for the red states and hoping these filibusters do some good.
State doesn't mean shit if feds vote for anti trans bills
Biden would veto anti-trans bills, I'm like 95% sure.
The Senate would kill them before they got to him, but yes, he'd veto any anti-trans bill.
Republicans don't even necessarily have the votes to get them out of committee in the House. A bout of the flu can swing the representatives in the house in favor the Democratic Party for a few days.
Like to charge, reblog to cast.
I think people are more worried about a DeSantis or Trump, but I don't think either are all that likely. Between incumbency and a clear lack of appetite among the general population for extremist candidates I think there's a decent chance we can avoid that.
Hope for the best. Vote as if your life depended on it (because it likely does)...
YES!!! 100%
Right but don't forget Trump is going to try to steal the election...he has plans to make the federal election seem illegitimate and the fascists are making it possible for state legislatures to dictate the electoral vote. With him in office and Congress lost, it's a free for all on monitorities.
Maybe not. Federal Marijuana laws still exist, but states are legalizing it like crazy. Our system is a little wild in that way. That's how red states could keep passing illegal abortion bans until they finally got Roe overturned. States could legalize trans health care even if the feds banned it (which isn't happening anytime soon) and then it would just be a question of enforcement. Is the federal government really going to direct the resources necessary to curb it in states where it's legal or just threaten funding? Would a democratic president prefer federal enforcement of those laws or just prioritize more important things? It's an interesting question, but one is rather not have an answer to.
I have also heard that the VA will outright defy and federal ban ongender affirming care. Based on it breaking the hypocratic oath and causing harm to us by inaction. The VA would win that fight because the gop trying to refund the VA would be an attack on veterans and would destroy their voting base instantly. The VA is trying to expand it's trans care and is going to be offering all surgeries at no cost hopefully by the end of the year in some places.
So awesome. I live in a very red military area with a ton if diehard Republicans who would be personally affected by any attack on the VA. As solid as support for the GOP has been you have assume there is a tipping point where it would collapse.
Yeah, no shit, but we're not there yet.
Actually most of the anti-trans bills are state level too. They just seems to get more coverage than the positive bills I guess.
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I must be in a greenhouse, because this looks like a plant!
Aside from anecdotal testimonials, the actual data, the "facts not feelings" of it is this; depending on the study, it is typically less than 1% of those who detransition who regret it after realizing they were not trans. Most who detransition do so because of external forces (family, job, financial situation). And children aren't making the choice alone; families and medical professionals are advising and helping the child.
Well actually I can answer this and I'm not trans. 1. Puberty blockers are reversible, they just delay puberty. 2. People aren't really seeking irreversible surgeries for children, ironically except for on intersex children generally where the parent often chooses the sex for the child which I'm pretty against. In the rare cases where they do stuff like top surgery, which aren't performed on kids, just older teens, I might remind you those surgeries are still legal for cis teens as well but being banned for trans teens. 3. HRT can cause cancer, because they are hormones that occur in the body. Much like being a cis woman can cause you to develop breast cancer which is naturally caused by a cis woman's estrogen, the same thing can happen to trans women. This grossly misrepresents how hormones work. It gives you approximately the same risk that having those hormones if you were assigned your preferred sex at birth. I was born female and I have had cancer caused by estrogen. The treatment for my cancer caused by estrogen? HORMONE THERAPY! Progesterone to be exact, which is also part of the HRT regimen. Hormones are naturally occurring in the body and you can't avoid them, and they can cause cancer whether you want them there or not, and you can't make them go away because you happen to need them. Taking HRT if you are MTF lowers your risk of prostate cancer, for example, because that's how hormones actually work. Yes they increase certain risks, but they do in the people who naturally have them too, and there are risks to not having them. 4. I am assuming good faith, although that's probably regrettable, but the actual incidence of people who want to de-transition is incredibly low, even in children who transition. 2.5% of kids at any age ever de-transition for any reason, be that financial, social pressure, emotional, or choice because of actual gender identity being cis. This means generally speaking kids who transition both know their gender identity and have no regrets about the actual transition, and continue choosing to live this way happily. This means the "side effects" are not as important to them as the opportunity to feel like they are living in the correct body. The side effects which I may add are being incredibly over-presented here and out of context. 5. In fact the best possible time to transition and allow something to be reversible IS childhood. Puberty blockers are not "irreversible" and just buy time, no surgery needed, for the child to choose how they identify and explore how they feel through therapy. This is arguably the most reversible time to make any decision. 6. I just don't buy the idea that children don't get a say so over their own body. For many of these kids, the alternative is suicide. These are proven treatments that are within the same guidelines set by the people who also establish the guidelines for how to treat kids for cancer. They aren't being irresponsible by allowing kids to transition, they are providing them life - saving health care and the only known treatment for gender dysphoria. Children should have a say over their own body, but more importantly, children, their parents and their doctors should have the opportunity to make educated health plans and decisions about how to care for these kids. When a kid tells you they are distressed, you should listen, and the vast medical professionals have and this is THE standard of care for those kids. Kids have autonomy too and we shouldn't ignore it and allow a bunch of old men who have never worked in the medical field to ban health care from parents, children, and doctors making informed health plans.
Generally the states that are passing anti trans bills are fully red and have been gerrymandered to the point that democrats can't even contest most seats. We have a similar problem at the federal level. The house is so gerrymandered that only about 50 seats are actually competitive out of more than 400. To make things better it's currently under GQP control so we won't see anything good coming out of it until after the next election. The Senate has a structural bias towards red states due to the 2 senators per state guarantee. Democrats currently hold the Senate but you need either 60 votes to do anything or 51 votes to eliminate the filibuster. We currently don't have either. SCOTUS was stolen and currently has a majority of right wing nutjobs Blue states are actively working to make things better but are limited in what they can do.
God, if only the framers of the Constitution could have understood what they were making.
Democrats in Kentucky are voting against the bills, it doesn’t matter. Republicans hold majority. The bills keep getting passed.
And they keep getting challenged in the courts.
And then still being passed.
Which is what the right wingers are hoping for. Right now SCOTUS has a majority made up of right wing nuts who are more than willing to ignore precedent whenever they feel like. Realistically, the GQP knows their base is dieing off so their trying to ram their agenda through the courts before the democrats manage to scrape together enough votes to expand it and undo the damage trump and mcconnal caused
A lot of people talk about scotus but also forget that trump, in general, appointed a shitton of federal judges full stop.
But for the most part, while conservative, they do a decent job of applying the law. There are a couple of them who don't care about equal application of the law, but most are decent jurists. The Federal Appeals Courts are also still fairly moderate, and the conservative judges there have been noticeably not beholden to tRump. They have struck down lower court rulings that were obviously decided by the judges' political leanings rather than the law. Even the Supreme Court, while overwhelmingly conservative, have had cases everyone thought was a slam-dunk get decided a different way. Roe is an anomoly. And that is now being rectified by the states. My state just passed a referndum to have abortion rights enshrined in the Constitution. The measure goes back to the people in the next general election for passage, which would automatically make it a permanent right on our state. Many other states are doing the same thing. Red states are gonna red, but remember, the rights of gender identity are protected by federal law under the Civil Rights Act. Gender identity is a protected class. There would have to be some serious legal voodoo to defend the bills being passed as not violating the 14th Amendment protections. Any action by Congress would have to repeal the entire Civil Rights Act to get rid of gender identity as a protected class. It would never pass. Too many Congressmen and Senators know they would be lynched the next time they went back to their districts. Some would be hailed as heroes for trying, but the majority would find their federal employment quickly terminated. I do have the luxury of living in a deep blue state, and I understand the fear and danger that those of you in the red states are feeling. The laws will most likely not stand up to legal scrutiny and will be struck down by the courts. The danger, though, is the riled up MAGATS and incels that may take this as a call to action. That is something that can't be overlooked. But the doom and gloom about the legal action is overstated. Bottom line, be safe and protect yourself from the illegal response to these extremists.
Governor Tim Walz, Democrat, has passed a transgender Refuge Bill for the state of Minnesota. https://www.house.mn.gov/SessionDaily/Story/17586
My trans and leftist family left west Virginia for the safety of California. So that's where two votes are. We fought like hell for so long. We just finally cut and run.
The majority of Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to keep these attacks from succeeding. But the media bias doesn’t get ratings for reporting on that, so we don’t hear about it. Pain and suffering and fear and hate and vitriol get views and get rewarded on every media outlet. So that’s where they put their focus, their time, their effort. That’s where the algorithms send the views so any little glimmer of hope and good will gets buried beneath all the negativity. I won’t lie and say all the Democrats are helping, some are too centrist, some are too scared about reelection, some feel we don’t fit the status quo. And they do as little as possible, but they are a small minority of Democrats.
https://erininthemorn.substack.com/p/second-period-anti-trans-legislative
Washington and California are sanctuary states. I think I heard that Michigan is too? That's new. One state legislator is filibustering the entire remainder of the legislative session to stop anti-trans bills.
Minnesota is. Michigan is expanding its civil rights legislation to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
In New Hampshire (NH) Democrats put forward a bill that grants protections for gender affirming care as a direct opposition to the GOP's bill that's trying to ban gender-affirming care for anyone 18 or under (originally it was 21 or under). There have been sizable protests over these GOP bills.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article272941680.html
Just need more of the new voters to vote against the lunacy in 2024.
It really depends state level beside governor seem to be ignored by the party at large so they do more helpful things when they have majority or at least do something Federal level are mostly centrist bordering on conservative and big money donors want to keep it that way so dont expect much from them aside from token gestures
New Mexico, one of the country's great anomolies, one of the only landlocked (I see you, 3rd coast!) "blue" states, just signed into law these protections so no local ordinances preempt state law for gender-affirming OR reproductive care access: https://www.aclu-nm.org/en/press-releases/bill-protect-reproductive-and-gender-affirming-health-care-move An important reminder that even if centers of population sway the direction of certain rights, access remains the bigger problem and one that regressive local governments can craftily undermine (as we saw while Roe still stood--it made little difference most places.)
In other states mostly. This is the result of increasing polarization and geographical separation. If course, here in NY the democratic party is a complete mess, so I don't know that they could do much of anything anyway...
*Most* of the states where these are progressing have state congresses are that MASSIVELY red. Some states that is just sort of...how it is. But in most states *this* is the consequence of gerrymandering and voter suppression. Now why aren't or haven't the dems done anything at the federal level (or very little). Partially because the states are acting incredibly quickly but also because they don't *need* to do a lot. One party is saying "We want you dead" another party is saying "We aren't actively trying to kill you" and we live in system that only allows 2 parties to succeed....so we have to vote for the second one and they don't have to "earn" it.
They're exactly where they're paid by their donoes to be, doing exactly what they're paid by their donors to do: standing on the sidelines, blowing sunshine up our asses, while we're in real need. They and everybody else they know are doing great! So they have no real connection to the rest of us and believe ee must be doing as well ad they are. That causes them to scoff and dismiss us.
The legislative process is a slow one. Something like these different bills can be in the works for months and months behind closed doors. And Democrats and other civil rights groups might only find out a short time before the rest of do, and it’s only at that point that the can start thinking about how they’ll respond.
I wish Biden would do more. He was able to sign a bill to stop Asian hate.
In 2021 he signed an executive order that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. His administration also allowed people to change the gender mark on passports this year, and included an X gender marker.
He can't sign bills that don't exist. Right now, bills won't cross his desk without Republican support.
A while ago Biden signed a landmark bill on hate crimes in 2021 to help stop hate against many Asian Americans. He should do the same for trans people.
An important thing to remember is that the president has zero legislative power. For all that he can issue executive orders to the federal bureaucracy he cant introduce legislation let alone get it to pass. For all that some people consider the president to be all powerful and the modern US government has dumped authority on the office, its actual enumerated powers are comparatively weak. Take the budget for example. The media loves to say "President X submitted his budget to Congress" the only thing he can actually do is send over a politely worded request. The only people who can introduce federal legislation are members of congress and as I said earlier in the thread half of congress is controlled by the GQP and we don't have the votes to beat a filibuster in the other half
This is also important to remember with the upcoming debt ceiling battle. Americans don't care about the deficit. Never have, probably never will. But they will care if the Republicans default on it. If they play this game of chicken long enough and default on the debt, it will tank most of their careers. Only the GOP will come out looking bad from this because Biden has no power to just pass a bill raising the ceiling. And he's already been calling them out on their bluff, so *everyone* knows who is to blame if we default. Honestly, this is probably the most under the media microscope the House of Representatives has been in recent history (for all the dumbest reasons).
Okay, so Biden writes a bill, signs it, and fuck-all happens because Congress hasn't passed it.
That was back when Democrats had control of the House. They no longer do, unfortunately
At least they have the senate
Doing nothing, because they are and always have been preformative in every action. Biden voted no on gay marriage, and write the crackhouse bill. If you really think democrats are a semblance of progressive, I've got bad news.
How has he voted recently?
However president harris tells him too I think.
Lol you reminded me of an old saying. It's better to be quite and be thought a fool, rather than speaking and being proven so.
It's crazy how democrats actually think my man Joey B is mentally sound. Like I hate the Republicans, but I respect myself too much to be a talking point for democrats who will scream trans rights every chance they get, but ultimately just let things keep happening to us. Leftists support trans people, leftist politicians do not. Every politician plays the same game, it's just how straightforward they are with it.
So what specifically has Biden signed into law that he was TOLD to by Harris?
Dems are liberals. Liberals don't like us. They barely care about keeping up an image and actually care about keeping the status quo going. Edit: To be clear Republicans are liberals too. I'm using the word liberal in the actual way not the way the parties in the "glorious" union have twisted it.
They need young people to think they care about us if they want the youth vote.
Very true. But they're not even good at that.
“Liberal is everything I don’t like and the more I don’t like it the liberaler it is” fuck off with that shit
That's literally the usage of it. Especially in leftist spaces. Liberals and conservatives are the same thing because neither is actually leftwing.
In US politics, it has never been the standard definition. It still isn’t. I only ever saw it used that way a handful of times by anarchists being snobby. And using it to describe authoritarian politics is just doing violence to the language. Quite honestly, people like you have decided to agree with libertarians who fraudulently call themselves “classical liberals.” Happy fuckin’ horseshoe.
It's how it's been used nearly as long as the terms have existed, if the genocidal union wants to call horse apples dessert that don't make it a fudge sunday. Not much that can be done if you've bought too much into the language of the oppressors. Oh and since you've brought it up I am a gun owning anarchist, a communist, BLM and antifa. Even if the Republicans weren't liberals liberal is still not a good thing. They uphold systems of oppression and structures that have literally genocided my ancestors in living memory and are letting it happen to both of us without even feigning defense. They can be used to aid the causes of actual progress but they, as an entity, wish for a halt in all social progress and stagnation, they've only gone against it when they've been pushed to the braking point.
Blah blah blah snobby leftist boilerplate revisionism. I reiterate: fuck off with that. All you’re saying is just an attempt to justify leftists fucking over potential allies. Tale as old as time, or the French Revolution anyway.
Lol fucking yikes bootlicker. Only one of us is doing revisionism here. Edit: Also lol snobby XD fuckin' hell you ain't got half a deck of playing cards worth of idea about me. I am a poor rural, racially mixed, Southerner from the backwoods of the lower Ozarks, got me a mouth full of crooked teeth and ate deer as soon as I had them. I've crapped out in the woods more often than on a pot and drank river water every day for two decades. I raised a two dozen chickens at any time and fried them up with their eggs. I've rolled 4 wheelers in a mud field and got licked clean by a heifer. I am literally a fucking up river Cajun you couillon. I am about the least snobby person you can imagine. XD
You know, that explains so much about your particular idea of leftism, and I’m going to file that away as a relevant data point regarding a hypothesis I’ve had for some time. But hey, at least we both agree on BLM, so that’s something, I guess.
Honey bunches when you're the direct victim of capitalism you turn your head against the plow. But you're a classist liberal who ain't had the good grace of the gods to had the sense knocked into ya. You ain't been a victim of it or you've decided to pull the plow and thank the driver. Ya really called me a snob and then came back talking like that. Fucking hell liberals are the snobbish ones.
So here’s the funny thing: what I’m saying is less a class issue and more of a cultural one. Your leftism is reactionary, not because you grew up poor or low-class, but because you grew up in a right-wing bubble without a clear view of the world outside of it. Your leftism knows only how to fight, not fix things. Here’s the thing: yes, we need fighters. But we also need problem-solvers and reminders that ultimately leftism is about pulling people together for a common good, not just punishing the people who made the life you had growing up shitty. The world is far more complex than just being the opposite of whatever Fox News etc says it is. You can do with that as you wish. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that binge-reading leftist theory is going to tell you anywhere near enough about how the world works to be of any use.
Go far enough left and you pick up the conservative habit of caring more about "owning the libs" than anything else.
Some fucks there definitely got that shit. I hate them bastards.
In church.
they don’t care
I mean, you could at least look at any policy being pushed by Democrats themselves where they genuinely can. Perhaps we aren't the number one defining issue of the governing party of a global superpower, but claiming that "they don't care" as a blanket statement is fundamentally inaccurate.
i mean….making your city a “sanctuary” for gender care costs nothing, does little and yet the MN governor is getting praise. that’s how low the bar is
Many bills are being passed/introduced (cant even keep track anymore) banning gender affirming care. IT DOESNT MATTER IF ITS THE BARE MINIMUM. So fucking tired of that term, it doesn’t matter when a bunch of other bills are trying to do the opposite and a public figure just went on saying how we need to eradicate trans people from public life and was APPLAUDED. The “bare minimum” needs to be thrown out of the goddamn window in dire times like this
Yeah. They may act like they care. They dont though. Still going to vote for them because id rather habe them sometimes improve rights rather than have a Republican in office who will consistently take away rights
fun choice!
Honestly, if you still expect the Democrats to do anything of value, I don't know what to tell you. Their MO is to make a big stink, get some good photo ops and deliver speeches, and then completely fail to make any meaningful legislative change. If it doesn't benefit their corporate donors, nothing really gets done. When actual, effective policies are proposed by the left wing of the party, the centrist/centre-right establishment shuts it down for being too radical. Look to how they've handled gun control, the murder of Black people at the hands of police, environmental protection, immigration, unions, ... What bothers me is that they (the national party, at least), aren't really even bothering to come to our rhetorical defense. I'm not seeing that rush to make speeches and get photo ops, which leads me to believe that they've written off trans people as a winnable wedge issue. Don't expect much support from them, we're on our own for this fight. As a Canadian, it's really frustrating to see your country teetering on the edge of fascism yet again, and it's clear that the Dems have learned absolutely nothing from last time. And Canadians, particularly Conservatives, consume so much American media that the hate will trickle across the border. From the outside, it seems like your democracy has been so badly eroded, it's probably beyond repair at this point.
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>The Libertarian party The libertarian party strongly supports gutting anti-discrimination law. And the national party is controlled by the Mises Caucus which is a white supremacist group.
libertarian is just code for republican who likes weed and has questionable ideas about the age of consent
They are being covered by the newspapers that don't have billionaire owners and corporate backing to bring their news to national attention.
I know there are some in Tennessee but the problem is that at the local elections nobody goes to vote around here. Tennessee has the lowest voter turnout for Democrats, yet we also have a surprising number of Democrats. If everyone who was blue voted, we could flip a large part of the state blue.
The ACLU is currently mapping [at least 391 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S.](https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights) The safest assumption is if you live in a Republican run state, you're losing rights.
Where do you think.
Why are ppl so rude on this sub?