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Legislature must protect trans Texas lives and vote against anti-LGBTQ bills

Published

5 years ago

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TX – I fear for the safety of my 23-year-old transgender grandchild. She lives in Texas, and the state Legislature has proposed hostile, anti-transgender bills that, if passed, would seriously harm Texas’ transgender children, families and the medical and psychological specialists who care for them.

Texas has the second-largest trans population in the United States. Discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation is egregious. The most vulnerable among us, our children, can suffer irreparable damage by these hate-filled laws. Depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide among trans youth become worse without gender-affirming care by a health care practitioner. Texas Children’s Hospital reported 51 percent of transgender males and 30 percent of transgender females (ages 11-19) attempted suicide at least once in their lifetime. Supportive care can mean the difference between life and death.

Anti-LGBTQ laws, passed around from state to state by the GOP’s Freedom Caucus, attack families everywhere. These are religious views that foster specific ideas based on “God-given” laws. Separation of church and state is an issue in a state that claims 64 percent of its population observes some form of religious indoctrination.

The prejudice against the LGBTQ community is evident by a legislative branch that creates bills attacking the foundation of family life. Individuals who have no trans friends or shun these folks must understand that we can have mutual respect and discover our shared interests by opening their hearts and minds to those who don’t fit inside our previously constructed gender norms.

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