Life For Trans People Under Trump

trying to like find any psychological way to survive. And for me, kind of the way I like to survive is just through information. So this episode, we're going to get into how we see life for trans people under a second Trump term, based on both what he's done in the past, what he's promised to do in the future.

And I know, in like the days after the election, like LGBTQ, like crisis hotlines all saw massive spike in people calling in to the point where some people were even unable to reach someone, And like I understand, this is a very scary moment in time, and as much as it might not be fun to hear about how

things are all gonna get worse. There's also some misconceptions, and I think there's also a degree of power in actually being able to reasonably ascertain what things could look like instead of just kind of feeling it out and just going purely on vibes. So to kind of start, I guess I'll mention some things that Trump did in his first term that then got undone by Biden, which will probably just end up being reinstated. We don't know

these for sure, but that's like a decent guess. So one of the first things Trump did when he got into office is he rolled back in Obama era memo directing schools to protect trans students from discrimination.

have been incarcerated is that they have to do it. It is something that is required by the Constitution of the United States. The Eighth Amendment holds that there is a ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and withholding medical care is so obviously a form of cruel unusual punishment that even staggeringly right wing Supreme courts have been like, no, you actually have to give people medical care in prison. So this is one that's going to be a little bit difficult for him to do. I don't know, he

might find some way to do it. This is one of the ones where there's a real potential for it to get worse, and we simply do not know enough about what legal strategy is going to be here to say for sure.

So that's kind of one shift in how things might be slightly more challenging.

it and they weren't. So that's something that has been fought for, and that's something I mean, the trans community is small enough that that is the thing that has specifically been fought for by people who I consulted to make this episode. So, yeah, these these rights have been dearly one and it's going to be very hard to protect them. If I'm doing something where there's there's something about policy implementation, assume that I talked to Krinn about this and that's why it's accurate.

supports them by just giving them direct cash transfers. They used to their work too, but yeah, and it direct caast transfers are one of the most effective ways that you can help trans people. And if you give money to this organization, they'll be links in the chat you can help do this. So let's get into how things are going to get worse. Unfortunately, trudministration, Congress, and state legislators have an enormous amount of power to make everything worse.

We're mostly going to be focusing on what Trump and Congress can do well. We'll get into the legislator's a bit at the end. So there are a lot of levers of state power and sort of policy techniques that Trump can pull here to make things worse. We're going to go roughly from easiest to hardest to pull off. So the first lever is federal funding. Probably the easiest place that this lever can get pulled is in the

education system. Trump can unfortunately fairly easily implement what amounts to a don't say trans ban on a federal level by threatening to withhold federal funding for any school that doesn't mandate things like misgendering and dead dating students and banned And this is I think he's explicitly talked about is like banning anyone in classes, any teachers from talking about traditioning at all. He's also threatened to have teachers who talk to students about being trans like investigated by

the Department of Justice. We'll get more into Department just investigations in a bit. He's also used an explicit threat, the same threat of cutting state funding to stop schools some letting kids use the right bathroom in the locker room it's also possible he will do that through Title nine. But there's a lot of ways that he can do this very easily that are probably not going to be able to be stopped. And this is going to get

extremely bad very quickly. Another sort of avenue that he has is I guess what you'd call like the High Amendment for trans people. So for people who don't know what the High Amendment is, the High Amendment is a writer that bans federal spending on abortion. It's been like modified, it's not like the one hundred percent band that he used to be because now there's like exceptions for rape and incests and stuff life of their parents too. But

it is a very very effective Republican tool. It's actually also Joe Biden helped implement that that's been used to limit are access to abortion, and we already have seen the start of these kind of things even under Biden. There was a version of this of a kind of High Amendment for trans healthcare that was an attempt to get the DoD to not be able to spend money on trans healthcare. That's already a provision that's been tacked

onto one of the most recent spending bills. That went through because Joe Manchin like defected and joined the Republicans to get it onto one of the spending omnibuses, and that was again just for the Department of Defense. We are very likely to see versions of these attached to every single spending bill that explicitly say that government funding cannot be used for trans healthcare. It will definitely be used to do to say you can't use it for

trans healthcare for minors. It is possible this will be expanded to adults. We don't know. It depends how far there's sort of anti trans I don't know the arrangement goes, but that that is a real danger. And this can also be expanded to refusing to allow Medicare and Medicaid to pay for anything at a clinic that does trans healthcare, even if the money isn't funding the healthcare. That's also possible that would be absolutely catastrophic for the medical system.

Even just a government band that you know, prevents things like Medicare and Medicaid and like government health care from covering transition in the first place is a disaster. But if they go further and you know, prevent clinics who like provide trans healthcare from taking Medicare and Medicaid. That's bad enough that I think that is in terms of what is the thing we most need to be worried about right now, I think that's the worst possible thing that can happen very quickly, because.

And the thing about Senate reconciliation is that you can't fill a buster them, so these can just get rammed through really really quickly, and there's not going to be enough opposition in the House to stop it either. So I mean, some of this stuff probably could be done with executive orders, but it's quite possible you won't even need that because it can just be rammed through in spending bills, which.

and this is very, very bad. What Scrimetti versus Us is probably going to cost us is trans people as a group being protected by the fourteenth Amendment. So the fourteenth Amendment is supposed to provide everyone equal protection under the law. The way that's been interpreted is that if you're passing a law that directly targets a group, there are certain levels of scrutiny that have to be applied to it to see whether or not it's discriminatory and

can be allowed to proceed. What's probably going to happen here is that trans people aren't going to be held as protected at all, which means that the fourteenth Amendment will not protect us from things that are unbelievably obviously discriminatory, like healthcare bands for youth, which is again literally the same procedures that are happening for trans children are done to SIS children all the time, and it's fine. Yeah,

so this is very obviously discrimination. We're probably going to lose it because the Supreme Court is full of a bunch of the worst people in the entire world. It is technically possible that Gorstch defects and drags someone else over and we get a thing that says we have intermediate scrutiny. That would be the best win we could possibly get on this. It's extremely it's unlikely. We're probably

going to lose it. And this is also going to overturn the landmark case Bostock versus Clayton County, which is the one that rules that you can't discriminate against transpeople based on gener identity.

I don't know how many SIS people understand this, but the level of trans employment discrimination in the workplace is unbelievable.

but the full report isn't out yet. But what I will say is that the the trans level of unemployed unemployment right now in the US is very low. The level of unemployment for trans people is nineteen thirty six, great depression levels, and this is before we lose these protections. It is also worth noting this will not overturn like state level of protections. So if you're in a state that like has specifically bandit, you will have some more recourse.

But we're losing fourteenth medic protections. But a federal level would basically allow explicit employment discrimination. Yeah, if someone's trans, it's possible that case goes like marginally better for us and that doesn't happen. But it's hard to see how that would happen. The lawyers I talked to you will say this is not this is not a legal opinion, but they seem to think that this is how this would go, and the policy people seem to think it'd

be going the same way. Yeah, there's some other things that can happen. Trump has been promising, We're going to get federal investigations into clinics that provide gender affirming care, also into hospitals. You know, there's gonna be enormous legal harassment. This has already been happening on a sort of lower level, but from sort of individual lawsuits and state attorney generals. But this is going to be happening with the full backing of the Department of Justice. You can look at

like what Texas has been doing the past four years. Yeah, with them investigating not just clinics, but also like parents of trans kids. Yeah, parents, like individual health care providers. He was also pledging to investigate like the companies that make hormones.

one of the main ways transition and puberty blockers. That one is less likely to make it through the Senate. But it also again depends on how cowardly the Democrats are and how much they decide to cave. And this is the moment that there is another thing that you can do and you should start doing this right now, which is this is the moment right now to start pressuring your congress person about this, like start calling them, start pressuring them, and start making sure that they don't

fully sort of turn on trans rights. This is just something that you can concretely do right now, because these people need to understand that there are consequences for turning on trans people, because if there aren't consequences, they are going to do it now. Trump has also called for a ban on recognizing trans people at a federal level on like all identification documents things like that also would outlaw non binary marketings on passports and stuff. That would

also be really bad. That's also something that probably requires a law. And that's again and everything. Call your congress people, like pressure them now, start doing it now, do not wait until he's actually an office.

support your ability to participate in public life. And that is the result of an intentional misinformation campaign and essentially like a hate crime campaign and a hate speech campaign that that has been going on for the past like four years because Republicans knew that they already lost the battle on like regular gay people, so they moved on to the next subjugated class. And that's something we've talked about for a while. And this is like something that

is shifting. So you have to actually verbally express to your representatives that this is something that you actually do care about. Otherwise they will look at these like general polls and be like, oh, this isn't popular anymore and shift and cave on it. They need to know that their constituents actually do care about these things if we want these things to not get passed through Congress.

it goes both ways. Part of what's been going on is that, like, we haven't had the kind of giant advocacy push outside of some trans people, but we have no money, we have no resources, and we need there to actually be large, widespread and vocal public support because otherwise all of the stuff that's happening here is going to get even worse. And you know the word when we could get very well, the worst case scenario things

which are full bands for adults. That's the thing that they could pass through Congress, But right now they don't have the support for it. Yeah, However, Comma's going to get to there are signs that the Democratic Party is deciding to throw us under the bus.

they them ad being the prime example of this. According to a PBS report, from October seventh to October twentieth, Trump's campaign and pro Trump groups spent an estimated thirty nine million dollars on anti trans ads, and Trump ended up spending more money on these ads than on housing, immigration, and the economy combined. This was his main focus in

his final ad push, specifically after the September debate. A new report from journalist Casey Parks using data from ad Impact, shows that Republicans spent nearly two hundred and fifteen million dollars on anti trans ads this election cycle. And this figure does not include cable or streaming ads, this is just network TV. And these anti trans ads weren't just focused on the presidential election. Other Republicans in various Senate races picked up on the success of these anti trans

ads and used them in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Now, initially some thought that maybe this would be a repeat of twenty twenty two. Maybe this extra focus on this small group of the population wouldn't lead to kind of electoral successes, pointing to how a similar strategy failed during the twenty twenty two mid terms, but then election Day came and we saw that there was a degree of success or at least these did not hurt them in any substantial way, and Republicans won many of the Senate

races on anti trans campaign messages. I'm going to quote from an article in The New York Times called it Trump and the Republicans bet big on anti trans ads across the country.

educated women. One of the things you see in the focus groups is that the moms get really visibly angry on this issue, said Jim McLaughlin, a Republican polster who works for mister Trump and other Republican campaigns. Quote it's a fairness issue. They don't want their daughters to lose a scholarship, and they don't want them to get hurt.

anti trans statements consistently got the loudest applause. Though some state level Democrats like Representative Seth Multon of Massachusetts and Tom Soulsey of New York, as well as some mother DNZ advisors, have jumped onto the blame game, citing trans issues as if not the reason, then a reason Democrats just completely fumble this election, claiming that the Democratic Party is far to the left on trans issues and the average American. But largely the Dems were not out campaigning

for trans people loud and proud the selection cycle. Oh, Trans issues were intentionally pushed off stage at the DNC, and the Harris campaign tried their hardest to sidestep this issue, giving vague non answers and whether trans people should be able to receive healthcare by just stating that her administration would quote unquote follow the law and invoking states rights

type framing. And I see this as just a massive failure to confront an issue that Republicans have like slingshot into the spotlight, and it shows a failure to do things because it's like the right thing to do, not just necessarily for some like electoral gain, well.

and they showed a willingness to do that on trans rights. Now, even if some of these people that Democrats included claim to not like hate trans people individually, they have allowed questions around access to bathrooms, sports and government fund and healthcare to be used as a wedge against trans rights as a whole and the ability for trans people to

be able to exist in public life. To close. I think we should have just a brief discussion on what people can do specifically during these next seventy five days and even in the months after, like what people can do to prepare for some of the worst aspects of this, specifically on the healthcare front. Now, we did a series of episodes a few years ago on DIYHRT there are both pharmaceutical and home brewed options for homones that can

be ordered online. Now since that episode, home brewed distribution networks have spread throughout the United States. There's probably one already in whatever city is closest to you. Now, access to those networks does require a degree of, like in person community, and I know that can be challenging. You can certainly do organizing online on discord. You can certainly find trans people on discord that can help you learn

where pharmaceutical grade estrogen can be ordered online. But that type of online organizing will only get more dangerous under a Trump term, especially if the legal status of these hormones change. So I will always emphasize the importance of in person community, and it might just take like learning if there's a trans band in the city you're in going to some shows, learning where trans people go. Where trans people gather is their community picnics is their book

fares is their zine fares? Like? Is there like even gaming conventions? Right, just places that there might be a number of trans people gathered and talk to them about being transd talk to them about the issues that you're facing. It might take a few months to gain trust and become friends, but that's just how friendships work anyway, and

that can be challenging. And there may not be something like this in a city super close to you, which is why online connections are useful, and sometimes it might require a little bit of travel. Now, what we can do, at least right now is stockpile things in case things get harder to maintain or produce. There's multiple forms of these hormones that can be stored, and I do believe that there will be some form of home brewed option that will most likely continue to exist even if prescribed

hormones get restricted. And a part of why I emphasize kind of doing this in person as well, especially if you're a minor, that will just get more dangerous to do under a second Trump term. I will point people to the website diyhrt dot wiki. It's currently the best information source on dosing testing, how to find supplies and options for ordering hormones now, because changing legal paperwork on the federal or state level often takes a while. If that's something that you want to do, now is the

time to start. There's still seventy days until Trump takes office and some of these changes could start being put into effect. You should absolutely apply for a passport now. Depending on many variables, it may be advantageous to have your legal name and gender marker match whatever you more

easily pass as, rather than your gender identity. Now I understand why this is less than ideal and if you think that this might just inhibit your transition progress and push you further back into the closet, especially if the option of changing your gender marker on federal documents just like goes away during the next four years, then people should just go ahead and get that stuff changed asap. But it's something to reflect on and consider. Lastly, I

want to mention something about personal safety. Over the course of the past week, I've from friends around the country experiencing a spike in anti queer and misogynistic violence chuds, frat boys, and just asshole men have been way more willing to just openly harass queer people out in public. Some of this I think is just Trump supporters quote

unquote celebrating the election results. But once Trump takes office, I expect this type of harassment to start slowly increasing as truds feel like they can get away with more just open misogyny, homophobia, racism, etc. I know a lot of people have been talking about or posting about buying firearms, and firearms is one of the last things you should

buy in a panic. This is a very careful and calculated choice for you need to make about your own personal safety, your own mental health, your own willingness to carry and train with the gun. This is its own topic, but I do recommend buying and carrying pepperjel for basically all queer people and women. It's a great self defense tool. It spreads less than pepper spray, so you're going to be less likely to just spray yourself. Saber is a good brand. Buy it for yourself, buy it for your friends.

Uh Mia, do you have anything else you want to add?

theorists of the last of this century. And there's a new additional Whipping Girl that's come out recently, and it is it is one of the fundamental sort of texts to understand the experience to transfent people in this country and why things have gotten the way that they've gotten. So yeah, go go read Whipping Girl. It's spectacular. And then I want to plug one more thing that you

can give money to. So I mean again, another very effective way for s people to support trans people is give them money, because all of us are unbelievably broke like all of the time. Another place you can give money to is the TRANSSICE Funding Project. We'll have that in this too, when they they give out grants to other just like trans groups who are doing organizing or doing other kinds of support work. Mutual land, et cetera,

et cetera. So that's money that goes directly to trans people. Yeah, and then, obviously, as we've said, this is the forces

people part of the episode. After our after our four trans people part, go call your congress people, Go pressure them, Go show up to their offices and make it extremely clear that it is unacceptable to write off trans people and that they need to be willing to successfully stop these writers and successfully do whatever they can to chant out the works to make sure that the Republicans cannot pass bills that will harm us even more than the things that they're already going to do.