Ever been mad as hell and scared to death at the same time? Well, lately I have been, and it is not a great or happy combination.

I watch the news on TV, listen to NPR on the radio, and see seemingly countless news items on Facebook, primarily from red states, banning transgender people in sports and barring transgender kids getting the lifesaving — yes, lifesaving — gender-affirming health care they require.

I also see new laws that prevent LGBTQ+ topics from being discussed openly and honestly in school, and laws allowing educators to call kids by legal names and use pronouns that don’t reflect how they actually feel about themselves. As a transgender woman, this infuriates me. If you’re a person who values civil rights in all its forms, these laws and bills probably infuriate you, too.

This also scares me, as I reside here in my generally accepting little corner of the country, because I keep wondering if these cruel, bigoted, out-of-step red state politicians have the broad voter support to win nationally and take control of the federal government.

My heart goes out particularly to the transgender children and their supportive families as they negotiate these cruel new laws. I suspect that the legislators who come up with these backward laws hope that these trans kids will somehow “grow out” of being transgender, suck it up, and live life according to the sex of the body they came with. This is, in the majority of cases, extremely unlikely.

If the legislation aims to nip trans kids in the bud, essentially shutting down the pipeline of any “new” transgender adults, they are wrong. The legislators behind these bills also will likely end up with blood on their hands, as trans kids (and adults) sometimes choose death over life as their “wrong” selves.

As a transgender woman stuck living as a male, I contemplated the very same thing — twice. That is how massively strong a force gender identity can be. People whose gender identity has always matched their sex, and gender and sex are different, frequently struggle to understand the real intensity, and real need, transgender people have to be their true selves.

In reality, these bogus new laws will affect only a very small population of these states, but the impact on the people affected will be devastating. That’s what makes it so easy for these state legislatures to get away with crafting these laws — there’s not a lot of public resistance on the state level. If these legislators tried to limit state Medicare/Medicaid benefits, the backlash would be huge and swift due to the number of people affected.

Despite this, the people and governments in blue and purple states are watching these primarily red states and shaking their heads. There may be short-term gain for politicians who are proposing these anti-trans and similar and broader anti-LGBTQ bills. But some people and companies may decide they don’t want to relocate to these states, depriving them of valuable tax revenue.

Likewise, some tourists may opt for other travel destinations. Further, I have read that the federal government has threatened to cut off funding for education and health care for these states. Time will tell if these states come to regret these laws.

I call out open-minded U.S. senators and representatives of both parties to take action to supersede these backward and cruel state laws. I know the states’ rights argument is powerful, and a favorite claim of Republicans, but clearly, federal protection for the LGBTQ community is needed here.

I would urge them to revisit the 1964 Civil Rights Act and revise or introduce a new bill to cover two distinct items: sexual orientation and gender. While the 1964 law mostly speaks to voting and access to public spaces, it makes no mention of access to needed medical care. As some doctors claim religious freedom to avoid treating members of the LGBTQ community, this needs to be addressed as matters of life and death, and the personal physical and emotional health of individuals, to my mind, should trump any claimed religious rights.

All this as many transgender people, like myself, chose to proudly take part in the Transgender Day of Visibility. 

Mariel Addis is a native of Florence. She left the area for 16 years but returned in 2013.]]>