158 Anti-Trans Bills Already Introduced in 2023
#157
Welcome to Third Cultured, a newsletter about Queer people in diplomacy, politics, and war from the perspective of Kyle Borland (he/they). My goal is to highlight all the ways today is different (and not so) from yesterday.
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This edition:
Opinion Essay
A List of LGBTQ+ Wins
Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate, Laws & Violence Around the World
Extra Links, Quotes & Gay Shit
Opinion Essay
158.
That’s how many anti-trans bills have already been filed in 2023, across 22 states.
If we count all anti-LGBTQ+ bills, we’re up to 162. Barely halfway through January.
At this pace, 2023 will easily beat the record 340+ anti-LGBTQ+ bills we saw in 2022. Some of the worst offending states – Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana – haven’t even begun their legislative sessions and it doesn’t take a plugged-in observer to know how that will go once those states can begin filing bills. In Mississippi, the GOP is leveraging its anti-abortion law to further target trans healthcare.
Anyone with a brain knew that attacks on abortion are/were only the beginning of the conservative war on individual rights. This is about control. All of it.
In Utah, a Democratic state senator called the GOP’s “protect the kids” bluff by proposing a ban on plastic surgery on all minors unless it is medically necessary, particularly breast implants for cis kids – needless to say, the GOP shot it down.
These bills have real-time consequences for all Queer people across North America. Just this past week, there have been several clashes between the LGBTQ+ community and the energized right-wing menace. In Calgary, the Queer community saw the second such confrontation in less than a month, protesting at a local drag show.
Queer people need more centrist and conservative allies to defend us and speak out in the way Ana did because these attacks are only increasing in frequency. In Baltimore, allies formed a “rainbow wall” to shield attendees and performers at a drag queen story hour from the hateful signs and chants. In a pleasant surprise, The View’s Ana Navarro said it plain and simple at a Miami drag brunch.
Here’s hoping our allies keep showing up for us. We’re going to need them.
Stay vigilant and healthy, beautiful people.
As always, thanks for reading. (And, don’t forget to “like” this post!)
Kyle (@kgborland)
PS – Sign up for “Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust” with Dr. Jake Newsome and the Invisible Histories Project on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27, 2020) – next Friday! – at 6pm CST.
A List of LGBTQ+ Wins
A messy era of gay comedies is finally paying off (Polygon)
A new year and a new era of LGBTQ+ journalism (News is Out)
Anti-Defamation League bolsters efforts to address anti-LGBTQ hate (Philadelphia Gay News)
CA bill aims to protect transgender youths' privacy (Bay Area Reporter)
How to be an LGBT Ally: A Guide for Supporting the LGBT Community (The Enlightened Mindset)
HRC’s first Black queer woman leader (Dallas Voice)
Indian-American attorney becomes first LGBTQ woman of colour to take oath as Oakland City Council member (Hindu Times)
Meet the historian who is driving a bus full of banned queer books across the U.S. (Xtra)
More LGBTQ phrases allowed on North Carolina vanity plates (AP)
Project maps queer Oakland with elders' stories (Bay Area Reporter, Mapping Queer OAK)
Rally shows support for LGBTQ community after hateful graffiti scrawled on Pride Center (The Journal News)
'Shaking things up': Minnesota’s LGBTQ lawmakers see new strength at Capitol (MPR News)
UK conversion therapy ban to include trans people (BBC)
Where Change Is Coming for LGBTQ Rights Around the World (Bloomberg, Yahoo! News)
Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate, Laws & Violence Around the World
America’s far right is increasingly protesting against LGBT people (The Economist)
Anti-trans protestors promise to sue the NCAA for giving students opportunities (LGBTQ Nation)
Ashley Diamond Won a Legal Victory to Protect Incarcerated Trans People in 2016. Now, She’s Suing Again (them)
CA Groups mull '24 ballot measure on 'zombie' Prop 8 (Bay Area Reporter)
Cabinet set to approve appointment of anti-LGBTQ Avi Maoz to educational role (Times of Israel)
Church of England rejects same-sex marriage, says union is between "one man and one woman for life" (CBS News)
Couple confound Romania's tough anti-LGBTQ laws (France24)
Flyers’ Provorov cites religion for boycott on Pride night (AP)
Gay investor aims to boost LGBTQ-led startups (Bay Area Reporter)
Gay Official in Viral Speedo Video Explains It's Not What It Seems (The Advocate)
Comment: As Dr. Matt Heinz – the member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors the Right is freaking out about – said, if the person in the background had been a woman in a bikini (rather than a 24-year old man in a speedo) there would be no scandal or outrage.
Gay Rwandan man begs Suella Braverman to see refugees as human beings: ‘They have a story’ (Pink News)
George Santos, supporters of anti-LGBTQ+ laws, participated in drag shows and went by the name “Kitara” in Brazil (Vanity Fair)
GOP bill would throw librarians in prison if they don’t remove books about sexual or gender identity (LGBTQ Nation)
Judge dismisses suit from LGBTQ students who alleged bias at Christian colleges (WashPost)
LGBTQ CA senators given key committee chairmanships (Bay Area Reporter)
Nepal’s Sunil Pant, LGBTQI activist, filmmaker, focuses on ‘forced marriage’ (Gay City News)
Ron DeSantis demands universities give information about students’ gender-affirming care (LGBTQ Nation)
The Data on Funding for LGBTQ+ Causes Is Seriously Incomplete. Here’s Why. (Pride Source)
These two major shifts sparked a mental health crisis among LGBTQ youth in California (SF Chronicle)
Transgender Kenyans Seek Refuge Amid Backlash Over Activist's Death (VoA)
UK censors Demi Lovato posters for causing “serious offense to Christians.” (LGBTQ Nation)
What it’s like to be queer parents amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ backlash (WashPost)
What U.K. veto of Scottish gender bill means for secession, LGBT rights (WashPost)
Why Trans People in North Dakota Are Planning to Flee U.S. (Daily Beast)
Extra Links, Quotes & Gay Shit
Coming to Terms with the ‘Gay Holocaust’ (Gay and Lesbian Review)
Decoding Indian Film ‘RRR’s’ Popularity in the West: The popularity of the Telugu-language film in the U.S. has bewildered people in India (New Lines Magazine)
Extremely Hardcore: Twitter’s staff spent years trying to protect the social media site against impulsive billionaires who wanted to use the reach of its platform for their own ends, and then one made himself the CEO. (The Verge)
It's Time to Talk About Gay Steroid Use (Out)
Maren Morris Apologizes for Country Music’s Treatment of LGBTQ+ People on ‘Drag Race’ (Rolling Stone)
Paganism in a Post-Christian World (Patheos)
Protecting Black Women is Abolitionist (olurinatti)
Reviled, reclaimed and respected: the history of the word ‘queer’ (The Conversation)
“That's So Raven” Costume Designer on the Show's Sartorial Significance 20 Years Later (Teen Vogue)
The America trap: Why our enemies often underestimate us (WashPost)
The Books That Helped Me Figure Out Modern Queer Life (IN Magazine)
The Manufacture and Weaponization of Shame — with Cathy O’Neil (New Lines Magazine)
‘The Real Friends of WeHo’ Is a Colossal Gay Nightmare (Daily Beast)
The Victorian Reformers Who Defended Same-Sex Desire (The New Yorker)
Unmasking Pedro Pascal, the Complicated New Face of Sci-Fi (WIRED)
Why Is America the Most Violent Country in the Western World? (LitHub)