Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws
And What You Can Do
Who Am I
Maëlys
she/her
backend dev
activist
Gender & Race Matters
- In San Fransisco, being perceived as a man wearing a dress would get you arrested well into the 1970s.
- In Canada, being “incurably homosexual” was enough to be in prison for life in the seventies and investigated by the RCMP as a national security threat in the nineties.
- In the UK, it was illegal to “promote homosexuality” as late as 2003.
- In multiple states of the US, “homosexual conduct” was illegal until the same year and same-sex marriage until 2015.
Dog Whistles
Queer and trans people are perceived as sexual deviants, and our deviance makes us seen as a threat in gendered spaces and to impressionable children.
"parental rights"
"religious liberty"
"freedom of speech"
"fairness"
"military readiness"
"state rights"
Texas
Standards of Care for Youth
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American Academy of Paediatrics
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American Medical Association
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Endocrine Society
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Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine
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American Psychiatric Association
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American Academy of Family Physicians
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American Psychological Association.
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86% of trans youth in the US thought about killing themselves
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56% tried
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Suicide attempts go down by 93% when a trans youth is with a supportive family - in line with cisgender peers
Florida
In Florida, they changed the law to:
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ban gay people from adopting children.
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ban same-sex marriage.
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double-ban it with a constitutional amendment
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ban trans girls from playing sports with cisgender girls.
...and kept the law that made it illegal for gay men to have sexual intimacy.
Utah
There are 75,000 students participating in high school sports in Utah. Of those, only four are trans, and only one is a transgender girl.
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85% of trans and non-binary youth said debates about laws restricting their rights negatively impacted their well-being
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64% of trans youth avoided gym class because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable
Over half of trans youth in the US thought about ending their life in the past year alone
Why Youth
It polls well.
What You Can Do
Trans Lifeline
Trevor Project
Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund
GoFundMes
Be willing to be uncomfortable
Thank You.
Discussion
Is there anything that resonated?
Is there any information that was new?
Is there anything you plan on doing different?
Is there anything you will keep doing?
For the transcript and slides
https://bit.ly/37liwiz
Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws And What You Can Do