Three Steps Forward, Ten Steps Back

It feels like hate is getting worst, that the hate is getting front page news in the media and the hate is not just words but acts.

Transphobic flyers highlight fears among transgender community in Des Moines
Des Moines Register
By Andrea May Sahouri
October 12, 2019

At the bottom of the flyers, the Stormer Book Club, an identified neo-Nazi group, encouraged residents to join the local chapter. The flyers depicted a little girl running away from a transgender woman in the women's bathroom, and urged taxpayers to tell representatives they are against "gay socialism." They also included a historically offensive slur against transgender people.

The Stormer Book Clubs are local white nationalist groups affiliated with the website the Daily Stormer. The Iowa Department of Human Rights, the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, both state agencies, and the independent advocacy group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement said they were not sure about the extent of the groups' presence in Des Moines.

Was the hate spurred on by the action of the Republican legislature?

In April, the Iowa Legislature passed a law that denies public health insurance coverage for transgender Iowas seeking transition-related medical services by allowing government entities to opt out of using public insurance dollars, including Medicaid, for this type of care. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May.

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American views of transgender people: the impact of politics, personal contact, and religionEconomist/YouGov
By Kathy Frankovic
October 11, 2019

As the Supreme Court examines cases it has already heard this term about the rights of gay and transgender people, the American public in the latest Economist/YouGov poll are – for the most part – tolerant and supportive of transgender employment rights. However, Republicans (and in some cases, men) take different positions.

The overall public supports laws prohibiting discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, with Republicans closely divided.

This ties in with what happened with Ms. DeGeneres and former President Bush sitting together at a football game. We need to not shun away from those we disagree with but open a dialog with them, I not say we do that with the far right who we have no hope in changing but rather with the centrists who we can possibly change.

More than one in three (39%) people know someone who is transgender, and the probability of this is even higher among Democrats and younger adults. Those with personal contact are more likely to believe there is “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of discrimination against transgender people. Half of Republicans (50%) and 88 percent of Democrats say there is “a fair amount” or “a great deal” of discrimination against transgender people.

If you know a trans person you’re less likely to hate trans people.

More people support us in military than oppose us.

About half (49%) of Americans support allowing transgender people to serve in the military—opposing the president’s executive order banning most transgender military personnel. The order is now being enforced while it continues to be litigated. Republicans (58%) support the ban.

Another finding is not a surprise, religious conservatives oppose us more than other religions…

That helps explain why Republicans support (53%-29%) allowing a religious exemption for medical personnel to refuse to provide services they say violates their religious beliefs. The overall public takes the opposite view, 50%-28%. Very religious Republicans favor the exception by nearly three to one; other Republicans are closely divided.

Republicans are very different from the rest of the public when it comes to how they look at transgender people. Republicans mostly believe someone should be thought of as the gender they were assigned at birth, while other adults are more likely to acknowledge the transition.

There is a quote that I like from James Baldwin,

“We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”

The Republicans’ hatred of us is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.

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Transgender woman describes hate-filled attack that almost killed herCNN
By Sara Sidner and Meridith Edwards
October 10, 2019

Dallas (CNN)The staples keeping Daniela Calderon Rivera's skin together look like a zipper down her abdomen.

Stitches and scars mark her right arm. There's an exit wound on her back.
She was shot six times in an apparently hate-fueled attack by a stranger she thought would kill her.
She survived. But her fear is far from over.

Calderon Rivera lives in Dallas, where there has been a string of brutal attacks on transgender women in the last few years.

Hatred is top down, the president sets the tone and Trump has set a tone where violence and discrimination is acceptable. It is not only acceptable against us but also the disabled, foreigners, non-Christian, and those who are different from “us.”