Our Stories Make A Difference

Most of the time we are getting hammered by the far-right with off-the-wall legislation well one Republican stood up and said enough.

Arizona Republican breaks with party to block transgender health care ban
Arizona state lawmakers have filed the most anti-LGBTQ bills of any state in the country so far this year.
NBC News
By Matt Lavietes
February 11, 2022


An Arizona Republican state senator broke with his party this week, blocking legislation that would have banned gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

State Sen. Tyler Pace voted Wednesday with three Democrats on the Arizona Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, splitting the vote 4-4 and effectively killing the bill. Pace said that while he sees "both sides," he was ultimately swayed by personal stories from LGBTQ youths and their families.

"The testimonies we heard today about the many people who are using these avenues of medical treatments to save lives, to improve lives," he said during the committee hearing, "I don't want my vote to stop those great things."

Don’t let anyone tell you different, we can bring about change by telling our stories.

The bill shot down Thursday, SB 1138, would have prohibited health care providers from providing gender-affirming care to trans and nonbinary minors, including reversible puberty blockers.

Lizette Trujillo, who testified in front of lawmakers in defense of her 14-year-old trans son, said that she was "very surprised" when Pace voted down the measure.

"When you meet our kids and you see them and you meet our community, a lot of those biases that people carry are dispelled, because we're just families trying to do the right thing," she told NBC News. "I think that Senator Pace saw that in that moment."

Being out and visible is hard for some of us I realize but for those who can they can tilt windmills, but there are an awful lot of windmills out there.

For transgender youth and LGBTQ advocates in Arizona, the fight is far from over.

On Monday, state lawmakers will hear oral arguments on bill that would make it illegal for trans people to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity. And on Wednesday, Arizona's House Judiciary Committee will debate a similar version of SB 1138, HB 2608, which aims to restrict gender-affirming care for trans minors.

There is one surefire way out there to end this madness is to VOTE!

Vote them out of office.

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Update 1:00PM

I just found this article…

Trans kids & activists stopped this hateful Arizona bill with their powerful testimony

A key Republican vote switched after hearing transgender people talk about their lives.

LGBTQ Nation

By Molly Sprayregen Tuesday

February 15, 2022

Moving testimony from trans kids and activists have successfully stalled an anti-trans health care bill in Arizona.

S.B. 1138 would prohibit gender-affirming care for trans youth and is one of 15 anti-LGBTQ bills Arizona lawmakers have put forth in 2022.

When it came time for the Health and Human Services Committee to vote on whether or not to advance S.B. 1138, Republican state Sen. Tyler Pace sided with three Democrats against the bill, leading to a 4-4 vote, stalling the bill in committee.

Pace attributed his decision to the powerful words of the more than a dozen people who testified before the committee against the bill.

Words have power!