Refugees In Your Own Country.

I came across another family fleeing the Republican states, I wrote about a family fleeing to Connecticut here and you read the article in the CtVoice here, now there is an article about a Vermont family.

Taking Refuge: Transgender Newcomers Find Safety, Services and Community in Vermont 

Seven Days

By RACHEL HELLMAN

November 22, 2023

Kate and Drew Streip never planned to leave Chattanooga. The young couple — born-and-bred Tennesseans — were raising their three children in Streip's childhood home in a hip, close-knit neighborhood they cherished, within easy reach of their extended family.

But when Tennessee passed a law in March prohibiting gender-affirming medical care for transgender children, the Streips bid farewell to their beloved state. Their son Sam, 11, is transgender. Remaining in Chattanooga was not an option.

[…]

The Streips have joined an influx of transgender people and their families drawn to Vermont by the promise of relative safety, crucial services and what they view as the state's reputation for tolerance. Newcomers say they left their home states because of the national surge in hatred aimed at transgender people as well as the passage of laws that restrict gender-affirming care. Vermont's emerging role as a haven stems in large part from its laws offering formal protections to LGBTQ+ residents, the array of support services available in the Green Mountains and a health care system that is seen as accommodating to transgender people.

For those here in Connecticut contact the local Pride centers they are helping immigrants from the Republican states. 

The Streips have joined an influx of transgender people and their families drawn to Vermont by the promise of relative safety, crucial services and what they view as the state's reputation for tolerance. Newcomers say they left their home states because of the national surge in hatred aimed at transgender people as well as the passage of laws that restrict gender-affirming care. Vermont's emerging role as a haven stems in large part from its laws offering formal protections to LGBTQ+ residents, the array of support services available in the Green Mountains and a health care system that is seen as accommodating to transgender people.

There are other trans summer camps for children around and other Pride centers.

The article goes on to interview four other trans children who fled north.

Does this sound like America where we have political refugees from other states? Where LGBTQ+ people don't feel safe and have to flee. Where women are having second thoughts about working in states with abortion bans. Where teachers worry about getting arrested for say the wrong word. This doesn't sound like the America that I grew up in.