Have You?

I have.

I even picked out a spot, it will be somewhere on the Canadian coast in Nova Scotia if I have to flee. I figured that will be like New England... and the lobster are fantastic!

Transgender Americans weigh leaving U.S. over Trump’s policies. Some already have

LA Times

By Kevin Rector

March 5, 2025

• Transgender Americans fear a slate of Trump administration policies targeting gender-affirming medical care and U.S. passports that recognize their identities.
• Many are now making plans to flee the country, or have already done so. They are saving money, getting travel documents in order, considering foreign jobs and even applying for asylum abroad.

Yeah, I'm not worried but concerned, keeping an eye out for trouble.

What does it say about the country now? That people are worrying like they did back in 1930s in Germany? What does it say that we are on the brink of a coup like in Argentina or another third world dictatorship?

Transgender Americans and their families are reaching similar conclusions across the country amid numerous anti-transgender policies from the Trump administration. They include directives to defund or even criminalize gender-affirming medical care, punish teachers who support gender nonconforming kids at school, ban transgender people from bathrooms and sports teams, and cast doubt not only on their legal documents but their very existence.

I imagine back in the 1930s trans people wondering if they should flee Germany, when Kristallnacht happened the level of anxiety probably shot up. Then May 10th. Then it was too late.

My ancestors left their homelands to escape antisemitism. Will my son have to leave the U.S. because he’s trans?

Trump’s executive orders scapegoating transgender people echo past persecutions of Jews

Forward

By Sheri Allen

February 14, 2025

My grandparents and their families fled their birth countries, settling in the United States, to escape the scourge of antisemitism. Now, I must wonder if my trans son, Preston, will need to make a similar decision, and leave this country that was once a safe haven for the persecuted.

My father’s family, the Berkowitzes, fled Poland after living through the horrific 1903 Gomel Pogrom. My mother’s family, the Warsaskis, lived in Czestochowa, in southern Poland, and endured virulent antisemitism — forced to pay higher taxes and denied the same educational and professional opportunities as their Christian neighbors. My great uncle Myer was the first family member to immigrate to the U.S., landing in Galveston, Texas on July 7, 1913.

Now, under President Donald Trump’s second administration, this country that presented my family with a safe place to start over seems poised to directly threaten the safety and wellbeing of trans people like my son.

Is this America?

KXAN reports,

Conversations in Texas transgender communities this week included talk of “escape plans” to flee eroding civil rights. Similar conversations came during the 2023 regular legislative session, when state lawmakers filed more anti-LGBTQ+ legislation than any prior session.

Moving to another state can cost thousands of dollars, disconnects a person from their community and medical care. Remote work may remain an option for some, but most Americans would also need to find a new job after such a move.

Those prohibitive factors are ones that Denver-based nonprofit Trans Continental Pipeline (TCP) hopes to ameliorate.

“We help queer people get out of the states that don’t really like us and come to Colorado,” TCP executive director Keira Richards said. “We’ve been told by national analysts that Colorado is the safest state for queer people. So we’re trying to help people get here.”

What does this remind you of?

Possibly the Underground Railroad?