Ironically, at the same time transfolk are seeking asylum in the U.S., U.S. transfolk have begun fleeing to other countries because of persecution by conservative and MAGA cultural warriors. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trans-ki ... d9a74d2028
This has become an issue in my own household, after my two youngest children discovered Agenda 2025. Here is what Agenda 2025 says about two of my children:
[Emphasis added.]The next conservative President must make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors. This starts with deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (“SOGI”), diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensi- tive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.
Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children, for instance, is not a political Gordian knot inextricably binding up disparate claims about free speech, property rights, sexual liberation, and child welfare. It has no claim to First Amendment protection. Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women. Their product is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime. Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.
In our schools, the question of parental authority over their children’s education is a simple one: Schools serve parents, not the other way around. That is, of course, the best argument for universal school choice—a goal all conservatives and con- servative Presidents must pursue. But even before we achieve that long-term goal, parents’ rights as their children’s primary educators should be non-negotiable in American schools. States, cities and counties, school boards, union bosses, princi- pals, and teachers who disagree should be immediately cut off from federal funds.
The noxious tenets of “critical race theory” and “gender ideology” should be excised from curricula in every public school in the country. These theories poison our children, who are being taught on the one hand to affirm that the color of their skin fundamentally determines their identity and even their moral status while on the other they are taught to deny the very creatureliness that inheres in being human and consists in accepting the givenness of our nature as men or women.
Allowing parents or physicians to “reassign” the sex of a minor is child abuse and must end. For public institutions to use taxpayer dollars to declare the superiority or inferiority of certain races, sexes, and religions is a violation of the Constitution and civil rights law and cannot be tolerated by any government anywhere in the country.
But the pro-family promises expressed in this book, and central to the next conservative President’s agenda, must go much further than the traditional, narrow definition of “family issues.” Every threat to family stability must be confronted.
This resolve should color each of our policies. Consider our approach to Big Tech. The worst of these companies prey on children, like drug dealers, to get them addicted to their mobile apps. Many Silicon Valley executives famously don’t let their own kids have smart phones.2 They nevertheless make billions of dollars addicting other people’s children to theirs. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms are specifically designed to create the digital dependencies that fuel mental illness and anxiety, to fray children’s bonds with their parents and siblings. Federal policy cannot allow this industrial-scale child abuse to continue.
This is not MAGA extremism or religious extremism. This is the Heritage Foundation -- rock solid mainstream conservatism.
One of my two youngest has severe OCD. Now, imagine yourself trying to explain why she shouldn't worry that she could find herself thrown into prison for being who she is. When one's identity is equated with child pornography -- to be literally erased by the government -- how does any trans man or woman not worry -- whether diagnosed with OCD or not. I think I have some skills when it comes to constructing rational arguments in support of a given proposition. This one has me completely stumped.
The best I've got is that my family is lucky enough to live in a state where a comfortable majority of folks do not embrace this hateful, eliminationist attack on trans-folks. But my kids are smart enough to understand that the people of my state may not be able to defend against use of the power of the federal government as a weapon in this vicious culture war. That's made pretty clear in a recent AP article that describes the agenda of the guy who is dominating the race to become the Republican nominee for President of the United States:
https://apnews.com/article/trump-polici ... 4075545e0fTRANSGENDER RIGHTS
Trump says he will ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that “only two genders,” as determined at birth, are recognized by the United States.
As part of his crackdown on gender-affirming care, he will declare that hospitals and health care providers that offer transitional hormones or surgery no longer meet federal health and safety standards and will be blocked from receiving federal funds, including Medicaid and Medicare dollars.
He would push Congress to prohibit hormonal or surgical intervention for transgender minors in all 50 states.
Doctors typically guide kids toward therapy before medical intervention. At that point, hormone treatments such as puberty blockers are far more common than surgery. They have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and are standard treatments backed by major doctors’ organizations, including the American Medical Association.
And of course there's this:
I'm pretty sure Trump was referring to me and my family as "vermin," with the ugly historical connotations 100% intended.Presidential Candidate Donald Trump wrote: We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections,” Trump said toward the end of his speech, repeating his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. “They’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American Dream.
But Trump is only the most extreme of the anti-trans R candidates. DeSantis? Nikki Haley?? https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/ ... 289885007/
If any Republican wins the presidency next fall, I'm going to be asked "Do you think I'm safe, or do I need to find another country?" And as much as I love my country, there is no way I'll be able to look my daughters in the eye and say "I think you're safe here." Canada seems like a much better place for them to live without fear of being demonized for who they are.
And then I'd have to consider something I''d never imagined ever having to even think about. The Canadian government recognizes me as a Canadian citizen. All I have to do is fill out an electronic form to have the rights of a Canadian citizen. Despite my reflexive instincts to stay and fight to make the promise of the United States a reality, why would I want to live in a country where half of the population demonizes members of my family to point of using the government to erase my identity.
And my daughters are only the most personal part of this decision. It's also Sarah, the transgender veteran who is one of several transgender gaming buddies that I hang out with at my favorite local game pub. It's also Vicki, my friend who is a successful game designer. It's Rob, who is employed at my favorite game pub. It's Al, the oldest child of a family we are best friends with. My nephew and his wife. And so on and so on and so on.
Writing all this down, I've convinced myself to fill out the form. Just in case. And I really hate that.
