Know Your Enemy
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The Anti-Trans Agenda (w/ Gillian Branstetter)
🕑 Added 2022-03-20 17:50:01 +0000 UTCMatt and Sam talk to Gillian Branstetter, press secretary for the National Women’s Law Center, about the spate of anti-trans laws sweeping the country: What do these interventions do? Who is pushing them? And why?
The American right has long been invested in policing gender boundaries, but its fixation on trans people — and trans children, in particular — has become more acute in recent years. Over 100 anti-trans state-level measures have been passed this legislative session alone, including athletics bans, curriculum/book bans, religious refusal laws, and bans on access to health care. Perhaps most alarmingly, states like Texas are instituting policies that equate gender-affirming care with child abuse, terrorizing trans kids and their families. With Gillian's help, we explore the conservative forces behind these bills and reveal the ideological fixations, misapprehensions, and contradictions driving this panic. It's a difficult but necessary conversation.
If you'd like to help fight the right's anti-trans onslaught, consider donating to The Trans Justice Funding Project.
Further Reading:
J David Goodman, "How Medical Care for Trans Youth Became ‘Child Abuse’ In Texas," NY Times, March 11, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant, "The Groups Pushing Anti-Trans Laws Want to Divide the LGBTQ Movement," The New Republic, Feb 17, 2022.
Jeremy W Peters, "A Conservative Push to Make Trans Kids and School Sports the Next Battleground," NY Times, Nov 3, 2019.
Judith Butler, "Why Is the Idea of ‘Gender’ Provoking Backlash the World Over?" The Guardian, Oct 23, 2021.
Jules Gill-Peterson "The Anti-Trans Lobby’s Real Agenda," Jewish Currents, Apr 27, 2021.
Comments
HI, Benjamin (if I may) -- TransLash podcast has a great few-episode series on the Anti-Trans Hate Machine. Imara Jones is the creator and host of it. You can find that here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-anti-trans-hate-machine-a-plot-against-equality/id1570901784 Imara always has excellent guests and topics on the regular TransLash podcast, which includes people from all walks of life with timely discussions. She always includes segments on trans joy. You can find more info on that at the mainsite here: https://translash.org/podcast/ (also available on all the platforms!) For a quick historical context, you might start with Catherine Armstrong's 2021 piece at Yes, available here: https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2021/06/07/trans-history-gender-diversity Here's a take on the development of trans history in the historical profession. Quick read: https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/may-2018/what-is-trans-history-from-activist-and-academic-roots-a-field-takes-shape And here's a list from PFLAG (ally group if you're not familiar) of books by and about trans folx for adults: https://pflag.org/resource/transgender-reading-list-adults Hope that's helpful. Thanks for working to be an ally!
Benjamin Vanston
This was a fantastic episode. Gillian does not need my praise, but I thought she did a wonderful job cutting right to the heart of trans issues. Admittedly, I feel like I need to build on this episode to become a better advocate for trans individuals. As a cis, white, and straight dude, I am always looking to educate myself from a perspective which centers trans people. If anyone has any further reading or listening resources, it would be much appreciated.
