Earlier this year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a directive that equated gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth with child abuse. Although a federal judge partially blocked the directive, Abbott’s advancement of this law reveals an increasing trend of anti-transgender sentiments.
Transgender individuals are a particularly vulnerable population in the LGBTQ+ community and have often been subjected to both anti-transgender legislation and hate crimes. Former Vice President Mike Pence and Riley Gaines, a female competitive swimmer for the University of Kentucky, both known for anti-transgender rhetoric, were invited to campus preceding Transgender Awareness Week. In light of this, Georgetown University students must stand in solidarity with the transgender community on campus through active participation in campus events that celebrate transgender students.
As of April 2022, more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills had been proposed, 140 of which target medical care for gender transitions and limit which bathrooms transgender individuals are permitted to use. The most extreme of these policies is the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which prohibits puberty blockers or medical procedures for transgender youth under the age of 19.
Additionally, some anti-transgender legislation bans transgender people from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. Eighteen states have passed laws banning or regulating transgender students’ participation in sports, including Alabama, whose HB 391 bars athletes assigned male at birth from participation in the girls category in K-12 public schools.
Other measures regulating transgender participation in sports are invasive and discriminatory. In Colorado, for example, transgender students must inform their school in writing that their gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth, and the school then is permitted to perform a confidential evaluation to determine the gender assignment for the prospective athlete.
Furthermore, the number of hate crimes against transgender individuals has increased in recent years. Between 2019 and 2020 alone, reported hate crimes against the transgender community increased 41%. However, 2021 was the deadliest year for transgender individuals historically. At least 47 murders of transgender people were recorded nationally.
For example, on Nov. 19, shortly after midnight, shots rang out in Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo. The shooter left five individuals dead, two of whom were transgender individuals: Kelly Loving, a transgender woman, and Daniel Aston, a transgender man. Their deaths are one example of the hate crimes that jeopardize the lives of transgender individuals around the country.
It is also important to acknowledge the overwhelming number of victims who are transgender people of color, particularly women. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 84% of all violence committed against the transgender community targets transgender people of color.
Anti-transgender rhetoric, legislation and hate crimes bear heavily on transgender individuals’ mental health. A study conducted in Sweden, which reviewed 10 years of medical data from 2005 to 2015 for the entire population, found that transgender individuals who received a diagnosis of gender incongruence were six times more likely to suffer from a mood or anxiety disorder, three times more likely to be prescribed psychiatric medication to manage these disorders and six times more likely to attempt suicide. Anti-transgender sentiments, and the way they compound an already tumultuous relationship with identity, can be fatal.
Recently, the Georgetown chapter of Network of enlightened Women (NeW) invited Gaines, a former swimming star for Kentucky, to speak about protecting women’s sports. Gaines utilized anti-transgender rhetoric and even advocated for the exclusion of transgender women from women’s sports to preserve the integrity of women’s sports in an article she wrote for the Independent Women’s Forum.
In a similar vein, the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service (GU Politics) and the Young America’s Foundation collaborated on bringing former Vice President Mike Pence to campus to discuss the future of the conservative movement. The Trump-Pence administration was notorious for anti-transgender rhetoric and legislation. In July 2017, Trump and Pence called for a ban on transgender individuals serving in the military. This ban was discriminatory and undermined their gender identity.
The arrival of both of these anti-transgender individuals on campus sends a message of intolerance to transgender individuals on campus. Proceeding the events featuring Pence and Gaines, the Georgetown LGBTQ Resource Center, Women’s Center, GU Pride and GU Queer People of Color collaborated to host an event commemorating Transgender Awareness Week, and students gathered to write transgender-inclusive messages in Red Square.
As Georgetown students, attending an event, such as the one hosted during Transgender Awareness Week, allows us to be allies of transgender students amid anti-transgender speakers being invited to campus. Additionally, we must actively condemn anti-transgender rhetoric and legislation, which will ensure transgender students feel safe both on and off campus and validate their gender identity. As statistics about the mental well-being of transgender individuals reveal, their lives depend on this inclusion and celebration of their community.
Earlier this year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a directive that equated gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth with child abuse. Although a federal judge partially blocked the directive, Abbott’s advancement of this law reveals an increasing trend of anti-transgender sentiments.
Transgender individuals are a particularly vulnerable population in the LGBTQ+ community and have often been subjected to both anti-transgender legislation and hate crimes. Former Vice President Mike Pence and Riley Gaines, a female competitive swimmer for the University of Kentucky, both known for anti-transgender rhetoric, were invited to campus preceding Transgender Awareness Week. In light of this, Georgetown University students must stand in solidarity with the transgender community on campus through active participation in campus events that celebrate transgender students.
As of April 2022, more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills had been proposed, 140 of which target medical care for gender transitions and limit which bathrooms transgender individuals are permitted to use. The most extreme of these policies is the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which prohibits puberty blockers or medical procedures for transgender youth under the age of 19.
Additionally, some anti-transgender legislation bans transgender people from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. Eighteen states have passed laws banning or regulating transgender students’ participation in sports, including Alabama, whose HB 391 bars athletes assigned male at birth from participation in the girls category in K-12 public schools.
Other measures regulating transgender participation in sports are invasive and discriminatory. In Colorado, for example, transgender students must inform their school in writing that their gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth, and the school then is permitted to perform a confidential evaluation to determine the gender assignment for the prospective athlete.
Furthermore, the number of hate crimes against transgender individuals has increased in recent years. Between 2019 and 2020 alone, reported hate crimes against the transgender community increased 41%. However, 2021 was the deadliest year for transgender individuals historically. At least 47 murders of transgender people were recorded nationally.
For example, on Nov. 19, shortly after midnight, shots rang out in Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo. The shooter left five individuals dead, two of whom were transgender individuals: Kelly Loving, a transgender woman, and Daniel Aston, a transgender man. Their deaths are one example of the hate crimes that jeopardize the lives of transgender individuals around the country.
It is also important to acknowledge the overwhelming number of victims who are transgender people of color, particularly women. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 84% of all violence committed against the transgender community targets transgender people of color.
Anti-transgender rhetoric, legislation and hate crimes bear heavily on transgender individuals’ mental health. A study conducted in Sweden, which reviewed 10 years of medical data from 2005 to 2015 for the entire population, found that transgender individuals who received a diagnosis of gender incongruence were six times more likely to suffer from a mood or anxiety disorder, three times more likely to be prescribed psychiatric medication to manage these disorders and six times more likely to attempt suicide. Anti-transgender sentiments, and the way they compound an already tumultuous relationship with identity, can be fatal.
Recently, the Georgetown chapter of Network of enlightened Women (NeW) invited Gaines, a former swimming star for Kentucky, to speak about protecting women’s sports. Gaines utilized anti-transgender rhetoric and even advocated for the exclusion of transgender women from women’s sports to preserve the integrity of women’s sports in an article she wrote for the Independent Women’s Forum.
In a similar vein, the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service (GU Politics) and the Young America’s Foundation collaborated on bringing former Vice President Mike Pence to campus to discuss the future of the conservative movement. The Trump-Pence administration was notorious for anti-transgender rhetoric and legislation. In July 2017, Trump and Pence called for a ban on transgender individuals serving in the military. This ban was discriminatory and undermined their gender identity.
The arrival of both of these anti-transgender individuals on campus sends a message of intolerance to transgender individuals on campus. Proceeding the events featuring Pence and Gaines, the Georgetown LGBTQ Resource Center, Women’s Center, GU Pride and GU Queer People of Color collaborated to host an event commemorating Transgender Awareness Week, and students gathered to write transgender-inclusive messages in Red Square.
As Georgetown students, attending an event, such as the one hosted during Transgender Awareness Week, allows us to be allies of transgender students amid anti-transgender speakers being invited to campus. Additionally, we must actively condemn anti-transgender rhetoric and legislation, which will ensure transgender students feel safe both on and off campus and validate their gender identity. As statistics about the mental well-being of transgender individuals reveal, their lives depend on this inclusion and celebration of their community.
Grace Rivers is a junior in the College. Tipping the Scales appears in print and online every third Friday.
