States once recognized as safe havens for trans Americans, Colorado and Washington, are now playing host to ballot measures in upcoming elections that would do immense harm to our community.
In Colorado, conservative dark-money group Protect Kids Colorado is pushing for Propositions 134 and 135, which would ban trans kids from school sports and outlaw surgeries performed on minors “for the purpose of altering biological sex characteristics.” Because Protect Kids is being outspent by the pro-LGBTQ+ organization Families Not Politics five-to-one, it seems unlikely that Props 134 and 135 will pass, and if they do pass, they’ll still be subject to tweaking or dismissal by the state legislature.
In theory. In practice, Colorado’s state government has been making moves that suggest they may not be stalwart allies: The state is suspending Medicaid coverage for hormone replacement therapy for trans youth in response to “guidance” from the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services. It’s worth pointing out that this is flatly illegal: the Medicare Act states, in no uncertain terms, that Medicaid and Medicare cannot be used as leverage to regulate the practice of medicine. Shockingly, Colorado’s soft-spined legislature is so fucking eager to jump for Master Trump that they began enforcing the Medicaid ban on October 13, when it went into effect, even though the new guidance provides a six-month carveout for trans youth already on cross-sex hormones to “taper off.”
It’s difficult to say which way the wind will blow in Colorado.
The situation in Washington state is potentially far worse. There, a group called Let’s Go Washington, funded by multi-millionaire hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, has been collecting signatures for ballot initiatives 638 and 001.
Initiative 001 is another forced outing rule masquerading as “parents’ rights,” a shady tactic that has become more prominent in recent years. This is nasty, but not particularly inventive.
Initiative 638, on the other hand, is one of the most hateful measures currently on a ballot anywhere in America: It would instate mandatory genital examinations for any girl who wants to participate in elementary, middle school, or high school sports. Yes, you read that right. These freaks are so determined to harm trans kids, they’re happy to support the sexual molestation of cisgender girls. It really makes you wonder if this was ever about protecting girls and women’s sports? Perhaps guys like Brian Heywood have ulterior motives that we can only guess at.
This rank bigotry is disheartening, to say the least, and it’s particularly upsetting that so many Americans are falling for the propaganda. In August, Pew Research Center released a poll suggesting that a significant number of Americans were “uncomfortable” with the idea of trans kids in sports, even though we know for a fact that trans women who undergo medical transition (specifically, cross-sex hormone therapy) are no more naturally advantaged at sport than their cis competition.
Trans kids in sports have always been a blatant wedge issue spun from whole cloth to dupe morons into harming children. Riley Gaines, a figurehead in this arena, has admitted as much. She described sports bans as the catalyst that will undo the trans rights movement entirely. Old claims about fairness in sports or her big dreams of becoming a dentist, but being forced into a life of professional anti-trans activism, are clearly lies: Gaines, and everybody like her, seek only to deny trans Americans the right to exist peacefully.
They want to destroy us, for no other reason than our existence offends them.
Outside of sports, though, most Americans aren’t falling victim to anti-trans propaganda. Polls suggest that many Americans are, frankly, sick of how obsessed Republicans are with our community. Right now, thanks to two years of the Trump administration plundering the federal government for their own benefit, most Americans are worried about paying their rent, feeding their family, and filling their gas tank… not whether or not some kid playing pee-wee soccer is trans.
Here’s hoping these initiatives are crushed under the weight of normal voters making good decisions in the weeks to come.
Update: This article originally stated that Colorado lawmakers were responsible for changes to state Medicaid practices regarding trans youth healthcare. It has been updated to reflect that the state government’s Medicaid department is instead responsible.
