MI: Law Introduced to Ban Gender Affirming Care
Oh, no, nothing to worry about here, just the Epoch Times casually boosting a bill that would destroy the lives and families of trans youth.
by Evan Urquhart
An Epoch Times story by Rita Lee gives a chipper, positive rundown of an extreme law being introduced in the Michigan legislature which, if enacted, would ruin the lives of trans youth and tear families apart. (Epoch Times is a far right wing website owned by the Falun Gong religious movement, and the site is all in on the anti-trans moral panic with a religious, though non-Christian, zeal.)
As the above passage alludes to, a similar law in Alabama has been halted by a judge, who will start hearing evidence in the case soon. In addition to a hoped-for legal victory in the Alabama case, which would likely prevent copycat legislation like the Michigan bill from going into effect, the law under discussion is also constrained by the fact that the GOP does not have full control over the legislature in the Michigan. While Republicans currently hold both the state house and state senate, the governor of Michigan is Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.
None of this context is important for the Epoch Times, though, whose story is more focused on cheerily naming some other places where these laws have been introduced, and on uncritically quoting a transphobic legislator, GOP Rep Beau Lefave, who is one of the sponsors this bill.
It hardly needs to be said on this site that such bills are incredibly dangerous and the damage they could inflict on trans youth and their families is hard to overstate. But there is also some hope in the news this morning, as liberal comedian/commentator Jon Oliver joins comedian Job Stewart in devoting a long segment of his own show, Last Week Tonight, to making the case for supporting and affirming trans youth.
With the fervor of hatred towards trans people in the right wing media seeming to grow and grow, it is a scary period for trans people in the US. However, it must be said, I would much rather have Jon Stewart and John Oliver on my side than the weirdos at the Epoch Times.