Protection of Trans People Has Not Died


The size of the population, including children, who find themselves of a gender different than that on their birth certificate, has not changed by even one since Trump's election. The number will not change. Those in that group will only need to navigate the obstacles in front of them. There will be people who help them, teachers, pastors, parents and friends. Even a few in the evangelical community recognize Trump's victory will not change the number of trans people.

As President John Adams said in a famous trial where he was the defense attorney for enemy British soldiers, "Facts are sticky things." When an individual has concluded he/she is of a different gender than the one on a birth certificate there is almost never a reversal. The birth certificate, we must remember, is the opinion of the doctor. The baby, and later adult, was not consulted.

I remember decades ago when a very conservative religious young man was elected to the Fargo City Commission (similar to a City Council) while I was the Mayor. He told me his reason for becoming active against gay rights and abortion was because both had increased in frequency. That was not true back then nor is it true today. There is no evidence humans are any more diverse or less diverse than they were decades, or centuries, ago. The ability of the public to accept this diversity, however, has varied over time and across different cultures around the world.

One thing is obvious, the ability to use gay, trans and abortion to increase donations to conservative groups is an important variable in how often we see opposition in the news. Those running the Bible thumping groups know their business. Right now, the money is in opposing trans. If history is a guide the money will move to something else and so will the operatives. 

Jerry Falwell once said the Moral Majority publication with a man in drag on the cover generated more money than any picture up to that time. It touched a nerve. Today that nerve is dead and the Moral Majority went broke long ago.

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