the modern transgender experience

an essay by rat

Luka, a seventeen-year-old trans kid from Utah, quite likes his life. He has a girlfriend, supportive family, and a caring community. He plans to attend Utah Tech. Unfortunately, a hormone replacement therapy (HRT) ban for Utah minors crushes his future plans. Now, instead of preparing to graduate and begin college close to home, he must plan to uproot his life completely to continue receiving gender-affirming care "17-Year-Old Trans Kid Leaving Utah". Unfortunately, thousands of other cases similar to Luka's unearth across the country. From social lives to human rights, transgender people face unique challenges in modern-day America.

A majority of trans people will either experience social or medical transition, often both. Social transition includes name, pronoun, and gender presentation changes. Acceptance in a community will impact a transgender child’s mental well-being. Medical transitions include hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgeries. The specifics of transition vary from person to person. For transfems, medical transition may include estrogen and progestin hormones, breast augmentation, or vaginoplasty (constructing a vagina). For transmascs, medical transition can include testosterone hormones, mastectomy, and phalloplasty (forming a penis using skin grafts). Pre-pubescent kids may be put on puberty blockers. Accessing gender-affirming care proves difficult for many trans people. Cost is a big factor. Hormones, bought monthly for the rest of one's life, can range from $20-400 per month. Surgeries cost up to 30k. The wait for such surgeries can take years. Many states require a therapist’s note per surgery, which can take months to acquire. According to The Trevor Project, 32% of trans kids reported their homes were affirming, while 51% reported their schools were affirming. Between non-affirming and affirming homes, 20% attempted suicide while 14% did not. 59% of transmascs, 48% of transfems, and 58% of genderqueer people have considered suicide. People of color (POC) are more likely to suffer from mental illnesses than their white peers. Trans kids who feel accepted in their homes and communities are less likely to consider or attempt suicide. Medical and social transitions are hard, but some lawmakers seek to make it harder.

Country-wide, state legislators target trans rights. In Tennessee, a bill passed to keep children out of "adult cabaret shows," which range from strippers to "male or female impersonators." This bill is presented as harmless and in interest of protecting minors. However, this bill reflects many laws Pre-Stonewall that targeted trans and non-conforming people, subjecting them to police brutality or oftentimes jail (history.com). It claims to only ban "sexual performances," but in reality this law can apply to any transgender person just existing. Tennessee lawmakers also passed a bill to restrict gender-affirming care for minors, meaning any trans person under eighteen cannot receive puberty blockers, hormones, or any other affirming care. This applies to any minors currently undergoing these treatments. Utah passed a nearly identical law. In Florida, the House proposed a bill to remove trans kids from trans-affirming homes, allowing the state to seize trans kids -regardless of Florida residence- if believed they were "under threat" of trans-affirming care. This would also apply if the child's parent was trans and medically transitioning. In Arkansas, a bill proposed would turn a trans person using their preferred bathroom into a sex crime. Countless other bills with the same theme are surfacing around the nation.

Across right-wing news outlets, transgender people are called mutilated, perverse, confused, predatory, and even accused of being groomers or rapists. Only a few months after announcing his candidacy for U.S. President in 2024, Donald Trump posted a video to Rumble and Truth Social in which he promised to "stop the chemical, physical, and emotional mutilation of our youth." He swears, if re-elected, he will stop gender-affirming care for all minors in the United States. Matt Walsh and Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire also escalate transphobia with their constant coverage of trans issues. Both Shapiro and Walsh believe transgender people are mentally ill pedophiles who want to force their agenda onto society. Walsh has even gone so far to create a disingenuous "documentary" in which he attempts to uncover the truth about womanhood. "What is a woman?" he asks, not seeming to want an answer. In his book version of the documentary, he explains his personal definition and bases all interviews on how well they fit within the predetermined answer. "Being trans is a very quick way to being a part of the left's coolest, latest victim class," claims Walsh, implying transgender people are merely following a trend to "fit in." Later on, he claims transgender people manipulate the government as a weapon against "reason". "Trans ideologues have every intention to use the powers of the state to crush dissent because to them, dissent is illegitimate and dangerous" (Walsh, 166). According to him, "the world must contort to [their] reality." By the end of the book, he describes the transgender "ideology" as tyrannical and evil. Shapiro follows a similar line of thinking in his own writings: "...A man claiming to be a woman is making an unsustainable claim... All of this is insane propaganda that is being propagated for political purposes" (thedailywire.com). After describing how a school did not reveal a trans middle student's identity to their parents, Shapiro creates an adversary to attack. "To the Left, parents are the enemy... The Left, instead, wishes to teach its own version of sexual morality and gender identity to small children, without the messy intervention of parents." Shapiro accuses trans-affirming people of tricking children into changing their gender. He uses this idea to create fear amongst those who know little about the trans movement."The Left does not have the right to hijack the minds of children and then weaponize them against their parents… all the while pretending that such activity is actually altruism on behalf of children. He claims "The Left" wants to brainwash children in order to gain control. In actuality, trans allies want trans kids to live comfortably and without fear. Along with Shapiro, another group of people spread disinformation about trans people.

Most rampant in the UK, but absolutely prevalent in the US, are a particular kind of transphobe: a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (Terf). Terfs are feminists who reject trans people from their cause. They claim transfems are men who want to invade women's spaces, and claim transmascs are confused women (or, specifically, lesbians) who want to escape the patriarchy. They believe a majority of transmascs suffer from Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD). RODG claims trans kids suddenly experience overwhelming amounts of dysphoria during puberty without any prior symptoms. They attribute this to social pressure. Julia Serano, a gender studies speaker, suggests, "...The word 'rapid' doesn't necessarily refer to the speed of gender dysphoria onset, especially in the many cases where the child keeps their experiences to themselves for a time before sharing them with parents. Rather, what's 'rapid' is the parents’ sudden awareness and assessment of their child's gender dysphoria"(juliaserano.medium.com). She also reveals the original study did not involve actual patients, but rather the parents. Another point that weakens the ROGD theory is that most cases seem to appear around puberty. Since many transgender people experience dysphoria around their biological features, many of which develop during puberty, the new changes a trans child experiences may cause discomfort. This widespread misinformation brings harm to the transgender community and inspires government officials to take action.

"There can be no middle way in dealing with transgenderism. It is all or nothing... transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely." Michael Knowles uttered these words in his 2023 CPAC speech, speaking an idea many lawmakers are too scared to openly admit. In an attempt to end "transgenderism," America delves into fascism. Encyclopedia Britannica describes it as "a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government." As earlier discussed, forty-three states have proposed anti-trans bills in 2023 alone. Figures like Donald Trump and Matt Walsh incite mass panic about "transgender pedophiles" trying to "convert" children. Umberto Eco composed a list of fascism's fourteen characteristics after growing up in Italy under Mussolini. America fits many of the described traits. The first, the cult of tradition, can be seen in the insistence to cling to the past’s ideals. There has always been man and woman, nothing more and nothing less. Secondly, America rejects modernism, dubbing strides for change as "politically correct" or "woke." Thirdly, America urges its citizens to participate in this "culture war" without thinking. Protect your values, they say. Fourth, America promotes a fear of difference. Because transgender people are "other," they are threats. They threaten the rights and traditions of the common folk. America also appeals to a frustrated middle class, claiming to lend freedom from the tyrannical hold of the "woke mob." Fifth, "Newspeak," coined in George Orwell's 1984, "makes use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning" (Eco). In America, Newspeak can be seen in right-wing's insistence about "basic biology." Science generally agrees that "gender and sex are related to but different from gender identity" (who.int). Transphobes claim that trans people cannot exist, because it defies biology. This argument is Newspeak because it utilizes a juvenile understanding of science to deter any further thinking. Sixth, an obsession with plot pervades right-wing talking points. They claim there is an agenda seeking to destroy family values and morality. Seventh, they treat trans people as if they are an "enemy at the same time too strong and too weak." Trans people supposedly force the government to bend to their wills, but at the same time, will easily be squashed out. Eighth, fascists declare there is a "never ending" war against the enemy, and pacifism supports the other side. This appears in America with the "culture war" cultivated by right-wingers. It is the Family versus the Perverse. The only way to stop transgender propaganda from ruling the culture, the common folk must take a stand. As Knowles said, "...for the good of society, and especially for the good of the poor people who have fallen prey to this confusion, transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely." Ninth, machismo (anti-modernist patriarchal ideals) runs rampant, spurring disdain towards women, gender non-conforming people, and homosexuals. In 2022, abortion protections were overturned, allowing states to bar people from bodily autonomy. Online, a space nicknamed the "Manosphere," teaches young men to embrace their violent, misogynist, and "traditional" version of masculinity. Andrew Tate, a main figure within these groups, was arrested in 2022 for alleged sexual trafficking. Trans men are barred from traditional masculinity, therefore othered. Trans women are not considered real women, therefore othered. Such examples reflect the right wing's obsession with traditional family values and disregard of women. Nine out of fourteen traits can easily be applied to America's treatment of transgender people. Knowles gave voice to the spirit of many anti-trans bills, calling for a transgender genocide. The American Holocaust Museum states, "Genocide is an internationally recognized crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group."

America completes several of the stages before the "final solution" described by The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. The first stage: classification. There is an "us" and "them." We can see this by the polarization of transgender people. There are "normal," cis people, and there are the "freakish" transgender people who claw for power. The second stage is symbolization. Among many transphobes, there is a stereotype of the "blue hair and pronouns" nonbinary person, the "broad-shouldered and ugly" transfem, the "confused and weak" transmasc, and many more of the othered. Thirdly, discrimination prevails as there are little protections for trans people’s jobs, safety, and healthcare on local and federal levels. The fourth stage, dehumanization, treats trans people as a contagion on society. Fifth, organization is seen through a neo-Nazi group, the Proud Boys, arming themselves outside a drag show in protest. Similar incidents occur all over the country. Sixth, the polarization of trans people creates the "fear of difference" among the common American. Gender non-conformity erases cis identity and targets confused children. The seventh stage, preparation, occurs through the anti-trans bills passing across America. The next three stages have yet to occur. Persecution, (death lists, separation, removal of children, etc) extermination (murder in a deliberate and systematic campaign of violence) and denial (perpetrators or later generations deny any wrongdoing) may be in America's future.

The American transgender experience is heavily affected by their peers, public figures, the media, and their government. It is important that transgender people live a comfortable role in society. From bills restricting their freedom to public figures calling for their destruction, trans people struggle to find a place in American society. As Elie Weisel said in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides." Every American should decide whether or not they stand with trans people. There is no grey area.