So much fear and anger

When Utah’s Republican governor, Spencer Cox, vetoed a bill banning transgender kids from playing school sports, he ran the numbers. There was a total of four transgender kids playing high school sports in the entire state.

“That’s what all of this is about,” Cox wrote. “Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day. Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.”

Turns out, that fear and anger are not so rare anymore. Anti-trans legislation is sweeping the nation. In Kansas City, we see anti-trans legislation and actions moving forward in both Kansas and Missouri.

Let’s be clear. Trans kids are not a threat to anyone. Trans people are not a threat to anyone. Gender-affirming care is not a danger to anyone. These trans bans are not about kids’ safety. They are a chance to score political points at the expense of kids whose mental health and well-being depend on receiving appropriate medical care.

Trans bans are bullying. Powerful legislators are picking on trans kids, putting their mental health, physical health, and lives at risk solely to advance their own election prospects. It’s a form of bullying that is far worse and more dangerous than the bullying that many of these kids face on a regular basis.

So what will you do in the face of such bullying? What do you advise your kids to do when they encounter bullying at school? Will you turn a blind eye because your kids aren’t trans? Will you pretend it doesn’t matter? Or will you fight like hell to preserve the rights and lives of some of the most vulnerable kids in our communities? Your actions, or your inaction, will say a lot about who you are.

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” — Desmond Tutu