42. Panic Profiteers
2023Show notes
It needs to stop.
Transcript
Tap a timestamp or any sentence to play from there · machine transcribed (mlx:mlx-community/whisper-large-v3-turbo), expect mistakesAlexHi, I'm Alex Cox, and you're listening to Two Headed Girl. Heads up, this episode isn't really intended for queer folks who've been online or following the news in the past three years. You know what's going on. We'll be talking about transphobia, so listen with care. For the rest of you who are cisgender or straight, hello, again.
I'm Alex Cox, and you're listening to Two Headed Girl. On this podcast, my spouse and I usually discuss gender, our mind, and all sorts of transitions, especially around queerness. Initially, we just talked about our own experiences, media, and answered questions from folks. We almost stopped doing this show.
Or, I should say, I wanted to stop doing this show. While we can take online trolling, the amount of real-life harassment was getting to be a bit much, even though we live in a relatively progressive state. By no means were we put in serious danger that we know of, but existing with a trans body that can't pass as the gender you're assigned at birth means people will yell at you or throw things at you.
Still, when people start yelling at you by name or start showing up where you live, it begins to wear you down. But our intention and attitude towards this show has changed. We both feel like it would be cowardly to stop sharing our experiences.
You've probably noticed that trans people have recently become a popular topic of debate. And when I mean recently, I'm being serious. In 2023 alone, 447 anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced into 41 states. It's barely the middle of March. In multiple states,
It's now illegal for adults and their pediatricians and therapists to administer gender-affirming care to their own kids, which rarely, rarely, rarely includes surgery, but that's a topic for another episode. In some cases, there's a bounty of up to $5,000 for someone to report that parents support their trans children. If caught, it could mean their kids are taken from their homes and put into foster care,
simply because their parents support them for who they are. School boards across the country have been passing ordinances that prevent children from not only talking about their own gender, but prevent them from talking about their queer parents. Tennessee was the first state, with more to come in the following weeks and months, to not only criminalize drag shows, but being a, quote, male or female impersonator, which is intentionally kept vague so that it could be used against anyone who is trans.
So I guess I won't be going to visit my family in Nashville anytime soon, since the penalty is $2,500 or up to a year in prison. When we say protect trans kids, it doesn't usually mean from parents. We mean from the government, from the state. At the Conservative Political Action Conference, Michael Knowles called for the complete eradication of transgenderism.
He and his colleagues, like Matt Walsh at the Daily Wire, which is what's becoming a right-wing media empire, spend every single day in front of a camera warning people about the danger of trans people. Donald Trump released a video declaring that under his leadership, he will enforce an executive order to cease gender-affirming care at any age. They can and will take away our bodily autonomy.
There's so much bluster from Republicans around the country about LGBTQ people being groomers and a danger to society, which is the same rhetoric they used to try to get gay people to stop existing somehow. These people are panic profiteers who are openly trying to get rid of us.
It didn't work then, and I hope it doesn't work now. Violence against trans people has escalated. Suicide rates have gone even higher up. Community centers and hospitals, specifically for queer people, are shutting down because of violent retaliation from the alt-right. LGBTQ people have always taken care of one another.
Unlike most marginalized groups, we don't necessarily have biological families to support us. Instead, we've relied on chosen family. These laws wouldn't just be an eradication of trans people, but an eradication of those communities we've used to keep each other safe.
Trans people are so tired. We're used as political pawns, and it's exhausting for us to be at the center of a culture war that exists to get authoritarian leaders into power. At this point, I hope you start to take us seriously and understand that this is only the beginning of what so many hateful bigots want and have wanted to do to us. If they can,
they will eliminate us from public life, dead or alive. I know that sounds alarmist, and I don't want to be the kind of person who says things that cause harm or anxiety, especially in my own corner of the internet. Right now, we continue to ask our straight and cisgender allies to help us. In fact, we've been asking for help for years, but we've been told we're hysterical or overreacting. We need you to tell elected officials, your school board,
or your online audiences that this must stop. We will link to a number of resources that have information on bills that are being proposed in your area. This legislation can be stopped. You can help keep your community safe. You can help keep us safe. I hate that I'm posting this. I don't want to engage with fear-mongering that's being used against us. For most people,
Gender is boring. I'd much rather talk about computers. GPT-4, the newest cutting-edge tech in AI, was released today. A new season of Survivor started. Everything, everywhere, all at once swept the Oscars last weekend. All of that is so much more interesting than what's in a stranger's pants. I know how angry and frustrated I sound, so thank you for
listening this far. We're here to help. If you have questions, we're here to answer them. I promise we're not scary and we're not going to yell at you, even though I've kind of yelled into a microphone for 10 minutes. But you can email us at twoheadedgirlfm at gmail.com. It truly means the world to me and Mattie. Once again, please use your platforms. We are asking for
your help and your attention. Trans people have and always will exist. Don't let slandering trans folks, fearing trans folks, hating trans folks become the norm. And hey, if you're queer and also still listening to this, hang in there. Try to take care of yourselves,
and take care of one another. We've got your backs. Thanks, everyone.