I donā€™t know why I was born transgender, but I have no secret agenda. I want my child to live in a world where they are safe and free to be exactly who they are.

ā€¦

Fewer thanĀ 1 in 3 peopleĀ report personally knowing someone who is transgender. Yet the American public is saturated with viral social media videos and political news stories, largely generated by a well-funded coalition of organizations long dedicated to making it as difficult as possible for LGBTQ+ people to go about their daily lives.

These organizations proudly advocate for the abuse of LGBTQ+ young people through the dangerous andĀ discredited practiceĀ of conversion therapy, and they have celebrated their role in influencing Texas toĀ ā€œinvestigateā€ parentsĀ whoā€™re doing their level best to support their transgender kids.

Theyā€™ve succeeded in generating national debates about excluding transgender kids from school sports, banning medically necessary health care and even prohibiting restroom usage ā€“ all under a guise of ā€œprotecting young people.ā€ But these debates are largely missing the point.

Transgender people are our friends, family members and neighbors. They work in the cubicle next to us at the office, and they pray next to us in our houses of worship.

ā€¦.

  • andros_rex@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    3
    Ā·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    When we fight back, we get killed. (And then blamed for own deaths/have our deaths covered up - if you believe that Nex offed himself, you know nothing about how corrupt Oklahoma is)

    Edit: that was meant to read ā€œdidnā€™t offā€ himself. I said the opposite of what I meant.

    Nex did not kill himself, Owasso covered up the bullying and pretty much every state department is understaffed by under qualified toadies of Stitt.

    • kase@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      Ā·
      8 months ago

      Oklahoman here. I donā€™t know whether Nex died by suicide or not. But on a local level, the Owasso (and greater) community hasnā€™t given up the fight yet. Whether his injuries from the attack at school are what directly killed him or not, it doesnā€™t change the fact that heā€™d been a target of bullying for months and that he and his family were repeatedly ignored by the school and the police, and then he was beaten in the school bathroom by several classmates. Since his death, our politicians have doubled down on transphobic rhetoric, and our schools are still becoming more and more hostile towards LGBT+ youth. Thereā€™s a lot to talk about here, and local organizations have done a great job on covering these issues in press releases and the like. And thereā€™s still more to come; weā€™re currently waiting on the release of the Medical Examinerā€™s full report (unless itā€™s been published already; I last checked about a week ago, and I just donā€™t have the emotional spoons today).

      Anyway, sorry for going into a whole rant. What I was going to say, in reply to your comment, is that our OCME (office of the chief medical examiner) hasnā€™t been nationally accredited since 2009. So, um. Thereā€™s that. ĀÆā \ā (ā Ā°ā _ā oā )ā /ā ĀÆ

      • andros_rex@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        Ā·
        8 months ago

        Yes - I left out a word and changed the entire meaning of the sentence. I do not believe Nex killed himself. I believe that Owasso Public Schools and the Owasso police were complicit and are involved in covering up Nexā€™s death.

        Iā€™m a transgender teacher in Oklahoma that quit teaching last year because I knew that if something happened to me, there would be no help and there would be an immediate flood of bullshit.

        The FBI exists because of Oklahomaā€™s refusal to investigate the murder of minoritiesā€¦

        • kase@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          Ā·
          8 months ago

          No worries, I did understand what you meant, sorry if my tone made it sound like I was disagreeing. I think yours is a reasonable judgement. Iā€™m sorry for what youā€™ve been through. Iā€™m trans here too and this state is a mess. Always has been.

          I respect anyone who chooses to leave, and I might leave one day. Still, there are good people here, and I care about this place, so I hope we can make things better.

          The FBI exists because of Oklahomaā€™s refusal to investigate the murder of minoritiesā€¦

          Youā€™re too right. Itā€™s a tired tradition.