101 BIS: Stop the Attacks on Transgender People!

By Kim Guptill

Imagine if you were forced to use a restroom that makes you feel unsafe. Or that you are not allowed to play your favorite sport. Or that the books you see yourself in suddenly disappear from your library. No need to imagine, of course. These scenarios are real. According to The Washington Post, in the first six months of this year, state legislators have introduced over 400 bills attacking the rights of transgender people.

There are bills aimed at preventing trans girls and women from playing on “female” sports teams, barring trans youth from using bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity, and restricting gender-affirming medical care for trans youth. Recent targets include bans on drag shows and gender-affirming care for adults.

School boards across the country have ordered books depicting transgender people removed from the shelves. In the House of Representatives, the Parents Bill of Rights Act has passed, which would require parental consent for children to change their names on school forms or use bathrooms matching their gender identity. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, also passed in the House. It defines sex solely on “reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” and restricts transgender girls and women from competing on their sports teams.

These are attacks on transgender persons’ right to exist in public. And they have grim consequences. Data from the National Institutes of Health indicate that 82% of transgender individuals have considered killing themselves and 40% have attempted suicide.

In Tennessee, a transgender man and suicide survivor awaits the fate of a bill that effectively bars Medicaid from paying for gender-affirming care. If it becomes law, the state would de facto force him out of transition, as he cannot afford private care – an economic reality suffered by the majority of transgender people under capitalism. “Transitioning was not a cosmetic procedure for me; it was lifesaving treatment,” he said. Pause and take that in. Lawmakers want to erase this man’s existence.

Many of these bills have been drafted by a network of religious right nonprofits, working closely with legislators. Their decidedly unholy work threatens the separation of Church and State.

And while it may not be surprising that the entire tsunami of anti-trans legislation has been introduced by Republicans, it is also no surprise that we have heard nary a peep in response from the Democrats.

In his February 2023 State of the Union address, Biden said only that trans children deserve “safety and dignity,” but mentioned no commitments to fight the overwhelming wave of bills. In April, Biden proposed a rule that would allow schools and colleges to create limits on the participation of transgender athletes. A leader who truly “ha[s] their backs”– as Biden self-proclaimed just a week earlier on Transgender Day of Visibility– would have called for an outright ban.

At the state level, some Democrats in the Texas State legislature crossed party lines to vote in favor of banning healthcare for trans youth.

Neither capitalist party can be trusted to fight for the rights and dignity of the people they claim to represent. Ultimately, the divide-and-conquer approach advocated by the ruling class, combined with the private ownership of the healthcare industry – two hallmarks of our capitalist system – form major roadblocks in the fight for full rights for trans people.

Socialists have had a long record of supporting the rights of gender variant people. Following the 1917 revolution by workers and peasants in Russia, homosexuality was legalized, and sex-change operations were also reported. Unfortunately, many in the public associate socialism with the Stalinist bureaucratization that reversed these and many other gains of the revolution.

As trans activist and community organizer Adrian Silberding puts it: “The revolution will not be gender-conforming. … Anywhere people are fighting oppression, trans people are in the room.”

I am the mother of a 28-year-old transmasculine socialist and a 30-year-old trans woman activist, both of whom agree. At the Socialism 2022 conference in Chicago, the crowd of 1500 was overwhelmingly young and queer. These people are educating, organizing, and mobilizing to fight for trans rights.

We call for the immediate cessation of attacks on trans youth and athletes! We demand the expansion of transgender healthcare, and protections for the rights of trans people to exist in public! We call for the reversal of censorship of all forms of trans expression!

To achieve these goals, we call on the trade unions to mobilize their members in support of trans rights, just as we call upon all supporters of democratic rights to embrace this struggle. Adoption of a fraction of these 400-plus laws would be a serious blow to all working people!