I'm probably preaching to the choir by posting this on the fediverse, but given the now abundantly clear primacy of transphobia as a permission gate and recruiting tool for the larger fascist project, and the fact that much of the liberal establishment is no longer pushing back on anti-trans propaganda (indeed, some highly influential folks are actually pushing the narrative that even tepid pushback against anti-trans propaganda is why Trump won the election), assuming everyone who isn't a fascist *already*knows this is a moral panic designed to push a trans-eliminationist agenda, seems like the least good option going forward. If the video I'm sharing with you here seems like old news to you, maybe consider sharing it with people in your life who aren't as politically engaged as you are because believe me, all the evidence is saying they do *not* already know this shit.

In this lengthy episode of Some More News, Cody and the crew talk about why trans people are real human beings just like everyone else, debunk the garbage "science" transphobes are using to push an anti-trans pogrom, point out that the social contagion theory of why trans people exist is obviously a moral panic, discuss how rare voluntary detransitioning really is, and how anti-trans activists are being given a massively outsized voice in this discussion given that it's literally the same handful of people, talk about how fascists are actively engendering anti-trans hate as a skeleton key for pushing a wider fascist political agenda, and even tackle why the anti-trans pogrom appears to be working as a strategy for the fascists to accomplish that goal.

It's a lot of information to take in, but Cody keeps the discussion fast-paced and entertaining; and obviously a mainstream media complex that has decided to abandon trans people to their fate at the hands of fascists who mean to erase us (both figuratively and literally, by murdering trans people) isn't going to tell you this stuff anymore.

Some More News: Trans People Are Real and Detransitioning Isn't That Common

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlkBa7ooUN4

#TransRights #LGBTQ #Fascism #AntiTransPogrom #Propaganda #MoralPanic #Transphobia #Hatemongering #Trump

Recently I watched a Majority Report interview with trans actress Laverne Cox; I'll probably share that here too once MR gets around to clipping the segment. In that discussion she talks about how the road to America's anti-trans pogrom was built built by shifting the focus off (then) unpopular bathroom ban bills, and towards the subject of trans (mostly) women competing in sports, after monstrous fundie think tanks like the Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF) actually focus tested which trans-related issues were most effective in riling up anti-trans sentiment and triggering the slippery slide towards trans eliminationism.

At the time, I honestly didn't think much of the fascist right's tactical shift; after all, there aren't that many trans women athletes, trans women are not dominating women's sports even when they do participate, and I didn't think America would have much sympathy for the petulant fit Riley Gaines (a woman who finished tied for fifth place with a trans woman athlete in an NCAA swim meet literally nobody would care about otherwise) was throwing. I'm going to have to take the "L" on that one; apparently I forgot that tears from a semi-attractive white woman are often part of the arcane spell eliminationist reactionaries use to conjure up support for fascist ideology and oppression - silly me.

Unless you've been in a coma, you already know the rest of the story; Gaines would appear on Fox News a staggering 29 times in the year after her race, trans sports bans would lead to the very same unpopular bathroom bills now passing, and today we live in a country where the President has made the erasure of trans people in public life (both figuratively, and literally) an official US government policy. In studying the aftermath of this anti-trans propaganda campaign, researchers have noted that the attacks on trans women in sport were an effective permission gate for the anti-trans pogrom because they triggered a sense of "unfairness" in cis-het people who were already inclined to think of trans people, particularly trans women, as an "otherized" and alien group in our society. Which is of course surreal, because as this article by Jules Boykoff and Satoko Itani notes, scientific evidence has repeatedly demonstrated that trans women who've been undergoing hormone replacement therapy for at least a year, literally do not have an advantage over cis-women athletes at all.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trans-moral-panic-falsespor

The Spreaders of the Trans Athlete Moral Panic Live in a Fact-Free Fantasyland

"One in-depth review of existing scientific literature on transgender athlete participation in competitive sport published between 2011 and 2021 found that “trans women who have undergone testosterone suppression have no clear biological advantages over cis women in elite sport.”

Another study found that transgender women athletes could actually be disadvantaged: “Compared with cisgender women,” the study found, “transgender women have decreased lung function, increasing their work in breathing.” Douglas Oberlin, an exercise physiologist who reviewed the scientific evidence related to transgender athletes’ performance, notes that “the limited information available does not suggest that trans men and trans women have much, if any, athletic advantage post-transition.”

In other words, yes, Americans who don't know their ass from their elbow just empowered a real as fuck fascist regime that is now destroying their lives, at least in part because they're big mad about the presumed "unfairness" of trans women competing in sports they otherwise do not care about, despite the fact that said "unfairness" has been scientifically proven to not exist. And while that's a sort of tragic comedy moment on its face, the consequences for trans people and folks who don't like fascism, are no laughing matter.

"Let’s be absolutely clear: The stakes are sky-high. The endgame of this bipartisan, anti-trans witch hunt is twofold. On the practical side, it enables the bracing possibility of raving randos demanding genital checks from the sidelines of youth sports events for kids who don’t conform to their strict versions of gender. (In West Virginia, Republicans have already voted through legislation green-lighting healthcare providers’ ability to perform genital checks on children without parental consent). But more broadly, the endgame is trans banishment. As journalist Dave Zirin put it, “The ‘pro-trans in everything but sports’ position can metastasize into… a broader anti-trans stance, the forcible erasure of transgender people from society.”

The push to expel trans women from elite sport, aided and abetted by Democrats like Gavin Newsom, is stoked by what Judith Butler calls “fascist passions.” As M. Gessen recently wrote, “The message, consistent and unrelenting, is that trans people are a threat to the nation. The subtext is that we are not of this nation.”

#TransRights #AntiTransBills #Trump #Fascism #Transphobia #TransSportsBan

I should also note that the above article devotes a small amount of space to discussing Gavin Newsom's recent podcast episode with fascist anti-trans propagandist Charlie Kirk, as a way of exemplifying how the moral panic about trans women in support has a significant degree of high-profile, bipartisan support in US politics. I left that part out of my analysis both because I was running out of characters, and because I wrote about Newsom's collaborationist bootlicking in another post published earlier this month; you can find that post here:

https://social.treehouse.systems/@AnarchoNinaAnalyzes/114118054155798227

"Of course, they weren't just talking about the weather; Governor Newsom, who btw has one of the safest seats in all of US government and thus has no electoral need to pander to, again, fascists who want to criminalize and ultimately end the existence of trans people, invited Charlie on his podcast to spew transphobic propaganda in service of an active fascist pogrom targeting trans people and in particular young trans women; and then agreed with him. There is no wiggle room or nuance to be had here, Newsom just helped the fascists make trans people less safe in America and his actions absolutely *will* have a body count associated with them down the line. This isn't about women's sports, or gender care in carceral settings because those are just the wedge arguments the fascists are using to criminalize trans existence; what Newsom is doing here is agreeing in principle that trans people are a danger to women/girls, and that their medical rights should be subject to legislation - all that's left to argue about at that point is to what degree trans people aren't people and thus don't have the same rights as other Americans."

So as I mentioned yesterday, I'd like to share this Majority Report interview with trans actress Laverne Cox about the fascist assault on trans rights, the dehumanization of trans people, and how what I've come to define as the anti-trans pogrom fits in to the larger capitalist, patriarchal, white supremacist, and ultimately fascist project. While Cox is a well informed, focused, and insightful guest that's worth listening to in any setting, as a trans woman one of the things I liked best about this interview is how the two cisgender hosts of the show allowed her to control the discussion and ultimately create a conversation that I think is equally valuable for trans people, other members of the LGBTQ community, and cis-het folks who want to serve as accomplices, not just allies, for a trans community in the fascist crosshairs as we speak.

Cox and the hosts discuss the recent history of anti-trans legislation, the larger fascist quest to eras trans people in public life, and how dehumanizing language and anti-trans propaganda serve as a permission structure for both eliminating trans people's civil rights and further dehumanization. They also talk about the reality that this project to justify and create the anti-trans pogrom is a well-funded, highly coordinated endeavor with architects across the entire American right, as demonstrated by the fact that almost everything to demonize, oppress, and erase trans people that GOP fascists have accomplished since Trump took office, was laid out in advance in Project 2025. Cox even articulates what most trans people already know in their hearts but many cis liberals treating us like a political football don't seem to understand; that the path the fascists are adopting here may lead to the genocide of trans people.

The group then shifts focus to talk about the relationship between the anti-trans pogrom, white supremacist patriarchal Christian Nationalism, and a larger fascist project that ultimately serves to enrich and empower predatory capital. Cox notes that what folks who aren't on the firing lines call a "culture war" is really about civil rights for those who are. The gang points out that policing of trans people in public life, is really just an extension of an ideology that views women as property, and that opens up a pathway to gendered power dynamics and enforced policies that harm *all* women, not just trans women. As both Cox and Vigland note, the fact that dehumanizing anti-trans propaganda ultimately serves as the thin end of the wedge for this larger fascist project and touches on other forms of targeted oppression towards non-white people, women, migrants, and young people, means that taking about the anti-trans pogrom is not a distraction, but rather a vital step towards defending us all from fascism.

Finally Cox talks about the importance of folks who support trans people actually rehumanizing trans folks in the broader culture, why allowing the right to force the discussion into a lens of medicalization is an unworkable strategy, and why nobody who isn't trying to get trans people murdered should be "consorting with the likes of Charlie Kirk." In a moment that may come as a surprise to cis people, she points out that even conceding to the idea that trans identities, trans rights, or trans existence are topics to debate, is an unacceptable level of dehumanization and helps the fascist cause. As Cox poignantly notes, "there is no middle ground when someone wants you extinguished."

The Majority Report: Humanizing Trans People with Laverne Cox.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auink7NlQr8

#TransRights #AntiTransPogrom #AntiTransBills #Fascism #ChristianNationalism #Patriarchy #WhiteSupremacy #Capitalism #Dehumanization #Genocide #AntiTransPropaganda #MajorityReport #LaverneCox #CivilRights #Project2025 #Trump

Fresh off punting a winnable election to a trans-eliminationist fascist political movement, a Democratic Party unprepared to accept it was a bad idea to pick aiding a genocide, promise to hunt down migrants better than the GOP, and court suburban white fascists who vote Republican over turning out their own base and beating Trump, has decided to blame their loss on trans Americans they already abandoned during that campaign anyway. Now, as the Trump regime legally codifies its attempts to eliminate trans people from public life, and even existence itself, "wise centrists" in the party are using their "one trans friend" as a shield to cover up their plan to, um, defend trans people from fascists even less!

https://truthout.org/articles/democrats-reshuffling-on-trans-issues-cedes-key-territory-to-the-far-right/

Democrats’ “Reshuffling” on Trans Issues Cedes Key Territory to the Far Right

"A Republican lawmakers wage an all-out assault on transgender people, Democrats are reportedly “reshuffling.” In a recent article, sources told NOTUS that the party is attempting to adjust its tone on trans issues following its crushing losses in the 2024 election, instead seeking a sort of middle ground that won’t “inflame” voters.

The myth that Democrats were too radical on trans issues has been echoed by various mainstream pundits in the wake of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. In reality, moderate Democrats largely declined to speak out about trans rights on the campaign trail. "

As a trans woman, I often wonder if rank and file, cis liberals understand the degree to which the (nominally) liberal establishment has completely abandoned, even turned against, trans people at the precise moment a politically empowered fascist movement with a trans-eliminationist agenda, has begun to legally enshrine an anti-trans pogrom.

Given the high-profile (although often performative) support the "liberal" establishment, including the Democratic Party, corporate entertainment and media organizations, and even large companies in the private sector expressed for trans rights a mere eight years ago, I can understand how folks who aren't living a trans existence, or plugged into trans issues, might not even be aware of how ephemeral that support was, and how much the mainstream establishment's appetite for defending trans people from fascist repression has shrunk. Speaking anecdotally, most labor class liberals I know who supported trans rights in 2016, still seem to support them (at least publicly) in 2025, and are opposed to the fascist anti-trans pogrom, but become angry, or defensive when I point out that the liberal leadership class no longer seems to agree with them.

Of course to excuse this act of scapegoating and betrayal, the liberal leadership class points to issue based polling that shows attacking trans rights is popular with cis-het people right now. Can anyone being honest really be surprised by that? Trump and the fascist GOP have spent the past six years manufacturing consent for an anti-trans pogrom, while our "allies" in the liberal mainstream discourse have increasingly refused to even talk about trans rights in a humanizing, effective way; and as such, I'm supposed to be shocked that trans rights aren't polling well in cis-het America? You know what else isn't polling well right now in America? A cowardly, collaborationist Democratic Party that refuses to stand up to Elon Musk, Downmarket Mussolini, and the fascist Trump regime; to turn around and blame the party's feckless incompetence on trans people existing so the GOP can make attack ads pretending that's Democrat's fault, would be craven and malicious at the best of times. To do it in the middle of a fascist anti-trans pogrom, when every trans person resides firmly in the crosshairs of Trump's eliminationist agenda, is unconscionable, and unforgivable.

Look, I don't know how to tell people that my right to exist as my authentic self is not a bargaining chip to be traded with nazis who want me dead, in response to an Astroturfed moral panic, and the results of one election in which there's little evidence the Democratic Party was even *trying* to win, without making them feel defensive. The simple truth however is that if whether or not you're prepared to even pretend to fight for the idea that trans rights are human rights, in the middle of a fascist anti-trans pogrom that is now taking on the force of law, depends on what focus group polling says then you never believed trans rights were human rights at all.

#TransRights #AntiTransPogrom #Fascism #GOP #DemocraticParty #Trump #CivilRights #Project2025 #VichyEstablishment #HumanRights