Mastodawn

Christine Lemmer-Webber

If you are going to read one and ONLY one article about the state of the US, why trans people in particular are under threat, with historical and contemporary analysis, please PLEASE read and share this article about a historian who is trans and has neurodivergent children, and why she is painfully packing up and exiting the US: https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/04/29/why-i-am-leaving-the-usa/

Why I Am Leaving the USA - Dame Magazine

My family is fleeing the country. We are not doing this in a panic; this is an orderly retreat from an unwinnable situation. We are slowly but surely packing up and emptying out our house. Instead of planning summer vacation and planting flowers, we're tackling a mountain of overdue home repairs, painting, carpeting, and deep

Dame Magazine -

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

If you are in a threatened category and ESPECIALLY if you are trans and you are thinking about leaving, it's at least important that you start planning your exit. I highly recommend the community collection of resources on https://transworldexpress.org/

Let me say it plainly: we are facing a trans genocide on the present path. Start helping yourself, your loved ones, get a passport, look at options out. Don't wait.

Trans World Express

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

I am not telling you to leave, I am telling you that you absolutely cannot look away from the situation, for your safety, for the safety of the people you love.

Things are escalating fast. Things will get much worse very quickly. In all likeliness, there won't be paths out, soon.

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

If you are wondering though, "is genocide really possible, or likely"

The answer is yes, it's possible, it's likely, they're actively working on it. In the next couple of posts, I will explain why, and then how, we are seeing a trans genocide being planned.

The first is why. It's very simple: fascism requires a culture war to prevent a class war. Since the poor are directly hurt by oligarchic takeover, they have to attack a group of underprivileged people

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

It's essential to have a group of people which are such a small minority that most people don't know them well, who are vulnerable, and to make them look scary and like the enemy.

It has been Jewish people before (and will again, Nazis can't wait after trans people are being exterminated to go after Jews again), but it is trans people being prioritized today.

So how will it be done?

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

The trail of crumbs is out there for all to see, they've left everything on the table:

- DONE: Provoke fear that trans people are sexual predators, trying to take things away from cis women, preying on children (these fears are now well established)
- DONE: Establish medical disinformation disguised as real reports saying that trans people aren't real, their care should be removed (especially for children but also adults)

So now what's next?

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

The next steps aren't a *direct* roundup, it's an *indirect* roundup:

- Federal ban on trans care for children, with severe prosecution for anyone who doesn't comply
- Federal ban on trans health care for *adults*, building on the previous case
- Begin defining having changed gender identity as "identity fraud" and a felony, including *government and workplace interactions*

THIS LAST ONE IS ALREADY A BILL IN TEXAS (HB 3817) https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB3817

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

With these in place:

- Trans people will be forcibly detransitioned, accesing medical care even for adults could be considered drug crimes
- Trans people using their post-transition identity information in work or legal contexts can be charged as felons for identity fraud
- Trans people entering restrooms not corresponding to their assigned-at-birth-gender can be arrested as *sexual predators*
- Trans people will be assigned to the *wrong prisons*

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

Furthermore, the Trump administration has been pushing on harder use of the death penalty, including for sexual predators.

Even though being trans does NOT make you an actual sexual predator, the rules are then in place to permit not only incarcerating trans people in the wrong prisons, but *executing* trans people.

Like with the "final solution", executions will ramp up more later in rollout than earlier

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

Am I exaggerating? Are things really that bad?

Folks I would LOVE to be wrong but I really don't think I am. All of this stuff has been left out in plain sight, there on the table for all to see. See the post linked at the top of the article for more.

It's going to take time to assemble an exit. Many trans people have groups of people they don't want to leave.

It will be easier to start making plans as a group *now*, than when it's too late.

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

If you have a group of people, maybe your polycule, and hey, all likeliness it's a pile of people with executive dysfunction.

Organize a meeting, maybe over video calls. Start mapping things out in a shared document (maybe on a CryptPad), look at everyone's options.

You might have to split the party, at least eventually.

Start now. Please don't wait. Know your options.

Help those who need help.

Thank you.

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

A final comment.

A frequent question I hear amongst my friend group is: do they really have the power?

Look at what they have been doing to Venezuelans.

Look at how the Trump administration has still not complied with an order from the SUPREME COURT

Remember that Trump has directly said he wants to "deport" US citizens

Yes, they have the power. And in the places they don't, they are assembling it.

Please don't ignore this. Please be safe. Thanks. 💜

Dave Warnock May 5, 2025

@cwebber I wonder if it would be helpful to reframe the question "do they really have the power?" to show that they do not have legitimate power to do these terrible things but the lack of legal, legitimate power is not stopping the corrupt use of power.

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

@Dave42W That's right, even though clearly legally they cannot do some of the things they are doing, they have eroded all of the systems of checks and balances so thoroughly that it means that in terms of actionable power, they have it.

Dave Warnock May 5, 2025

@cwebber I'm definitely not going to "favourite" that. I hope that the courts get much tougher on these fascists.

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

@Dave42W If the courts get tough on them but nobody enforces the courts, that's when we're in real trouble.

The fact that the *supreme court* has mandated an action that isn't being carried out....

Well, what more powerful court is there in the US? If it's ignored, which court can get tough?

Dave Warnock May 5, 2025

@cwebber I'm no expert on the US system. My understanding was that so far no court has gone down the actual contempt of court proceedings?
I'd say you are in a constitutional crisis (among all the others Trump is causing) but until he does not accept a contempt of the supreme court ruling you have not reached the full constitutional crisis?

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

@Dave42W That''s pushing the goalposts on what a constitutional crisis is pretty far imo

I'll just link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN1oBfg0fwI

The Emergency Is Here | The Ezra Klein Show

YouTube

Dave Warnock May 5, 2025

@cwebber I've not seen that channel before (I mostly catch Maidas, David Tyler Cohen).

Personally from the UK your constitutional crisis began before the Jan 6th insurrection. Key other steps included not prosecuting enough and fast enough, not using 14th amendment, allowing any presidential immunity, anyone who voted for him, ...

@cwebber not only did Trump refuse.to comply with SCOTUS orders but.literally forcibly seperated children from their parents and illegally forcibly.disappeared US citizens and exiled them into a concentration camp in El Salvador!

Lunaphied May 7, 2025

@cwebber I think one thing that people talk about a lot is moving or being in very trans friendly blue states like Colorado. Obviously it's hard to move even between states but in terms of accessibility it's much higher. We really struggle to convince people that this will not be enough and there is admittedly less momentum there. So far the Maine fight backed down.

Though Newsom's position sliding is terrifying and the democrats that sit and do nothing still constantly seem to discuss "we shouldn't focus on trans people and deportations instead of the economy" so there's nobody left.

I don't mean this as a refutation: my opinion is trans people need to leave; and preferably do so with an ocean separating them, despite the often subpar or inaccessible medical care in Europe for trans people and right wing shifts of their own. But it's also hard to imagine a world where Colorado slides back far enough to become unsafe.

Gwen moved to transfem social May 5, 2025

@cwebber an addendum to splitting the party: it will be sad, but we live in the times where that will be the least impactful.

If you have signal, discord, threema, email, matrix, or anything else - especially if you can be mildly anonymous and it is decentralized - you can keep on touch. This won't be like flees prior, where you'll at best have letters and there's a high likelihood of never finding each other again.

With instant communication, the party can be reunited in the future, and you can still be part of each other's lives

Talya (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️✡️May 5, 2025

@cwebber the country i grew up in (Israel) is doing genocide as we speak.
one of the most worrying steps that happen on the path to extermination is once the so called "liberal opposition" starts attacking the party in power for not being tough enough against the group.
once that happens, the path to genocide becomes one-way.
this happened in the US during the last election cycle.

Jacqueline May 5, 2025

@Yuvalne @cwebber you said it best

@cwebber
to add something even more grim: Project 2025 mentioned the death penalty for sexual predators _and_ framed sex ed (esp. regarding trans and inter people) as sexual child abuse

Ariaflame May 5, 2025

@ki @cwebber Except of course for all the GOP including GOP politicians caught with child porn.

cwicseolfor (has moved!)May 5, 2025

@ariaflame @ki @cwebber To them it's scarcely an exception. Men doing whatever they want with their property is and always has been their idea of right-minded sexuality. The interaction of an agent with an object is their norm, nevermind that some of those objects believe themselves to be people - these men know better, and they've always acted consistently with this belief to the greatest extent they have been allowed to without consequences.

pikmin enjoyer May 5, 2025

@cwebber sadly the situation re: prisons is already this dire and has been for a while, trans people already routinely go to prisons for the wrong gender, especially trans women. Of 4890 trans people in state prisons only 15 of them were housed in regards to their gender rather than their assigned sex at birth https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3431&context=lawreview (page 1449)

@cwebber the USA already does the 2nd on federal level by refusing to renew or issue passports to people other than their (binary!) AGAB.

maswan May 5, 2025

@cwebber Don't wait! Finding a way out that's both legal (you really don't want to get deported back!) and has at most a moderate drop in quality of life (this includes selling possessions to have money in the destination, rather than arriving with empty pockets) will realistically take 6-12 months of hard work.

Softwarewolf May 5, 2025

@cwebber My biggest question for immigrating to another country is... what if you don't have an "in"? Your only option is job application, and most companies don't seem to want to sponsor immigrants. The legal process could take months or years, which we likely don't have at this point.

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

@faoluin It's true that it's challenging to find out what options you have, though https://transworldexpress.org/wiki/Country_list and https://transworldexpress.org/wiki/What_are_my_options%3F may help

And hey, maybe there's someone in your polycule who you'd be happy to be married to...

Country list - Trans World Express

sabik May 5, 2025

@cwebber @faoluin
If you're marrying a European, also consider that spouse visas can be much easier if you both move to a different EU/EEA/CH country...

Martin Vermeer FCD May 6, 2025

@sabik @cwebber @faoluin And if you're lucky enough to have an Irish grandparent...

desirable_dialogue May 6, 2025

@sabik @cwebber @faoluin do you have a reading advice for that?

sabik May 7, 2025

@desirable_dialogue @cwebber @faoluin
Hmm, not sure there's a general document; in practice, you'll be looking at particular countries...

* Spouse visa requirements for the country of citizenship — sometimes there are requirements like minimum income for the citizen; recognition of de facto partners also varies

* Spouse rules under Freedom of Movement, which is mostly a "direct right" in EU/EEA/CH — and then check for practical experiences in your short-list countries

sabik May 7, 2025

@desirable_dialogue @cwebber @faoluin
Note that there are (at least) three overlapping freedom of movement blocs in Europe; the above is mostly about EU/EEA/CH, which is known for having easier spouse rules under Freedom of Movement than some of the member countries (see "Surinder Singh route"), and which is potentially relevant to me

You'd have to look up the rules for other blocs if they're relevant to you

Tiss'hivert May 5, 2025

@cwebber I was first doubtful when I read about a potential "genocide" against trans folks in your thread, especially regarding how strongly other minorities have already been targeted and denied constitutional rights but… some evidence given in the article is awfully compelling[1][2]. I've already worried about if I'd ever need to move from France if things kept going where they're headed since Macron arrived but I hadn't realized how critical things already were on your side of the Atlantic. Like you said, you could be wrong, still the disturbing facts are starting to pile up. Thanks for sharing this. Please be safe.

[1] https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25912589/bondi-memo-42225.pdf
[2] https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/pdf/HB03817I.pdf#navpanes=0

Jonathan Lamothe May 5, 2025

@cwebber I couldn't read the whole thing because it was triggering my anxiety too hard, and I'm a white cis-het guy living outside the US. I can't imagine being a trans person inside the US right now.

Foolish Owlbear

@cwebber Would you mind if I shared this thread on Bluesky? I don't have a big reach over there (or anywhere, really), but I think this is important.

Christine Lemmer-Webber May 5, 2025

@cocaine_owlbear Go for it

Foolish Owlbear

@cwebber Posted.

Edit: here's a link:
https://bsky.app/profile/cocaineowlbear.bsky.social/post/3logn7p5irc2w

Bluesky

Bluesky Social

devoir May 5, 2025

@cwebber as a granddaughter of Jewish refugees, I can attest, only the ones who got out early survived 💔

Ahri Enby May 5, 2025

@cwebber neither @puppygirlhornypost2 nor the tf.s servers aren't ready yet.

Teasel May 5, 2025

@cwebber Can you even get through the border safely at this point? I've been hearing that trans people -- anyone who the border agent even thinks might be trans, really, which includes quite a few non-white cis women -- are getting their passports confiscated, and have been for months. Any ideas as to where to look to verify this? Any ideas on how to get through the border?

. stdh .May 6, 2025

@cwebber I find it hard to say something meaningful in the face of all this. So very bleak, as if there's not enough cruelty in the world already. Destroying so much, and so many, for power.
But it hit me especially when the author stated that the first duty for US trans people is to survive. It's very sad to say, and at the same time there's a feint and weird hope in it.

For what little it's worth, I wish those hurt or threatened safety and good luck.

@cwebber
Grim but necessary. 🙏

cyplo May 6, 2025

@cwebber I'm glad folks are writing and talking about this. Being from a family really affected by WW2 in Europe - all of this is how we speedrun the early 20th century. Happy to help people with any advice on landing in the UK or in Poland. For the article, from what I understood, it says that it was Jews before and trans folks now. It kinda started with trans folks before as well - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut_f%C3%BCr_Sexualwissenschaft - the famous book burning photos were of the Institute's books

Institut für Sexualwissenschaft - Wikipedia

@cwebber already @trans_rescue is being flooded with requests...

I really need to like make a quick overview based off the #OSINT I can grasp. ( #NotLegalAdvice OFC!)

Ideally I'd ask @marcel on summarizing (esp. non-asylum) options (after all he's a licensed lawyer spechalized in that area but he's busy battling cancer. (Maybe one of his colleagues want to add in?)

But last time I checked U.S. passport holders still get passport privilegue and can not only enter the Schengen area on a 90-of-180 day visa but for Germany also change status post-entry and basically get permits rubberstamped if they can find employment that nets them a living wage of ~ € 1.091 p.m. and person (after taxes and fees I assume since that't the sponsorship amount required for an Opportunity Card)...

Again: * NOT LEGAL ADVICE!*