Letters to the editor: Transgender bills
Transgender bills
The Legislature and Gov. Brad Little should stop the anti-transgender bills bringing negative attention to Idaho and hurting the most vulnerable people in our community. House Bill 500 seeks to ban transgirls from high school and college athletics, a departure from current state athletic policies. This is a thinly veiled attempt to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. Transgirls, along with anyone accused by a coach, competitor, teammate, of being transgender, would be subject to invasive genital examinations and reproductive testing to “prove” their gender should this bill become law.
Science tells us that elite athletes often do have a competitive advantage as a result of physical characteristics, like above-average heart or lung capacity—not characteristics related to transitioning. Allowing trans girls to compete in girls’ sports doesn’t hurt anyone. That’s why the National Women’s Law Center, the Women’s Sports Foundation, and major brands like Nike support trans-inclusive policies and oppose excluding transgender students from sports.
House Bill 509 would prevent trans folks from obtaining accurate gender markers on legal documents, subjecting them to public humiliation, harassment, and even violence when trying to travel, open a bank account, or apply for a job. Gov. Little must veto these harmful bills.
DeAnna Board, Boise
Transgender bills
One need not look further than the anti-transgender bills being perpetrated by the Idaho Legislature to see that for people like me, being is an act of defiance.
I’m a transfeminine/non-binary, third generation Idahoan. Outside of my work and art, I serve as an activist in Idaho’s transgender community, supporting our young people in the face of rejection by too many of their families, communities, and sadly, the majority party of our state government.
House Bills 500 and 509 put Idaho transgender youth — already statistically the most vulnerable among us — at even greater risk. In a 2018 survey, the American Academy of Pediatrics found alarmingly high levels of attempted suicide among trans youth; more than half of trans male teens, 30% of trans female teens, and 41% of non-binary youth reported attempting suicide in their lifetime. We cannot let ignorance and unscientific thinking perpetuate the marginalization of our already vulnerable trans and non-binary youth.
Transgender identity can manifest as any one of infinite iterations of the constructed reality of gender, and of all identities that honor the masculine/feminine energies innate in us all. Idaho’s trans community is resilient. We won’t be silenced, ignored, or erased by the Idaho Legislature, or anyone else.
Jyoni Tetsuro Shuler, Garden City
Transgender bills
I will not stand idle while you attack our children, our brothers, and our sisters.
Today I answered the call to go to the Idaho State Senate to create a presence and watched decisions for extremely harmful legislation including preemptive bills on abortion, removing affirmative action rights, and attacks on our trans youth.
The experience made me numb, sad, angry, confused, heart broken. I watched S1385 RvW pass 27-7. Later HB 440 against affirmative action passed. They took a 4 hour break and left no time for us to watch the trans bills. I work tomorrow, so I’ve written letters.
S1385 was Senate sponsored, and H440 has amendments so they still have to go to the House.
Flood your representatives with email, write letters to the editor, post about organizations who support these bills. Write to the governor and plead with him to veto the bills when they come to his desk. They are literally meaning life and death for so many people.
S1385 Roe v. Wade will criminalize abortion
HB 440 will reverse affirmative action
HB 500 trans athletes, will require pelvic exams on *all* of our daughters to prove their gender
VOTE NO. Save our Children.
Aymee R Michels Lichtenhan, Nampa