After attacking trans lives directly and indirectly, reporting shabbily on trans issues without hiring trans reporters to take the lead on coverage, and generally giving into a wave of bothsidesism around trans rights for years, the New York Crimes has just managed to take its dumbest line yet on the subject of trans existence. According to a recent piece, the assault on trans lives and futures just isn’t “consequential” problem of the Trump administration.
Try telling that to actual trans people, who are living a nightmare existence under Trump’s second term.
Maybe the billion dollar campaign by the far right over that same time demonizing us had something to do with it.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) March 2, 2025 at 3:40 PM
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Since Trump took office in January, we’ve had to face executive orders claiming that we do not exist. We’ve gotten our passports and identifying documents sent back to us slashed, burned, and with the gender marker changed to reflect our assigned sex at birth. We’ve been told that we can’t participate in group sports of any kind, and that other trans people can’t come into the US unless they’d care to face a potential fraud charge. We saw Tulsi Gabbard fire her trans employees for participating in a trans wellness group chat. We’ve learned of the catfishing, torture and murder of Black trans New Yorker Sam Nordquist, and the suicide of trans pioneer Elisa Rae Shupe.
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This is a serious and deliberate blow to trans existence in Texas.
The attacks on transgender children that started in Texas in 2021—and at that time were limited to states like Texas and Florida—have spread disproportionately, and over the weekend we saw a bill that seeks to make gender-affirming care for even trans adults illegal.
But still, apparently it’s a low priority issue.
“I can’t say it’s exactly consequential,” said Times contributor Megan K. Stack in a recent piece, “since so few lives are materially affected (which is kind of my point) but it is a shameful mark on our national conscience.”
Well, f*ck our drag, right?
Obviously we have never been able to, and never will be able to, look to the Times and its love affair with respectability politics to offer any comprehensive response to or understanding of the daily attacks on trans life. And obviously because we’re such a small minority, what happens to us doesn’t matter to a paper still intent on pleasing everyone, from the arch-conservatives on staff to the liberals who believed that the Harris-Walz ticket was right to completely avoid any reference to trans Americans during their campaign. None of it is surprising, but it continues to be disgusting. A shameful mark on our national consciousness, even.
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