Trans rights and disability rights are under attack in this shocking Texas case - INTO
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Trans rights and disability rights are under attack in this shocking Texas case

Henry Giardina

Champion poster Courn on TikTok (@candy.courn) has been showing up for us for years now with stories of life as a disabled queer person. This week, they’re asking for our help and awareness in fighting a country-wide battle that could derail both disability rights and trans rights in one fell swoop.

@candy.courn

This is not a drill, the civil rights of disabled folks are under attack! 🚨 17 states are suing the government to get rid of Section 504, a vital US law for disability rights that states you can’t discriminate against disabled people in school, work, housing, healthcare, and beyond! Now, this lawsuit was filed last fall, but a court date has been recently set to February 25th, 2025 and there’s been a very crucial update this year, which is that they are continuing attacks on trans kids and gender affirming healthcare, using this lawsuit to also say that gender dysphoria is not a disability and shouldn’t be covered under 504 either. If you live in these 17 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia, you can contact your state attorney general directly to tell them to drop the case! You can use the email and/or call script at dredf.org/protect-504 linked in my bio. If you don’t live in these states, you can still pressure your state attorney general for support and spread awareness and public support in whatever communities you have, online and offline! #section504 #disabilityrights #disabilityjustice #disability #disabilityawareness #disabled #autismtraits #autistictraits #autismawareness #autism #autisticadults #autismmemes #autismmeme

♬ original sound – 🍉 courn 안

Texas v. Becerra poses a serious threat to Section 504, a part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which stipulates that schools, housing facilities, workplaces, and healthcare centers cannot discriminate against people living with disabilities.

So why are 17 states suing to get rid of it? Well, because this country hates disabled people and queer people of course! We knew that. The suit was first filed last year and is set to see its day in court on February 25th of this year.

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The suit itself isn’t surprising—it’s absolutely par for the course for this administration. What’s new and even more damning about the case is that it’s now updated to exclude gender dysphoria as a disability. This means that, should Section 504 be deemed unconstitutional, all 17 states—including Texas, Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, Indiana, Montana, and Kansas, among others—folks across the trans and disability spectrum could be stripped of crucial protections in the home and workplace overnight.

Not only does the suit continue to threaten the rights of trans citizens across the country, it removes legal access to basic tools for millions of Americans living with disabilities, such as the right to an interpreter, ramps, captions, and any necessary aid that helps folks access equitable access and care in daily life.

So what do we do about it? As usual, the best thing to do is to contact your state rep if you live in any of the 17 named in the case. For the rest of us, we have to keep making noise. It’s not acceptable to throw disabled folks into the fire, and anyone with half a brain and a heart knows this.

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Henry Giardina (he/they) is the editor of INTO. He lives in Los Angeles. Past publications include the New York Times, The Believer, The New Yorker, The Paris Review Daily, The Atlantic, Film Comment, and Gizmodo. He is @punkgroucho on Twitter.

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