It’s been a hard week. Most of our attention these past few days has been focused on the horrific events that occurred in Las Vegas on Sunday. As the shock fades, our country returns once again to gun control laws and the never ending discussion of our rights and the government’s obligation to protect its citizens.
This is not an invitation to discuss gun laws, so please be mindful of that in the comments.
A country’s obligation and role in protecting its people extends in many different ways. Whether it is protecting our personal rights, having access to proper medical and mental care, as well as ensuring our civil rights are maintained.
This week we saw the Trump administration roll back the mandate that employers provide insurance coverage for contraception based on religious freedom. This, of course, will open the door to other discriminating changes that are also based on religious freedom, potentially rights that protect the LGBTQ community.
What does this have to do with the transcommunity? Well, everything.
I think most of us here believe that transwomen are women. Issues that affect cis-women are also issues that transwomen should be concerned about as well. While it is true that reproductive issues may not affect a transwoman personally, we should be outraged when any right of any woman is denied, especially when it comes to one’s healthcare. If we want to be viewed and accepted as women when we visit the mall in a cute dress and heels, then we must also champion for the rights of ALL women.
If the GOP wants to deny healthcare to cis-women, whether directly or indirectly, then they will not hesitate to take away the protection of transwomen. Which brings me to my next point.
If you had any doubt that the Republicans hated us, this week also saw the Trump administration end workplace protection for the transgender community. Unless it’s in an effort to be needlessly cruel, I do not see any point in going out of your way to take away a civil right from us. This week was a busy week for this administration as they somehow also found time to request a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military. One would think that escalating tensions with North Korea, hurricane recovery in Puerto Rico and mass shooting in Las Vegas would take more precedent than stripping away the rights of women and the LGBTQ community.
Things were going, well perhaps not well, but things were less terrible for us not too long ago. What happened?
Love, Hannah
Hannah McKnight 
Well, the administration had the smokescreen of Las Vegas to try to help cover the other changes that they made. Make hate while the cloud covers. 😦
As for protecting us, we see how much it takes to protect one person – the President – it takes a fleet, literally, of cars and officers. And at that, it is not 100% effective. I’m not sure that there is a way to protect all of us, short of a complete shift in mentality of the entire population. And, that can’t happen in fewer than a couple of generations, _if_ we could find a way to enable it. Sadly, I don’t know that there is a way to enable it.
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Well, the GOP is relentlessly working on denying existence for everyone who is not a god-fearing white cis hetero, let there be no misunderstanding of that. They want their privilege back and more in what they think they “lost” in the last couple of years. I could make a comparison to another purification in the previous century but then I would run into Godwin’s Law… anyway, Karl Popper’s Paradox of tolerance and such
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I don’t even know where to start when I read one these post of yours Hannah. This one line in particular is very disturbing to me. “If the GOP wants to deny healthcare to cis women” where do you come up with the idea that anyone is deny anybody healthcare? All they’re asking is for them to pay for part of it “contraception” themselves. Thanks to The great Obamacare I get to pay $ 26,000 out of my pocket every year for my health insurance with premiums and deductibles! So I personally don’t have a problem with people maybe paying a little more of they’re share of their healthcare needs. I just don’t understand this entitlement mentality of this country.
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Anonymous,
They are (or it sure seems like they are) singling out women’s healthcare. The contraception issue is just one – Planned Parenthood is another (and I’m sure we won’t see eye-to-eye there either), but abortion services are already paid for by the participants, so taking PP away is taking away they many other healthcare services that PP provides. If it were really about cutting “elective” or non-health-threatening issues, then take away the coverage of Viagra and such. There is a lot that is covered as “preventive” and contraception surely falls in that area. Pay for your annual physical (if you get one), annual eye exams, semi-annual (or more or less often) dental exams. All preventive. All covered by most plans worth a hoot. Pick and choose what you want, but this is about women’s healthcare. Access to or costs of, it is still about it.
And, sorry to hear about your costs – I’ve heard many folks that will be losing coverage as soon as the ACA is done away with. Not costs going up, coverage completely going away. What is the cost of a life that couldn’t be taken care of?
Hannah,
Sorry about the political nature of the comment. Remove it if you feel it shouldn’t be here.
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From the beginning article to some of the comments I am disturbed by the hate,intolerance and misinformation I’ve been reading. For a person ( I’m getting tired of all the dividing labels ) whose health care costs INCREASED over $700 a MONTH I don’t have a problem with people having to pay for their own condums or the pill.let’s be honest it’s not that big of cost. Also the ACA was never about health care, it was really only about control. As for PP people seem to be unaware of the true purpose as stated by it’s founder.
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