So, the other day a funny thing happened. I was in the bathroom washing my hands, and a guy walks in, and since he can only see me from behind, he sees my long, flowing hair. And he panics, quick flush of the face, and he backs out of the bathroom, checks to make sure he is indeed in the men’s bathroom, and comes back in. This happens every couple of weeks, maybe once a month? It cracks me up to no end, because I have long hair and somehow that signals to guys they are in the wrong restroom. It’s especially funny if I’m standing at a urinal, because there are no urinals in the women’s bathroom, and yet long hair overrides any other evidence the brain could notice. My point is, we gender silly things. I, a person who identifies as male and was assigned the male sex at birth, can grow long, luscious locks. Our current society has deemed that to be a female trait, so strongly that guys will see long hair and think they’re in the wrong bathroom, even when there are urinals and nary a feminine hygiene product in sight. But hair isn’t gendered. Mammals have hair, it’s just a thing, for all genders. And this long and meandering intro highlights one point I’ll make in explaining why trans people are not a problem.

Trans people exist. They have always existed. They are not new, they are not taking over, they are not trying to indoctrinate children. Let’s do a little crash course on biology and semantics. Gender is a social construct. Gender is a spectrum. Gender is what I was talking about with my long hair making people think of females. Hair exists on every gender, and yet our society associates long hair with females, despite ample evidence to dispute this association. Blue represents boys and pink represents girls is another social construct related to gender. It isn’t based on anything, and has no actual meaning. Sex is what we talk about when referring to the genitals someone is born with. And here’s a fun fact, sex isn’t just male or female. Some 200,000 people in the US alone are born intersex, which is a naturally occurring phenomenon in which people are born with any of several sex characteristics (including chromosomal patterns, sex glands, or sex organs) that do not fit the binary description of male or female. Some of this is present at birth (most documented cases), and some people may develop these characteristics later in life (cases that may not get documented). It’s just a scientific fact. And if this is beyond comprehension for you, bad news for you about flowers. 

And then sexuality is just a whole different topic altogether, that is honestly unrelated, so I’m just saying that’s a different thing and not going to try to cover it in a two page blog.

So, gender is a social construct. And sex isn’t binary. These two facts alone should be good enough to show that not only do trans people exist, but it’s harmless and even perfectly expected that they do. Trans people will often seek medical care due to various aspects of being trans. And that medical care is between them and their medical providers. Unfortunately, politicians with no medical background think they know better than this (they don’t). New laws are being passed not informed by medical personnel, but by attention-seeking politicians limiting the medical care trans people can get from their medical providers. Not based on data, but because the new Satanic Panic is apparently that trans people are trying to get your kids. Not sure exactly what trans people are trying to get your kids to, or from, or for what. It’s honestly all a bit murky about what trans people are trying to do that’s so harmful. Point is, there is no evidence of trans people harming children in a systematic way. Drag shows aren’t killing kids, school shooters are doing that. Trans medical providers aren’t indoctrinating and abusing kids, churches are doing that. The reason trans people and drag shows (even though drag and trans are very different things, they keep being lumped together by bigots) keep getting targeted is because they are a minority. Trans people are a minority even in the LGBTQ+ community, where they even get a whole letter to themselves! And when politicians need to create a new “those people” group to hate, using our in-group/out-group cognitive bias to promote tribalism, they focus on a minority group. Because statistically, fewer people will have familiarity with that group, and therefore it is easier to spread misinformation and hate. It’s why gay people used to be this big bad societal group, and now it’s trans people, because too many people know gay or lesbian peeps to see them as being a problem. And before the gay panic, it was different races and ethnicities, and we as a society diversified and learned there was no difference there, either. So, politicians who have no actual policy to run on need to find a new group to target and work to dehumanize so they can manufacture societal panic. It’s bigotry, plain and simple. 

Now, I work a weird job. I see people from all walks of life. I get to meet people who deal with things I never had to deal with firsthand, and I hear their stories and learn from their experiences. I know trans people. I get to work with all kinds of LGBTQ+ folks. They’re great sometimes, and other times they’re flawed, just like any other demographic. Because they’re human. And that’s the whole point, they’re human beings. Trans people are not a problem. They exist. And they deserve love and respect like everyone else. If you struggle at all with these concepts, try to learn more about it, and diversify your life experience. You’ll grow and be a better person for it.