Full Transcript for Trans Issues After the Midterms

Did someone say sports? I did. 17 00:02:32.060 --> 00:02:42.760 I also said a lot of other stuff [laughs] but- Shut up. You said sports, the single most important thing facing Americans today. Oh, uh, what's your franchise? NFL, WNBA? 18 00:02:42.760 --> 00:02:56.260 [scoffs] No, a small local girls basketball team in a state I do not live in and have no plans to visit. Oh. That's a little strange. [laughs] Yeah. My wife hates it. Uh, ex-wife. Okay, ex-girlfriend. 19 00:02:56.740 --> 00:03:08.840 Look, we went on one date, but she just doesn't get it, okay? It's important. In what way? Exactly. Look, Dave, if we lose sight of what's happening in local girls basketball, can we even call ourselves Americans? 20 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:20.020 I feel like probably. It seems like this isn't as big of a deal as some people- Me... uh-huh, as some people think. But somehow a couple of down-ballot measures targeting trans people still passed. 21 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:24.620 Like in Washington State, there are only 10 trans kids participating in school sports, 22 00:03:26.340 --> 00:03:37.180 but an anti-trans down-ballot measure that passed there will now police up to 200,000 girls who participate in school athletics there each year. Yeah, that's what America's about, policing girls. 23 00:03:37.500 --> 00:03:46.300 Let's play the quiet game. You sound just like my ex-wife. W- ex-girlfriend. Quiet game? Quiet coyote? Good. And it wasn't just in Washington. 24 00:03:46.640 --> 00:03:55.800 Colorado voters approved a measure banning transgender student athletes, even though the mother of one of them says she can count on two hands the number of transgender student athletes in Colorado. 25 00:03:56.100 --> 00:04:03.540 But Colorado doesn't keep an official tally of trans student athletes, so we don't know how many trans student athletes there are, but it's likely a small number. 26 00:04:03.640 --> 00:04:10.720 Oh, please, if it were such a small number, why would I have chosen to make it my entire personality? That wouldn't make any sense. 27 00:04:10.720 --> 00:04:34.900 [upbeat music] Ah, my team of extremely local basketball girls just lost me a parlay. 28 00:04:37.880 --> 00:04:40.940 We were so close. And what about making locker rooms safer, huh? 29 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:54.840 Actually, even though supporters of some of these ballot measures, like one in Arizona, say this is a way to prevent girls from facing sexual harassment, research shows no link between trans inclusive policies and the harassment of cisgender women. 30 00:04:54.980 --> 00:05:06.860 Oh, w- what was that? Sorry, my Uber canceled. Is your Uber... It's my mom, yeah. You may go. Now. Oh. And the scary thing is, it wasn't just sports. 31 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:21.200 Another Colorado down-ballot measure just passed to prohibit surgeries for people under age 18 for the purpose of altering biological sex characteristics, but there is no hospital in Colorado that says it currently provides those surgeries to youth under the age of 18. 32 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:32.420 So these are basically measures to ban things that aren't happening, or are rarely happening, which sets a scary precedent regardless of your gender identity. Did someone say hyper-local girls basketball? No. 33 00:05:32.540 --> 00:05:38.680 And also, didn't you just leave? My Lyft canceled on me. Is your Lyft... It's my stepmom. Yep. 34 00:05:39.300 --> 00:05:47.820 So what do we make of an election where anti-trans Republican messaging may have lost them races, but anti-trans measures passed in some of the bluest of blue states? 35 00:05:48.200 --> 00:05:57.560 Well, voters did seem to have other concerns on their minds when it came to voting for their congresspeople and governors, like so. Oh my God, $7 for a gallon of milk? 36 00:05:57.580 --> 00:06:09.180 [laughs] I know, citizen, maybe get the raw milk instead. Oh, it's a GOP operative. Times are rough for the everyman like you, and also like me when I wear a cowboy hat. And you know what's making it rough? 37 00:06:09.260 --> 00:06:21.888 Uh, is it war? Uh, the economy? No, trans people. What? I, I don't think that's a thing. Well, we bet that struggling GOP candidates would leverage this to help overcome concerns about Trump's leadership and the economy. 38 00:06:22.128 --> 00:06:26.248 Did it work? No, but we're not gonna let a thing like total failure stop us. 39 00:06:26.388 --> 00:06:37.788 I really just mostly care about the economy, and even though some anti-trans ballot measures won in the midterms, only about one in 10 registered voters said trans issues were one of the most important in the election, according to an October poll. 40 00:06:37.808 --> 00:06:51.288 Ha, polls, the thing that Hillary Clinton wanted you to Pokemon Go to. [laughs] Wow, you really are out of touch. I gotta go finish my groceries. Bye. [whistles] Hello, taxpayer trying to pump their gas. 41 00:06:51.748 --> 00:07:03.288 Do you hate trans people? Ah! And no. Well, now you can. By the end of October, the amount of money we poured into this produced around 217,000 TV spots nationwide. 42 00:07:03.448 --> 00:07:12.468 That's more than what we spent in 2024 at the same point before the election. Is this supposed to distract me from the fact that the national average price for gas is now 3.98 a gallon? 43 00:07:12.528 --> 00:07:23.488 Hey, you said that, not me, and this is for sure a winning electoral message. I don't know. Many of the candidates who won last week talked about the economy instead, and lots of them were trans or non-binary themselves. 44 00:07:23.568 --> 00:07:35.948 Ugh, tell me about it. They won races for state legislators, Congress- And Orange County, Florida's Soil and Water Conservation District. Soil and water? They get everything. I'm gonna get in my car and drive away now. 45 00:07:36.168 --> 00:07:48.928 Okay, bye bye. Ah! Need some sugar? Uh, sure, I, I guess. Do, do you have some? Hmm, looks like

you're all out of sugar, but I have plenty of confusing and strategically worded anti-trans messaging. 46 00:07:49.008 --> 00:07:58.248 I, I don't want that at all. But, but it worked two years ago. It's actually not clear how true that is. Some research found that it helped reelect Trump, but that research was pretty partisan. 47 00:07:58.308 --> 00:08:08.608 It's unclear how significant the impact actually was. But if we keep saying it worked, then it did, right? It feels like you really need me to say yes. Is that a yes? I'm gonna go host my podcast now. 48 00:08:08.868 --> 00:08:21.808 Wait, do you have a job? My candidate, super lost. Hey, champ. With so much misinformation online, it's hard to know what's real or not. But one thing that is real, my beard, except for my mustache. That's fake. 49 00:08:22.108 --> 00:08:28.808 But I keep it all looking fresh thanks to our sponsor, Harry's, who support our show and make the Harry's Plus razor. 50 00:08:29.168 --> 00:08:37.908 If you order it using the link in our description, Harry's will mail you a Harry's Plus razor and cologne discovery set in addition to all the Local News International members perks. 51 00:08:38.208 --> 00:08:48.048 You'll be the first to view these weekly episodes, plus get early access to the newsletter twice a week, quarterly stickers mailed directly to you, and a quarterly Zoom with me and the rest of the LNI team. 52 00:08:49.768 --> 00:08:59.508 I am Tre'vell Anderson. I use they/them pronouns. My day job, the thing that pays me, I am executive director of the Trans Journalists Association. 53 00:08:59.848 --> 00:09:11.168 We're a nonprofit professional membership group that works with newsrooms to improve coverage of trans rights and communities, and we also support the careers of trans journalists. 54 00:09:11.528 --> 00:09:22.368 And then outside of that, I'm a culture and entertainment journalist, author-esque, podcaster, you know, hag around town, some may say. That's a good LinkedIn. What is... 55 00:09:22.648 --> 00:09:34.188 Uh, obviously, you kind of gave me the overview of that, but, like, your day-to-day, I'm very curious, last week, for example, during the election, what is, what did your Tuesday and Wednesday look like during that time with your position [laughs] or many positions, rather? 56 00:09:34.388 --> 00:09:44.388 I'll be quite honest, I was hiding, huh. [laughs] Um, because, you know, Tuesday was... 57 00:09:44.628 --> 00:10:04.608 For us, a lot of what we're trying to do is equip journalists with, like, the tools and the skillsets to be able to, like, spot misinformation, anti-trans misinformation from, like, 10 miles away, and then, like, you know, turn the coverage in a way that is more humane toward trans folks. 58 00:10:05.028 --> 00:10:32.408 Um, and so I think election day, day after the election, really it was, like, looking at what would happen with these ballot measures, um, juxtaposed with whatever happened with, you know, the individuals who would be elected, considering that, like, you know, this was the, the first time that anti-trans, uh, uh, measures had been put, you know, to voters, um, at the state level. 59 00:10:32.507 --> 00:10:47.488 Um, and so we, I think we were just as a team, you know, crossing our fingers and holding each other close, um, and hoping for, um, the best. Um, and we see that we did not necessarily get the best. 60 00:10:47.708 --> 00:10:50.608 So there, there was this big, you know, reaction of, "Oh, there's a blue wave," right? 61 00:10:50.668 --> 00:10:56.648 There's all these, these, uh, Democrats that came in, one of the biggest possibly ever, uh, sort of switches there p- on political parties. 62 00:10:57.128 --> 00:11:08.148 But w- in, in your opinion, and this is not an easy answer, was it a good or bad night for trans rights, and why or why not? Uh, and we can get into the details here. Was it a good or bad night? 63 00:11:08.588 --> 00:11:20.888 I, I don't think it was a good night. Um, I, like, I can't say it was good. Was it bad? Um, I mean, most immediately, yes, it was, right? 64 00:11:21.248 --> 00:11:43.588 Um, I do think that with the, the blue nami, the blue wave, whatever people calling it now, um, that there are opportunities in some of these states, right, for Democrats to, to get their stuff together and kind of stunt the, the intent and impact of some of these ballot measures. 65 00:11:44.028 --> 00:11:55.868 Um, and so I guess that is the, the silver lining, if you will. Um, but I do think that a lot of trans people were, you know, disappointed, right? 66 00:11:55.988 --> 00:12:04.068 Whereas so many other people were, you know, universally, you know, applauding and celebrating. You mentioned the candidates, too. 67 00:12:04.088 --> 00:12:15.388 What's, what's interesting is, yes, there was a lot of Democrats voted in, but a lot of them ran on some s- to some degree some level of anti-trans policy and/or just sort of rhetoric. Um, what, what can we make of that? 68 00:12:15.588 --> 00:12:22.156 What do, what do you think is gonna happen there? You know, I- It remains to be seen is the reality. 69 00:12:22.416 --> 00:12:38.416 I think our, our hope, my personal hope as a Black trans person in this country, right, is that those folks were trying to play a game and saying things that they thought would help them get into office, right? 70 00:12:38.516 --> 00:12:54.116 And now that they're in office, they will have the same audacity, right, that we've seen the Trump administration. I do think that, that the reality here though, right, with all of these ballot measures, 71 00:12:55.316 --> 00:13:06.176 to me a lot of this i- it's, it's just like the effects of misinformation, right? Really effective anti-trans misinformation. Um, I live in Los Angeles, California. 72 00:13:06.596 --> 00:13:21.496 Um, I can't speak to the specific anti-trans ballot measures, but baby, these ballot measures, okay, these propositions, okay,

as somebody with a master's degree from Stanford University, I have to read it four, five times- [laughs]... 73 00:13:21.536 --> 00:13:26.936 to understand. You know what I mean? That's only for me 'cause I- N- no, just- 'Cause I have to read it 10 times... to be quite honest, right? Yeah. 74 00:13:26.936 --> 00:13:38.496 [laughs] And, and, and the reality is, you know, my parents who live in Charleston, South Carolina, they ain't reading no ballot proposal two, three, four times, right? 75 00:13:38.596 --> 00:13:48.076 They bar- they, they barely wanna be in the booth in the first place if we're... You know what I mean? [laughs] And so- But were your parents in the booth? Th- the- They were, they were in the booth. Okay. Yeah. 76 00:13:48.076 --> 00:13:53.296 Yeah, yeah. Praise the Lord. Uh-huh. Okay? Shout out to South Carolina. Y'all did some things this go around. 77 00:13:53.856 --> 00:14:07.216 Um, but you know, the reality is that like most folks, um, aren't aware of the game of rhetoric that politics and, and ballot measures generally are. 78 00:14:07.596 --> 00:14:15.716 And then in this moment we saw that game of rhetoric played, right, towards trans people. 79 00:14:16.136 --> 00:14:32.576 Um, and I think there were a lot of people when you read something on a paper and you're like, "Yeah, uh, you know, do I believe that the sports teams down at the school should, you know, dictate that the, the, the teams are for, you know, men, women, or co-ed? 80 00:14:32.696 --> 00:14:42.116 Yeah, that sounds like something logical that I should support." You don't realize that it's actually, right, an anti-trans measure. 81 00:14:42.336 --> 00:14:54.076 You don't realize the ways that it is actually, you know, uh, uh, built to exclude people, right, off of these... You know, a, a, a pure lack of understanding and, and knowing of trans people. 82 00:14:54.356 --> 00:15:03.596 I think there's a lot of misinformation around this, and I would be curious if y- you know, someone from South Carolina or elsewhere that says, "Hey, what's this... Wh- why, why is this anti-trans?" What... 83 00:15:03.636 --> 00:15:12.116 How would you explain that to someone who's, uh, maybe just, you know, not even intentionally just kind of ignorant around the topic? Yeah. Well, I would say first and foremost that 84 00:15:13.036 --> 00:15:21.816 most of us are ignorant when it comes to, you know, the realities of medicine, of so-called biology. 85 00:15:22.136 --> 00:15:36.796 You know, like there, there are people who go to school for decades, right, uh, to be able to, to, to own that kind of expertise. So I would say we need to let the experts be experts. [laughs] Right. 86 00:15:36.856 --> 00:15:47.256 You know what I mean? Yeah. Just first and foremost. You know, you don't... 'Cause the reality is you don't have to understand, right- Right. I don't know how a car works-... what hormones does... but I drive it. Yeah. 87 00:15:47.296 --> 00:15:54.176 Yeah, yeah. You don't have to understand, you know, what a mechanic does to, to fix your car, but you know that he know what he doing. You know what I mean? 88 00:15:54.576 --> 00:16:15.496 So I don't have to understand, right, the, the, the fact that, you know, hormone replacement therapy and puberty blockers and, you know, all these other, uh, uh, forms of so-called gender-affirming medical care that some trans people get, right, um, don't meaningfully, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh... 89 00:16:15.536 --> 00:16:28.596 Or erases, let me say it this way, erases this, this assumption people have of, um, an advantage, right? Just because of the sex, you know, the individual was assigned at birth. 90 00:16:28.716 --> 00:16:39.176 You don't have to understand that, 'cause guess what? It's gonna be confusing. Uh-huh. Wh- why? 'Cause it's, it's... Just to be quite honest, because people spend decades studying it to have expertise. 91 00:16:39.496 --> 00:16:52.876 You're not going to understand it in a 90-second TikTok video, respectfully. When we're talking about school-aged sports, right, it isn't about fairness. It isn't about competition. 92 00:16:53.276 --> 00:17:03.716 It's about kids being able to play on teams with they friends, right? It's about building community, right? Did you ever play... What'd you... What... Did you play sports when you were younger, Daddy? Oh, yeah. 93 00:17:03.756 --> 00:17:13.276 Basketball. Which one? Rugby. Basketball? Uh-huh. Uh- Ooh, rugby. Everything. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Ooh. Rugby, yeah. You, you were really part of the team. Oh, yeah. [laughs] Now tell me. Yeah, pretty, pretty close. 94 00:17:13.336 --> 00:17:25.956 [laughs] I mean, okay. [laughs] And I... But... And I just offer for folks to think back to when you were playing, you know, Little League sports, right? Most of us weren't any good. 95 00:17:26.576 --> 00:17:32.056 Most of us didn't have professional aspirations by any means. 96 00:17:32.636 --> 00:17:42.676 You just joined the team 'cause you needed some friends, or in my case, you joined the team because they were trying to make you straight, and they were like, "Oh, my God. You need to go play football. 97 00:17:42.756 --> 00:17:57.176 You need to go play basketball. You need to go do this," right? They were just trying to get me to do something. It didn't quite work, but [laughs] you know. Those are the things that motivate, right? Kids sports, right? 98 00:17:57.576 --> 00:18:07.696 And we don't get to focus on those things when folks are being overly concerned, right? One of the most calls we got in the last month was, "I'm seeing all these anti-trans commercials. 99 00:18:08.196 --> 00:18:13.856 They don't, they, they don't mean anything to me, but why are these everywhere?" Like, literally, that was the question, why. 100 00:18:13.896 --> 00:18:21.716 And the questions we've gotten since are, "Did those matter at all, those commercials that I saw?" And so I'm curious, like, w- in your view or, or i- uh, informed

opinion. 101 00:18:22.096 --> 00:18:39.376 Well, I think the reason for it is, is, is one, this isn't the first time, right, that we've seen anti-trans especially, you know, ads, um, and anti-LGBTQ+ ads more broadly. Um, I do think that- 102 00:18:41.088 --> 00:18:53.968 People at least felt that these anti-trans ads were deeply effective in helping Donald Trump get elected, right? I remember during that election, I went to, uh, a concert in Dallas, okay? 103 00:18:54.128 --> 00:19:07.208 And I- when I'm traveling, I like to turn on the, the ca- the local cable, look at the news, you know? Shout out to the local journalists. Um, and it, within a, like, seven-minute commercial break, 104 00:19:08.128 --> 00:19:18.308 there was, like, four or five, you know, "Kamala is for they/them, Trump is for you" kinds of ads. And I was, I was, I was enraged, right? 105 00:19:18.688 --> 00:19:30.668 Um, and so I believe the studies that were done, um, post-Trump's, uh, re-election say that there was, like, a, a very minor impact, right, of those anti-trans ads. 106 00:19:30.928 --> 00:20:16.528 But the reason why I think this midterm election go around we saw more money, right, in particular put into these ads is because the, the, the folks who want to erase trans people from public life, who are also the folks who want to, you know, restrict various rights and, and, and, and, and civil liberties of Black folks and brown folks and immigrants, et- et cetera, right, uh, from, from a host of historically excluded communities, um, those folks know that the majority of trans people, excuse me, that the majority of cisgender people believe they've never met a trans person, 107 00:20:18.148 --> 00:20:26.428 right? There's th- there's this, uh, statistic from GLAAD that 70-some-odd percent of people believe they've never met a trans person. 108 00:20:27.468 --> 00:20:44.208 And considering that, that means then that people are learning about trans folks from the news that they're consuming, from the media that they're consuming, you know, the shows that they're watching, you know, Or- Laverne Cox on Orange Is the New Black, right? 109 00:20:44.248 --> 00:20:53.808 Or something like that. That is their introduction to, to trans folks. Or these days, maybe TikTok is your introduction to, you know, trans folks. 110 00:20:54.228 --> 00:21:11.368 Um, and because of that, because people believe they've never met a trans person, all of these ideas, all of these concepts that you hear about this so-called boogeyman, it becomes that much more potent 'cause you already don't think you know a trans person. 111 00:21:11.728 --> 00:21:19.648 You know what I mean? And if you think you don't know these people, it becomes that much more easier to believe lies about them. 112 00:21:19.768 --> 00:21:29.108 Yeah, I mean, it's, it, uh, an obvious comparison, but it's b- before gay marriage became gay, you know, actually legal across the country, there was so much of it was like, "Well, I

don't really know. 113 00:21:29.148 --> 00:21:35.148 Like, I have my, like, gay uncle or whatever, but that's really it." But it turns out, oh, actually [laughs] a lot more people were there, they just weren't out. 114 00:21:35.308 --> 00:21:48.328 We credit Ellen, we credit, you know, Modern Family, we credit Glee, right? These shows that put gay people in your living room, you know, Will and Grace put gay people in your living room. 115 00:21:48.548 --> 00:21:52.428 And then it was like- Even though they were already probably there [laughs]. They were definitely there. [laughs] Okay? 116 00:21:52.668 --> 00:22:11.388 And, and if I can add, I always take that statistic a step further and I say the reason why 70% of people believe they've never met a trans person is because you have not made the environment around you safe enough for the trans people who are already there to tell you their truth, right? 117 00:22:11.408 --> 00:22:19.428 And so I'm thinking in this moment of the trans people in Arizona, you know? I- in Colorado, right? 118 00:22:19.568 --> 00:22:30.928 These places where, you know, we've seen these anti-trans ballot measures pass, and just, just wondering about what it, what it feels like to be them, to see their neighbors, right? 119 00:22:31.388 --> 00:22:34.928 Turn on them, at least in this, this vote kind of way. 120 00:22:35.388 --> 00:22:56.508 Um, I don't, I, I, I, I worry about those folks because I think the, the, the project of, you know, what we, the Project 2025, if you will, uh, what we see, right, unfolding, um, is meant to, um, tire us as trans people out. 121 00:22:56.548 --> 00:23:04.788 It's, it's meant to get us to give up, right? Um, and over time, that can be really effective. 122 00:23:04.988 --> 00:23:18.068 I'm curious if you have any thoughts on the sort of actionable thing that voters can do or, or, or consider or think about when it comes to the next year or two, uh, as it relates to this trans right legis- trans, anti-trans legislation. 123 00:23:18.288 --> 00:23:29.568 Yeah. Yeah. Well, I, I, I would say first that, like, you know, good on you for, you know, turning the country blue and all of that other stuff, right? But that was just the beginning, right? W- 124 00:23:30.588 --> 00:23:47.288 w- this is an opportunity for you to take that, um, desire for something different, that desire for, you know, a humane, more humane country, a more humane state, right? And, and put it in service of trans folks, right? 125 00:23:47.868 --> 00:23:53.888 You should be calling up these folks you just elected and letting them know where you stand, right? 126 00:23:53.988 --> 00:24:09.148 Letting them know, demanding I may say, right, the kinds of actions that you want them to take as it relates to preserving and, and sa- you know, increasing the safety of trans people, right? 127 00:24:09.468 --> 00:24:21.128 You, you, I put a little plug for, for my nonprofit. You could donate, right? Some of that, that money that

we were as individuals putting into these, these elections and these campaigns, right? 128 00:24:21.448 --> 00:24:34.208 Redirect that to trans-led organizations that regardless of what's happening at the legislative house, right, our, our feet are on the ground, and we're sh- figuring out ways to show up for our community. 129 00:24:34.488 --> 00:24:48.160 So I would offer that as well. And then the last thing would be to figure out ways to make The environment around you safe enough for the trans people who are already there. What does that look like? I don't know. 130 00:24:48.220 --> 00:25:06.220 If you, if you work at a company that ain't, that to your knowledge ain't got no trans people there, maybe sug- suggest some trans-inclusive workplace policies, right, to ready your environment for when a trans person does present themself, right, uh, for that job or for that opportunity. 131 00:25:06.520 --> 00:25:19.220 I think oftentimes, you know, we, we think that bringing about this, you know, change and this possibility takes so much, and it does, right? 132 00:25:19.280 --> 00:25:33.460 But there are always steps that we as individuals can be taking to, I think, put, put, put our money, put our steps, put our personal environment, community where we say our politics actually are. 133 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:39.100 You mentioned misinformation, and that's like our bread and butter here, so I love that that's a focus for you. Is there, ig- is there one or two 134 00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:48.060 topics or, or p- particular bits of misinformation around trans people that you would love to kind of dispel here for an audience that maybe is not as familiar with them? 135 00:25:48.320 --> 00:25:59.280 There seems to be this, like, growing and recurring, um, kind of, uh, uh, conflation with, uh, between, like, trans identity and violence, right? 136 00:25:59.380 --> 00:26:05.700 Um, we live in a country where, you know, there's a, a school shooting or a mass shooting every other day, right? 137 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:22.480 Um, and so often in the immediate aftermath, right, we see folks online, right, forcing some sort of trans narrative, right, as part of, of, of the, the, the story. Um, often, most often when there is no connection. 138 00:26:22.520 --> 00:26:43.220 The Charlie Kirk situation is, is perhaps our, um, most notable example of how the, this anti-trans misinformation, this, this immediate, um, um, assumption and presumption, right, was published by, you know, published in a, in a US newspaper and went globally. 139 00:26:43.460 --> 00:27:00.040 We, we documented at least 40 internet, 40 instances, 40 other instances beyond the Wall Street Journal, um, um, where that misinformation was, was published, right, in, in, in an outlet that someone would deem to be reputable, right? 140 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:12.780 Um, and folks would take that, right? Um, but that was just last year. The, the earliest kind of documented moment where we saw this

was around the Uvalde shooting in 2022, right? 141 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:20.940 That was one of the earliest moments that we, we, we could document it and legitimately point to. Um, but it's part of, um... 142 00:27:21.080 --> 00:27:39.740 It's, it's that kind of knee-jerk, um, anti-trans, uh, uh, uh, response that contributes to, right, the what I call just kind of the, the, the murky confusion, right, that is trans rights. 143 00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:49.340 Um, because I think when you talk to, when you talk to individuals, right, when I talk to people, and when they, you know, get a little bit of my brilliance, Dave- Of course... 144 00:27:49.360 --> 00:27:59.140 they're like, "Oh, you sh- you should have rights. You should be able to have some healthcare." You know? [laughs] You should. Because I should. Yeah. [laughs] You know what I mean? 145 00:27:59.180 --> 00:28:12.560 [laughs] And so, and so, you know, I, I often just think about what can we do to combat misinformation. It is continuing to share the truth of trans lives, right? 146 00:28:12.860 --> 00:28:25.620 Trans truth is, is a, um, a, a moniker, if you will, that I've heard, um, a lot of folks begin to embrace over the last few years, um, as an antidote to that misinformation. 147 00:28:25.660 --> 00:28:30.620 So that's, that's a piece of misinformation, um, that I, I think about. 148 00:28:31.040 --> 00:28:49.340 Um, and then I'm also thinking about just because there are people who study decades to become doctors and have expertise, there's just a lot of misinformation around trans healthcare, right, around gender, so-called gender-affirming care. 149 00:28:50.040 --> 00:29:02.020 And I say so-called because, you know, though we live in a media landscape in which you would assume that gender-affirming care is something only trans people 150 00:29:02.940 --> 00:29:17.960 get or have, uh, but the reality is gender-affirming is just, it's just a label for h- a kind of healthcare that affirms your gender, and all folks have gender, not just trans folks, right? 151 00:29:18.020 --> 00:29:30.780 Which is to say everybody is engaging with a host of kinds of gender-affirming care, right? Uh, hair plugs is gender-affirming care. Uh, you know, that... N- no, not to you, Dave. 152 00:29:30.820 --> 00:29:38.140 You're, you're, you're looking real great over there, Dave. Okay. Okay. All right. All right. N- not to you. Okay. But, you know, just for some of our friends out there. Yes. Right? Yeah, yeah. 153 00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:47.500 That is gender-affirming care, right? Botox can be gender-affirming care. BBLs, Brazilian butt lifts, gender-affirming care. 154 00:29:47.880 --> 00:29:58.200 But we don't, we don't have the same kind of conversation about those forms of gender-affirming care that we're having about puberty blockers or we're having about HRT, right? 155 00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:15.500 There's this assumption that, uh, at least I feel, that if you were to look at all the news coverage of trans rights and communities, say, over the last, mm, five years, that you might assume that they are just giving out trans surgeries. 156 00:30:16.020 --> 00:30:28.280 You might assume that it is just so easy, right, to engage with the medical establishment [laughs] as a means of affirming your gender, and I'm here to tell you- I can't even get an appointment for just to check it. 157 00:30:28.280 --> 00:30:37.240 [laughs] Listen, my point exactly. Much of this misinformation, uh, uh, game, it is a game of rhetoric. It is a game of words. 158 00:30:37.600 --> 00:30:49.784 And, and, and conservative-minded and interested folks know that- All they have to do is put the right words together, right? 159 00:30:49.944 --> 00:31:00.964 And the general ignorance of people believing they've never met a trans person will do the rest. This is amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome back. 160 00:31:01.264 --> 00:31:07.884 So I think it's safe to say that despite the blue nami, the midterm elections had a lot of pitfalls for trans people across America. 161 00:31:08.264 --> 00:31:15.664 And while some of the anti-trans down-ballot measures that were approved can and will be challenged, it is understandable that trans people are scared. 162 00:31:15.964 --> 00:31:26.824 But as Tre'vell said, with new Democratic majorities, lawmakers now have more power to protect trans rights if their constituents push them to. So what the next few years will hold is still an open question. 163 00:31:26.944 --> 00:31:37.584 As is if my favorite teenage girls basketball team will make the playoffs. Do you even know the team's name? Uh, yeah. They're the Lady B- B- Bulls. The Lady Bulls. 164 00:31:38.404 --> 00:31:48.784 The reality is many people fall far too easily for misinformation on trans people. That's so reductive, Dave. I don't just fall for misinformation about trans people, I also fall for all kinds of misinformation. 165 00:31:48.864 --> 00:31:59.944 Didn't you see that documentary about the boat that sailed off the edge of the earth? Are you talking about Pirates of the Caribbean 3? Yeah. Who's Davy Jones, and what's in his locker? Speaking of locker rooms... 166 00:32:00.084 --> 00:32:00.784 Can you please go? 167 00:32:02.444 --> 00:32:12.384 A lot of these ballot measures were written in confusing ways that may not seem explicitly anti-trans if you're not paying attention to who is pushing them, and that's why it's important to stay informed. 168 00:32:12.724 --> 00:32:18.184 And outside the ballot box, we can all do things to make our trans friends and neighbors feel safer. It's like Tre'vell said. 169 00:32:18.584 --> 00:32:28.744 I would say first that, like, you know, good on you for, you know, turning the country blue and all of that other stuff, right? But that was just the beginning, right? W- 170 00:32:29.764 --> 00:32:45.704 w- this is an opportunity for you to take that, um, desire for something different, that desire for, you know, a humane, more humane country, a more humane state. Thank you for watching. Look out for your friends. 171 00:32:45.824 --> 00:32:55.504 And if your biggest hobby as an adult is following high school sports, I don't know, maybe try chess. [laughs] As always, leave us a voicemail asking about any misinformation you're seeing on your feed. 172 00:32:55.744 --> 00:33:01.904 We'll see you next week. Checkmate. King me. [upbeat music] Credits.