Γνωθι σαυτον | Know Thyself
One of the things that frustrates me the most about anti-trans BS is how wrong it is to deny people the ability to be themselves.
Γνωθι σαυτον means ‘know thyself.’ It was a popular saying in my household growing up, with my mom reminding me to do more introspection. (She did not need to, but here we are.) I spent years feeling like I stuck out horribly in every space I occupied. I questioned how transitioning would affect my relationships — and it eventually ended my first marriage.
Trans people have spent more time getting to know ourselves than most cisgender people do, questioning everything about our lives. If we’ve hit this conclusion that we’re trans, it’s not a phase or an experiment. It’s who we are.
You can’t legislate a whole community out of existence.
But, when that doesn’t work, people often escalate up the genocide chain. We’ve constantly been flirting with this chain as a global society, and it’s alarming to see the ways it’s showing up as the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ laws coming out continues.
This is especially affecting the mental health of our youth as they’re the most targeted. More states are looking not only to restrict gender-affirming care for youth, but also adults whether in general or by targeting insurance coverage - and even drag performances. Even without these wide-reaching bills, individual judges like this one in Oklahoma are stripping rights person by person. It’s getting so bad that Canadians have petitioned Prime Minister Trudeau to open up asylum for transgender and nonbinary folks. (While a great idea, it’s also worth noting that immigration requirements in most countries deny folks who are disabled or would otherwise be a ‘drain’ on social services. Plus, even with help, this costs a ton of money. In my opinion, it’s better to try to fight the BS so all of us have rights.)
If you haven’t seen, myself and a number of journalists and supporters signed onto a letter to the New York Times. Delivered on the 15th, this letter called NYT out for consistently platforming anti-transgender viewpoints, people, and organizations. GLAAD sent a similar letter on the same day and NYT lumped them together as one letter. The Onion wrote up an amazing piece of satire on the NYT response. The NYT, by the way, put out a front page article supporting noted transphobe JK Rowling the day after receiving these letter. The Onion’s piece has gotten a lot of traction, as it should. They even released another piece on Monday titled, Evangelical Leaders Announce J.K. Rowling Finally Bigoted Enough That It’s Okay For Kids To Read About Witchcraft that is especially great. It’s beautiful to see multiple outlets call out the NYT and how they continue to harm the community.
Speaking of, if you’re looking for a bunch of witchy games that aren’t related to Harry Potter, a collection of 69 games on Itch has raised thousands of dollars for trans orgs. This is still on sale until end of day on Feb 24. A24 is also auctioning off props from Everything Everywhere All At Once to donate money to the Trans Law Center, the Asian Mental Health Project, and the Laundry Workers Center.
Most of us know that we can’t just focus on history or awareness for specific days. Learning about any community’s history is something we should do all year long. Unfortunately, teachers and librarians in Florida are being fired over LGBTQ+ content - or showing the lack of it. Although, I will say that it’s possible that this will bite them in the butt. Colorado pulled this as well and was found to have violated anti-discrimination laws.
In some happy news, Em Schulz - co-host of the amazing podcast And That’s Why We Drink - was recently featured on Advocate Channel. Em is one of the reasons that I started questioning my gender way back when. Between them and co-host Christine’s chronic illness relatability, the show is an amazing one to catch.
COVID-19
Moderna has decided to keep their COVID-19 vaccine available to folks for free after reports surfaced that they planned a major price hike. California is now phasing out COVID-19-related testing and vaccination clinics due to financial issues. Spaces like the Creating Change conference are not requiring masks, making them inaccessible.
A recent study found that COVID-19 may raise the risk of developing autoimmune disease by 43%. Yikes! If you’re dealing with long-COVID, here’s an article about accommodations.
Health
Speaking of accommodations, Teen Vogue also recently wrote up a piece about accommodations for mental health in the workplace.
The derailment of the Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio, continues to be a major issue. Erin Brockovich is already involved in working with those living in the area. Several lawsuits are pending, including a class-action lawsuit against the company. Trump is also about to descend on the area, too.
If you’re looking for relatable disability or illness-related content, Wisconsinite artist Rachel Litchman recently had some of her comics published in the Washington Post. If you want to view this sans paywall, here’s an Instagram link:
Patients often find ourselves having to fight for access to treatment. Sometimes that’s because of doctors, access to the healthcare system, or insurance. I’m concerned how various mergers will exacerbate this problem, like how Amazon just bought One Medical. Also, ProPublica recently highlighted Christopher McNaughton’s story of how UnitedHealthcare gatekept him from ulcerative colitis treatment.
There has been an ongoing shortage of ADHD medications, specifically Adderall. Because of that, people are switching to other ADHD medications, causing shortages there, too. I understand why these medications are controlled and, yet, the restrictions placed on them are contributing to the shortage.
Even for folks who can access medications for various conditions, prices are continuing to go up across the board. Kaiser Health News recently wrote up a piece about how this has affected people with rare diseases.
Senator John Fetterman took some time to get treatment for depression. Returning to life after a stroke can be really difficult. That’s only magnified by having to do this in public while running for office and having so much ableism hurled at you.
Researchers are having their surveys and studies skewed by bots, so that’s fun. Indiana Republican lawmakers have voted to prohibit Indiana University from using any state money to fund The Kinsey Institute. The institute, for those unfamiliar, runs research on critical issues in sexuality, gender, and reproduction.
This Week’s Happy Thought
Keivonn Woodard, a Deaf Black child actor was recently on HBO’s The Last of Us. He’s also a pretty great hockey player.
If you have feedback or anything you’d like to share, feel free to reach out to me on social media or by email (all linked here).
Take care of you, lovebug <3
Grayson