US trans folk, get your papers in order ASAP

Looks like one of the first things on the agenda for the incoming US administration is to strip back a lot of federal protections for LGBT folk. Trans people, if you've been meaning to update name/gender for your passport/etc., do it NOW.

*sound of endless angry swearing*

Really? Any evidence to support this claim?

https://thinkprogress.org/translawhelp-transgender-documentation-trump-4c75dd25b8a9#.ux0vqbeg1

http://abcnews.go.com/US/transgender-crisis-suicide-prevention-hotline-receives-record-number/story?id=43444126

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/us/politics/trump-victory-alarms-gay-and-transgender-groups.html?_r=0

If it's not Trump, it's the crazies he brings with him or are you living in a bubble?

hadruprider said:

Really? Any evidence to support this claim?

Click to expand...

Here you go: http://bfy.tw/8ikc

Ok, so no evidence to support the original claim, just people in the community panicking and a childish lmgtfy.

Meanwhile in the real world Trump is appointing a gay man, Grenell, and has said he's fine with gay marriage.

I realise that some people in the US have had a nasty shock but I think it's time to calm down and stop the hysteria and panic.
(This should probably be on the politics board. I won't say anything more here)

hadruprider said:

Meanwhile in the real world Trump is appointing a gay man, Grenell, and has said he's fine with gay marriage.

Click to expand...

(noting that "gay-friendly" does not automatically imply "trans-friendly"...)

Trump has also said that he would "strongly consider" appointing SCOTUS judges to overturn same-sex marriage.

Trump contradicts himself often and blatantly, even by politicians' standards. The obvious reason for that is that he tells people whatever they want to hear at the time, but that's not the whole of it.

Back in pre-revolution Russia, there was a saying that the two most powerful men in the country were Tsar Nicholas II, and whoever had talked to him most recently...

Trump has experience running private businesses. He has no experience whatsoever in public administration, and it's not clear that he really has much interest in it either. He wants the prestige of being the President, no doubt he's going to work the business angles Berlusconi style, but beyond that? He doesn't care, and if he does care he doesn't know how.

That means a lot of the "don't know"/"don't care" stuff will be determined by the need to appease his base (need to throw those evangelicals some scraps so they can go on rationalising why they're voting for a guy who treats the seven deadly sins as a to-do list) and by his entourage.

Does Trump hate LGBT people? I haven't seen anything to make me think he does. But would he throw LGBT people under the bus, or let his team do it, if there was something in it for him? Hell yes.

Yes, he's got a gay guy on his team, along with a black guy and a woman. (One of each. There's a word for that...) But he also picked an anti-gay VP and he's hitched his cart to the Republican Party, whose official platform remains anti-gay and anti-trans. He may not care about those issues but he's going to need to appease those who do.

At this point we (and probably Tromp himself) have no idea what he'll do, how he'll handle the presidency. Does he really have a 'base' to appease? If he doesn't intend a second term, he need appease nobody. His only limits: judges might tell him no (and he might ignore them) and Congress might impeach and remove him (and he might not care).

Still, it's best to be prudent. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Get your passport ready.

hadruprider said:

Ok, so no evidence to support the original claim, just people in the community panicking and a childish lmgtfy.

Meanwhile in the real world Trump is appointing a gay man, Grenell, and has said he's fine with gay marriage.

I realise that some people in the US have had a nasty shock but I think it's time to calm down and stop the hysteria and panic.
(This should probably be on the politics board. I won't say anything more here)

Click to expand...

Now that he's actually been elected, he's backtracking on overturning (the entirety of) Obamacare and abolishing same-sex marriage, which were two of his platform planks. So, yeah, he's an opportunist who said whatever he thought would get him elected by rightwing/Republican/conservative/evangelicals. That said, he's also stated that his future Supreme Court pics would be pro-life and pro-gun.

When Obama got elected, he never said that he'd take away peoples guns and lock them up in prison camps, and that was never going to happen except in the mind of the most rabid conspiracy theorist. In Trump's case, it is actually possible that women, gay and trans folks and people of colour could lose progress they've already made and rights acquired. This is why a lot of people are scared. Not to mention his implicit endorsement of violence against various sexual & racial minorities. It is therefore 'prudent' rather than 'hysterical' to accelerate one's transition plans and acquire all legal documentation.

Bramblethorn said:

(noting that "gay-friendly" does not automatically imply "trans-friendly"...)

Trump has also said that he would "strongly consider" appointing SCOTUS judges to overturn same-sex marriage.

Trump contradicts himself often and blatantly, even by politicians' standards. The obvious reason for that is that he tells people whatever they want to hear at the time, but that's not the whole of it.

Back in pre-revolution Russia, there was a saying that the two most powerful men in the country were Tsar Nicholas II, and whoever had talked to him most recently...

Trump has experience running private businesses. He has no experience whatsoever in public administration, and it's not clear that he really has much interest in it either. He wants the prestige of being the President, no doubt he's going to work the business angles Berlusconi style, but beyond that? He doesn't care, and if he does care he doesn't know how.

That means a lot of the "don't know"/"don't care" stuff will be determined by the need to appease his base (need to throw those evangelicals some scraps so they can go on rationalising why they're voting for a guy who treats the seven deadly sins as a to-do list) and by his entourage.

Does Trump hate LGBT people? I haven't seen anything to make me think he does. But would he throw LGBT people under the bus, or let his team do it, if there was something in it for him? Hell yes.

Yes, he's got a gay guy on his team, along with a black guy and a woman. (One of each. There's a word for that...) But he also picked an anti-gay VP and he's hitched his cart to the Republican Party, whose official platform remains anti-gay and anti-trans. He may not care about those issues but he's going to need to appease those who do.

Click to expand...

Bramble, it is so nice to see a political post that is clearly stated, level headed, and documented. As you know, the GB is full of troll-posting, the very anger and hate based mentality that got Trump elected.

The republicans have an idiot president who'll get other people to do his dirty work, like Mike Pence

"Mike Pence is perhaps one of the most anti-LGBTQ evangelical Christian political crusaders to serve in Congress and as governor of a state. Long before he signed the draconian anti-LGBTQ “religious liberty” law in Indiana last year, he supported “conversion therapy” as a member of Congress, and later, as a columnist and radio host, he gave a speech in which he said that marriage equality would lead to “societal collapse,” and called homosexuality “a choice.” Stopping gays from marrying wasn’t biased, he said, but was rather about compelling “God’s idea.”

Ben Carson, who compared homosexuality to pedophilia and incest, is a vice chairman of the transition team and so is Newt Gingrich, who has attacked what he called “gay fascism” and, in 2014, “the new fascism” around LGBTQ rights.

And right on cue, already appointed to lead domestic policy on the transition team is Ken Blackwell, formerly the Ohio secretary of state. Blackwell has compared homosexuality to arson and kleptomania, which he called “compulsions.” In an interview with me at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in 2008, he explained:

“Well, the fact is, you can choose to restrain that compulsion. And so I think in fact you don’t have to give in to the compulsion to be homosexual. I think that’s been proven in case after case after case...I believe homosexuality is a compulsion that can be contained, repressed or changed…[T]hat is what I’m saying in the clearest of terms.” - Huff Post

Hysteria? No. Facts, Yes. ^^^ this is what these people stand for and who are being appointed right now. These are all out and out political people and they know Trump is a fcking idiot they can run rings round. If history teaches us anything it is to be cautious and pro-active in not trusting powerful people in government who have shown themselves to be blatantly hostile towards LGBT rights.

I actually get the idea Trump really doesn't care what LGBTQ...RS...whatever does. Besides, there are far too many issues to be concerned about that effect every American.

JawnKarTurr said:

I actually get the idea Trump really doesn't care what LGBTQ...RS...whatever does. Besides, there are far too many issues to be concerned about that effect every American.

Click to expand...

...and far too many government officials to keep occupied. No, somehow I think the likes of Pence will find time to keep his conscience clear with his god by making the lives of LGBT people that bit worse.

What baffles me with the couple of detracting posts here is why they've posted. Are you LGBT? Have you ever faced discrimination because of your gender or sexuality - I mean, because you are gay or bi or trans? In short, do you really have a clue what you're talking about or are you just out to erase us by saying there isn't a problem?
Have the courtesy of reading the links, see who is being appointed into the Trump administration and join the dots.

I'm sorry if I react with anger, but I am certainly not alone in having fight for my rights, even in the UK, to avoid discrimination in every walk of life. I have good friends in the US and I don't have to trust their judgement - I only have to read their blogs and emails to know the shit they have to put up with right now, not when some pro-life, creationist, anti gay asshole gets put into a position of authority to make changes that will directly affect the well-being of my friends and thousands of trans people across the USA. The senate and the house of congress to the best of my knowledge is now majority republican: their leader has been endorsed by anti-LGBT lobbyist ( never mind the KKK ). So please don't patronize with pats on the head when we already face uphill struggles every day. Just don't. If you're cis-gender hetero-normative ( look it up ) then yes of course we need your help - we need to be treated as equals in society, not made into exceptions that can be swept under the nearest political carpet.