A shocking collection of emails between U.S. lawmakers and conservative groups has found its way online and the contents give a worrying insight into the extent of which an anti-trans agenda is being pushed across the country.
The trove of emails was obtained by Mother Jones and contains communications between Republican rep Fred Deutsch and other anti-gay and anti-trans lobbyists. The leaked conversations span from 2019 to 2021 and they expose the extent to which those involved aimed to target and discriminate against the trans community. The emails are available for all to read online.
An unprecedented amount of anti-trans bills are passing through state legislature this year from restrictions on allowing children to use school bathrooms of their chosen gender to outright denying gender-affirming healthcare. The shocking rise in anti-trans rhetoric illustrates the serious threat that people from those communities face. In fact, there have been more than double the amount of bills proposed this year when compared to 2022. The situation has many speaking out, including some A-list celebrities.
The people behind these emails are the ones who push for such a legislature, and they are the ones celebrating when the bills get passed that deny human rights for American citizens. Much of the conversation contained within the leaked messages discusses changes to American law and plans to further single out and dehumanize the trans community. Those involved discuss ways to delegitimize the very existence of trans people and even talk about how to criminalize doctors who provide gender-affirming care.
Unfortunately, it looks like their efforts are bearing some success as many of these bills are being passed. One such bill was put forward by Deutsch himself, “The Vulnerable Child Protection Act,” which was initially rejected in 2020, but after revisions, the bill has now been passed. Essentially, Deutsch’s bill gives the power to strip doctors of their medical license for providing gender-affirming care. This was of course celebrated by those involved in the emails.
“Truth is arising in Georgia! Representative Earhart, with whom Jane Robbins and I met a couple of weeks ago, released this press statement today. She is filing our bill this legislative session in Georgia.”
There’s even collaboration with groups such as the ADF and ACPed, that have defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people and expressed opposition to adoption by gay couples. The position that is held by some of these groups is medieval and what they hope to bring into law could seriously harm the welfare of those targeted by it.
Of course, it should go without saying that the bills being passed in many states across the U.S. right now are some of the worst developments this year. Those involved are collectively conspiring to erase an entire community and these emails have shown the depths to which these individuals have gone and the extent of their vendetta against the LGBTQ+ community.