Pride flag flying at Apple’s old headquarters
Since Donald Trump has been president, things have gotten worse for LGBTQ people, especially transgender people. Trump rescinded protections put in place by the Obama administration to protect trans kids in school, forcing them to use the wrong bathrooms. The DOJ has supported anti-LGBTQ discrimination cases, allowing businesses to ban LGBTQ customers. Some states have pushed to ban same-sex couples from adopting. Transgender people are being denied the right to play sports. And these attacks are only ramping up.
Now some states are pushing to ban transgender children from getting medical help, and preventing transgender people from changing their IDs and birth certificates. One law may even pull funding from libraries that hosted a drag reading event! The policies are intentionally cruel, will be expensive, and put overhead on something that shouldn’t matter to the state anyway. Liberals and libertarians agree: the government shouldn’t get between a person and their doctor or their everyday life.
Now a number of companies have stepped up. They’re standing against the laws, and may pull business form those that enact draconian and invasive punishments on LGBTQ people, simply for being born. The results could harm state economies, all for a little bigotry.
Among those companies is Apple. While they haven’t been perfect on LGBTQ rights, they have always stood against bigoted laws like these. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, came out as a gay man to help serve as an example to LGBTQ children that it does get better.
Now the LGBTQ community needs more reassurance than ever.
In This Article:
Writing Bigotry into Law
25 states have introduced anti-transgender laws this year. This is thanks to gerrymandering keeping Republican senate seats intact and confidence inspired by judicial appointments made by Donald Trump. Republicans feel as though, if they want to get their views codified into law, this is the only time to do it.
Conservative politicians can’t promise regular people much. No pay raises, no health care, and heaps of money for your employer’s CEO that will never make it down to you. Oh, tax cuts for real estate moguls doesn’t interest you? How strange! It appeases Trump and his friends, why aren’t you more excited about giant tax cuts for wealthy land owners?
However, if you make it seem like LGBTQ people are a threat to a person’s way of life, their children, or their religion, you can pass anti-LGBTQ laws and your constituents will cheer. They would have no idea that a non-binary person wanted an ‘X’ on their gender marker, they don’t care. Sure, it would never effect them, but it’s the image of someone standing up to those evil liberals and their agenda of… just letting people be.
These anti-LGBTQ laws, like anti-abortion laws, are just distractions. Politicians know they’re “hot button” issues that will lead to arguments between those who need their civil rights, those who are empathetic to those who want civil rights, and those who wish to take these basic rights away from others. You might not notice that the budget deficit has skyrocketed. That inflation has ballooned and you haven’t gotten a raise. You might not notice that you owe money in taxes at the end of the year, instead of your normal return, but your employer got a huge return that he used to lay off a number of your coworkers.
What Are the Laws?
These aren’t laws that help anyone. Who benefits from transgender people being able to change their gender on their IDs, birth certificates, and passports? Transgender people. Who’s hurt? No one. A non-binary person walks up to the bouncer at a bar. Are they a boy or a girl? The bouncer looks at the ID and sees an ‘F’ marker. It’s ladies night, there’s no cover for women. He’s suspicious of this person, “You don’t look much like a woman,” he says to the non-binary person. “I’m not,” they respond. Wouldn’t it have been easier if he could just look down, see an ‘X’ under the gender marker, and let them in? Of course! Who benefits by there only being two gender marker options? No one. Who’s hurt? Non-binary people. So why bother with a law that takes the third marker option away?
Targeting Trans Women
Who’s hurt when a trans woman needs to update her passport, birth certificate, or social security info? No one. Who benefits from stopping her? Again, no one. What about sports? Trans women have been competing in women’s sports for decades without anyone caring. Why? Because, a few months after transitioning and hormone therapy or surgery, they’re just as strong and just as fast as any cisgender woman. The science shows this, doctors claim it, and the International Olympic Committee agrees. Hell, even transphobes agree, they just don’t realize it.
When they support the athlete who got off steroids, took his yearlong suspension, and exercised, trained, and donated his time for an extra year, just to get back to where he was when he was taking steroids, he’s seen as a hero. Someone who showed that, with work and dedication, you can make a comeback, and you can show children that there’s a right way to do things. How is that any different than a trans woman who trains after transition to get half the strength back that she lost when losing testosterone?
Attacks on… Libraries?
One law is attempting to strip funding from libraries who had drag performers reading books to kids. Why? A few guys play dress up and put on extravagant makeup and outfits? Who’s hurt by that? They’re reading to kids and helping them understand other people. Empathy and reading are important life skills.
Attacks on Trans Kids
The suicide rate among transgender people who are not accepted by their parents, peers, and the law is around 40%. Some estimates are over 50%. Those who do receive acceptance and treatment at an early age have a suicide rate matching that of the cisgender population. That’s why doctors have advocated for puberty blockers and even cross-hormone treatment for transgender children. This allows them to have a normal childhood, normal adolescence, and grow into an adult body they won’t loathe. It’s doctor recommended and supported by every major international health organization.
The “liberal agenda,” that is, “let the healthcare professionals do what they’re trained to do,” is saving lives. The alternative is—without exaggeration—trying to kill these people off. They’re putting out laws that block treatment of transgender kids, forcing them into the bodies they tried to avoid. This leads to a sense of hopelessness that causes at least half to attempt suicide. Those are just the ones who had enough hope to come out of the closet before doing so.
The attacks don’t stop there either. Trans kids are often forced to use the wrong bathrooms at school. There, they may face bullying and violence from their peers. All because they had to pee. Many try to hold it in for the 8 hour school day, and doctors have seen trans patients with kidney and bladder issues as a result. Why? Trans folks just want to pee. I’m a woman, I’ve used multi-stall gender neutral bathrooms before. I’ve had my male friends in the stalls next to me on a night out. And no, I’m not being transphobic, actual male friends. It’s no big deal. Everybody pees.
Attacks on LGBTQ Couples
Multiple states have attempted to define same sex marriage as second class marriage. They’re also trying to prevent these couples from adopting children. They’re trying to allow court clerks to deny writing them marriage certificates. And let’s not forget their wedding cakes! Bringing back the laws from the 1950’s that allowed restaurants to refuse service to black people, Republicans are working hard to allow businesses to deny service to LGBTQ people. Some shops have actually put out signs, “No Gays Allowed.” We worked so hard to ban these laws during the civil rights movement, and now they’re making a comeback.
No One is “Winning”
Hateful republicans have told their constituents that they’re getting “wins” like this every day. “We stopped those dangerous people from living their own lives in peace!” That helps no one and causes others great deals of pain. As long as their voters don’t think about the repercussions or the economy too much, they think they’re “winning” and they keep voting for the same hateful politicians.
The Open Letter
We are deeply concerned by the bills being introduced in state houses across the country that single out LGBTQ individuals – many specifically targeting transgender youth – for exclusion or differential treatment. Laws that would affect access to medical care for transgender people, parental rights, social and family services, student sports, or access to public facilities such as restrooms, unnecessarily and uncharitably single out already marginalized groups for additional disadvantage. They seek to put the authority of state government behind discrimination and promote mistreatment of a targeted LBGTQ population.
– From the full open letter signed by many companies
Amazon employees at Dublin Pride
The letter calls out the difficulty people face in the states with these laws. A company can’t move to a place where the laws would prevent their employees from living full lives. How could Apple, a company with a gay CEO and many LGBTQ employees, ask anyone to live or work in a state where they’ll have less rights than someone just over the state’s border? Could anyone really stand by while their customers, friends, and family members in those states have less rights than others? How can anyone sit on the sidelines during a civil rights crisis?
You can find the entire open letter to lawmakers here.
Signed By:
AEO Inc., Airbnb, Amalgamated Bank, Amazon, American Airlines, Apple, Asana, Inc. AT&T, Bayer US LLC, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim USA, Capital One, Corning Incorporated, CSAA Insurance Group, Dow Inc., Dropbox Inc., Eastern Bank, Google, Hilton, IBM Corp., IKEA North America Services, LLC, Instacart, Levi Strauss & Co., Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, Lyft, Inc., MassMutual, Microsoft, Mobilize, Nike, Inc., PayPal, Salesforce, SunLife, Sustainable Food Policy Alliance,including member companies DanoneNorth America; Mars, Incorporated;Nestlé USA; and Unilever United States, TechNet, Trillium Asset Management, Uber, Unilever United States.
Change for 2020
In 2016, LGBTQ rights didn’t come up in a single debate. Not one. If we don’t speak up now, the same will happen in 2020. Already, during the primaries, we’ve seen it passed over, despite large differences in the ways the candidates go about supporting LGBTQ rights. Will things get worse again in 2020? Not if we have anything to say about it. Take a look at the companies above. Consider supporting them over their competitors, maybe more will speak up. Write to your politicians. Check the legislation in your state. Are any politicians trying to pass anti-LGBTQ laws? Then write to your governor and ask them to veto any of those bills. Call them. Tweet at them. Make up a hashtag and make it go viral.
Half of the states in the United States are trying to block LGBTQ rights. These companies couldn’t stand by and watch on the sidelines. Can you?
Sources:
- Erin Carson, cnet
- Freedom for All Americans
- Tim Hardwick, MacRumors
- Dan Levin, NY Times