By Ann Rostow–
La La La La La La La
My plan, dear Readers, was to avoid the cries and hand-wringing of the transition period and wait until January 20 before returning to my usual massive consumption of news. Why should I worry about what various analysts feared Trump would do? Better to keep my powder dry and complain when he gets into office and actually does something horrific.
Now, January 20 has come and gone, God help us, and the jaw-dropping orders rain down like waters and ignorant cruelty like an ever-flowing stream. I can’t resume my habitual monitoring of current events because it all makes my stomach churn. It’s physically and emotionally painful. I turn away and then I feel guilty, but I’m not sure why.
It’s not as if my personal thumbs up or thumbs down has ever had an impact on the affairs of state. It’s not as if Trump and company might mitigate their nastiness if they sensed my watchful eye. But I suppose I feel as if deliberately ignoring the goings on in D.C. represents the kind of resignation that eases the road to tyranny. Surely I won’t be a party to that!
Um, sorry, fellow citizens, but I think I might be. I can’t do anything about military roundups of legal residents, executive pronouncements that countermand constitutional rights, the ousting of civil servants, and so on. But I don’t have to dig deep and read a lengthy op-ed about it or listen to a shocked constitutional expert explain why it’s wrong. I’m going to see the headlines anyway. I’m going to hear remarks and read the tops of articles before I turn away. I’m just not going to bathe myself in anxiety. And in the process of ignoring life, I’m going to get sevens on The New York Times weekly news quiz rather than tens. Sad.
What’s Happening?
This focus away from the realpolitik of Trumpland has carried over into my awareness of GLBT events, which is not good for my column. For years and years, I covered the gradual ascent of the gay civil rights movement; past sodomy laws and into civil unions; past military bans and into marriage equality. We hailed our victories, and while we bemoaned our defeats, we did so with the confidence that time would bend the moral universe our way.
Now, after plodding carefully up the mountain for decades, we were pushed off a hidden cliff! How long will it take us to recover and regain our poise and energy? I don’t know, but I’m guessing it’s more than four years. I haven’t delved into everything Trump has done in the last week or so, but it seems he’s “designated” only two genders, he’s banned transgender men and women from the military, and he’s ordered the State Department to list birth genders on passports.
Look. The politics of transgender rights is complicated. But you don’t have to support puberty blockers to recognize that transgender men and women are human beings with a treatable condition. They are not flukes or deviants or freaks. They are not men trying to spy on women in the bathroom or win a medal in high school track. They are regular people; citizens, soldiers, teachers, parents. The ignorance and meanness that surround these regulations is astounding. Majorities of Americans think it’s fine, because majorities of Americans don’t know any transgender men or women. And they don’t know any transgender men or women because transpeople are less than one percent of the population, a minority so small that Trump can get away with restrictive laws.
The assaults on transgender men and women and teens of the last few years have been almost symbolic in the sense that these few individuals have been targeted as a means to make a point about “wokeness” and queer-ness. The question of whether or not transgender girls can play sports in public schools or colleges has reached the federal appellate bench, and yet testifying before a Senate committee late last year, Charlie Baker, the head of the NCAA, said there were only ten transgender athletes whom he knew of competing in NCAA sports. I can’t remember how many legislatures have wasted their time passing bans on the three or four transgender athletes in their state, or I don’t know, making sure a handful of transgender men and women can’t adjust their birth certificates or drivers’ licenses.
It seems transpeople have been assigned the role as scapegoats for all things that make your conservative grandparents throw up their hands and ask what the world is coming to. Picture phones, gizmos that answer questions and play music in your living room, talking maps, and what’s this? Boys who claim they’re female and want to get on the girls’ wrestling team? Enough is enough!
GLAD to Help Trans Inmate
The implications of Trump’s male and female pronouncement can’t even be anticipated. No sooner had the decree been trumpeted throughout the lands by Trump heralds did a transwoman prisoner near Boston get told that she was now a he, she would be transferred to a male prison population, and she would no longer be provided with the hormones she has relied on since her teenaged years. Using a pseudonym, the woman filed suit in federal court, arguing that the upheaval violated her right to due process, represented cruel and unusual punishment, and ran afoul of a federal law against depriving inmates of medical treatments.
Oddly, the lawsuit, which was reported by Reuters, was later “sealed for unknown reasons,” Reuters says. I find this suspicious in this new day of Project 2025. The prisoner is briefed by Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, one of the main champions of marriage equality and a terrific bunch of lawyers.
But it’s surprising, don’t you think? That within days of issuing a sort of vague Day One “order,” the powers that be in this particular prison decided to take immediate action against this woman. Has this happened elsewhere? Have other bizarre instantaneous repercussions gone on under the radar? Did these prison officials feel empowered? Were they just horrible people? Did they want to see her suffer and couldn’t wait to start?
Meanwhile, the High Court is apparently continuing with the transgender youth health care case out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
You know the one. It’s the Justice Department’s challenge to the Tennessee law that bans puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and flu shots for transgender minors. (No, it doesn’t ban flu shot, but you weren’t sure, were you? Hah! That’s where we are.) At any rate, the Sixth Circuit upheld the anti-trans law and the U.S. government of Joe Biden asked the Court to review that decision based on Equal Protection. I had thought Trump might simply withdraw the case and keep the law on the books, but maybe the Trumpies are so confident of a transgender loss at the Supreme Court that they’re happy to await the opinion in June. They are probably right, I hate to say.
The High Court has now picked up another GLBT matter, Mahmoud v Taylor, which asks whether or not the Montgomery County school district tramples on the religious freedom of Maryland parents when it reads gay storybooks to kids. Lower courts sided with the school district, while the Fourth Circuit said the “threadbare” record did not indicate that the books had any impact on the parents’ religion. For the record, these were all cute books, like the story of a puppy who got lost at the pride parade. They weren’t like Jimmy Meets a Bad Man in the Park or What Exactly Do Heather’s Mommies Do in Bed?
What Was I Saying?
I was just cruising through a news search for “LGBT” and I thought I’d pass along a string of three headlines in a row that suggest our troubles do not stop at the United States border:
“Erdogan likens LGBT community to ‘plague’ at his party’s youth wing congress.” “Russia mulls creation of databases to track LGBT people and sex workers.” And: “Catholic Bishops Urge Ghana’s President to Pass Anti-LGBT Bill.” Of course, they do. Feels like a worldwide shift to the right, doesn’t it? I used to take comfort in the fact that unfriendly locations such as these were dictatorships. But now, hmmm.
Let’s pause for some complaints from One Million Moms, shall we? Oh, but first, I just saw a headline about “shrimp fraud” along the Gulf Coast, where restaurants are secretly substituting imported shrimp for the local crustacean. Tests at 44 restaurants in the Tampa/St Pete’s area found only two had gulf shrimp. And other restaurants along the coast had more imports as well. My initial outrage was based on the lies. Lies! Lies! Lies! But then I read that many of these eateries didn’t necessarily claim their shrimp were local. In which case, where’s the “fraud,” ladies and gentlemen?
And now my attention has been hijacked by Mike Huckabee, who is promoting The Kids Guide to President Trump, which sports must-see cover art that I can’t describe.
This helpful kit is part of “a series of guides for kids that focus on our country’s history and values … a great tool to help your children appreciate the principles America stands for. Some of the titles include: Donald Trump, The Reagan Revolution, Fighting Indoctrination, The Fake Media, and countless others!” Huckabee is pictured with his smiley beardy face and an avuncular “Hi, Kids!” kind of smile that really makes me cringe.
Folks, this is Stepford Wives type of stuff. This is Children of the Corn, or whatever that movie was called (you remember it). And we’re the well-meaning confused innocents who haven’t quite figured out what’s going on but have the feeling something is wrong.
Shut Up, Mom
Oh, yeah. One Million Moms.
Let’s start with the One Million Moms’ gushing recognition of Donald Trump’s male and female order.
“This executive order is HUGE!,” they raved.
“It declares that the federal government will no longer recognize transwomen as women or transmen as men. This new policy will help protect women and children in women’s sports, as well as in dressing rooms, restrooms, locker rooms, and various living facilities. Women and children will be much safer in the future now because of this new policy.”
Can someone name me a time and place and incident where a transgender man or women endangered a woman or a child in public facilities? The answer is no, yet people assume comments like those above are based on actual events.
Meanwhile, the Moms were upset with several commercials, including one from Dunkin’ Donuts with Sabrina Carpenter launching the new “Sabrina’s Brown Sugar Shakin’ Espresso.”
“Unfortunately,” the Moms frown, “it also features a ‘Shake That Ess’ slogan.”
They added, “Foul language (or implication of it) is unnecessary in this or any advertisement. Yet, that is apparently what Dunkin’ intended. This inappropriate slogan is repeated throughout the commercial.”
Honestly, it took me a minute to figure out what the hell the Moms were objecting to. “Ess?” Ahh, I saw it at last. It might sound like, “Shake that ass.” Oooooh, naughty. “Of course, the ad campaign obviously insinuates profanity throughout the entire commercial,” the Moms continued. “It’s also obvious that Dunkin’ chose to include this profane insinuation and to end the ad with viewers completely understanding the intended implication.”
I’ve said this before, but I’m really fed up with One Million Moms’ misuse of the concept of “profanity,” which means secular, nonreligious, laical. Here’s one of those online dictionaries on “profane”:
“Relating or devoted to that which is not sacred or biblical; secular rather than religious; ‘a talk that tackled topics both sacred and profane.’” And definition two: “(of a person or their behavior) not respectful of orthodox religious practice; irreverent. ‘Desecration of the temple by profane adolescents.’”
See! What did I just say? In what universe is the word “ass” a religious slur of some sort? It’s not. It’s not “profane”; it’s “salty,” or whatever an accurate speaker would want to call it. These people who once filled me with pleasant amusement are now starting to annoy the hell out of me … and perhaps even deliver a frisson of unease.
arostow@aol.com
GLBT Fortnight in Review
Published on January 30, 2025
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