More than 2.8 million people now identify as transgender in the US, including an estimated 724,000 youth, according to a new data analysis that is the largest of its kind to date. Researchers from the UCLA Williams Institute used federal surveys and data from state health agencies to identify the size and demographics of the trans population in each state. The analysis documented thousands of trans youth living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The findings counter Donald Trump’s aggressive efforts to deny the existence of trans minors, as his administration removes references to trans people across federal agencies and widely erodes protections and programs for LGBTQ+ communities. More than 2.8m people in US identify as trans, including 724,000 youth, data shows
Sex has no place in politics and politics has no place in people's bedrooms. Or so one would hope! And yet it's used by Republicans as another wedge to divide society, to have scapegoats in their never ending culture wars. It's all based on religious bullshit used to control people including how they vote.
Fascistic societies always need a scapegoat to demonize and brutalize, and their victims are always the most powerless and marginalized. It titillates their power base, which bonds tribally over elitist Herrenvolk hatred, cruelty, and inflicting suffering on "the other". For the State, it perpetually gives them someone else to blame, and a common enemy with which to rally the troops. Think of it as the Fascist version of 'bread and circuses' (without the bread, as I think they're about to find out when cuts to AFDC, SNAP, and other nutrition programs take effect after the midterms). The most disturbing thing about this is that were our Dear Leader to be abducted by aliens today, we'd still be stuck here living with the 40% of the population who worship him as some sort of god-king, and all of their seething White grievance, Christian victimhood, male insecurity, and misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic and racist hatred and (entirely justified) Prole rage that's been so carefully nurtured and cultivated by the American Fascist Party for the past 45 years. That's 139,009,413 people, 20% of which are amenable to using violence to achieve their political objectives (the definition of terrorism). That's 27,801,882 fellow Americans who at least in theory wouldn't mind having us in their gun-sights; slightly less than the entire population of Texas (and in America there are more guns than people). The most depressing thing about this is the number of people who don't see any of this as a problem unless it's a problem for them personally. Until their specific demographic comes up on the State's Niemöller List, they simply can't be bothered.
People deserve some sympathy & understanding. Unfortunately Trans folks have become political football
