April has been a cruel month for North Carolina’s transgender community.
The General Assembly has debated bills that would exclude them from sports teams, bar them from receiving gender-transforming surgery before they’re 21, and allow doctors to discriminate against them.
These crises are linked, LGBTQ advocates say. Anti-transgender rhetoric and legislation drives the rising violence in North Carolina and nationwide against transgender people, many of whom already face staggering health and social inequities.
“Being a Black trans woman in America means you’re far more likely to experience inequities and prejudice, including extreme poverty and systemic, state-sanctioned violence and murder,” said Rebby Kern, director of education policy for Equality NC, at a press conference this week.
Allie Holloway / Courtesy
Over the past year, we humans have had our lives upended as we try to ward off the unknowns of the novel coronavirus. It’s devastated our physical health at the time of publication, the number of American lives lost was 500,000 and counting and exacerbated our mental-health crisis. In fact, the American Psychological Association reported that 71 percent of Americans believe we are living through the lowest point in United States history that they could remember.
Despite the difficulties we’ve faced, there has been at least one redeeming factor: Our society has reconsidered the bravery and perseverance of frontline health-care workers and their daily fight to keep our bodies thriving. Now it’s time to celebrate the ones giving relief to our spirits the reproductive justice warriors, end-of-life planners, mutual aid facilitators, and more, dedicated to making 2021 less stressful and healthier for all Americans. That’s why this year
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