i wrote about this for my column on tuesday but i think we ought to think of policies restricting gender affirming care as explicitly aimed at expelling a disfavored population from the state in question www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/b...

For L.G.B.T.Q. People, Moving to Friendlier States Comes With a Cost

Laws targeting gender-affirming care have uprooted thousands. But places that are more supportive can also be more expensive.

I think this is a strategy in a lot of the modern hard-right agenda. All the crazy restrictions on teachers are there to drive out the teachers who give a crap so parents will only want to send their kids to private schools. Well the parents who matter. And I think it predates even the Tea Party

It’s awful, as the parent of a kid who’s working through gender identity q’s, that half the country is effectively off-limits to us to live. Obviously something that happens all the time in the US, but because I check all the privilege boxes this is the first real time I’ve experienced it directly.

It’s also broken up tight-knit communities of queer people that used to live in hostile areas. Many social support networks destroyed. The cost to us is enormous — the cruelty is the point.

I wonder how much of this is a reaction to inward migration. Gotta think that cultural conservatives saw what’s happened to VA, e.g., as a warning sign.

then why is the paper you work for calling for those policies?

great article, thank you. wild how many trans people (including myself) are moving their entire lives right now.

When I read your column I remembered a Christian GOP friend in Tennessee who told me 3 years ago, Just move to another state if you don't like it here. She was defending the 'need' for laws to make sure her granddaughter in rural TN didn't run into a ('sexualized') drag queen on her way to school.

IF you are a trans teen with supportive parents, they may not be able to just move jobs. IF you are a trans adult, you may have job difficulties that can make it hard to afford a move. They will tell you to “just move” and then torment you if you stay. It’s their master plan.

I really appreciate this framing and thinking.

With the supreme court firmly in right wing hands, no place in the US is safe. I just got out, and, talk about expensive...