"We don't believe taxpayer funding should go towards that for minors or for adults. We've poll tested that, and we're pretty confident that the American people agree," Schweppe says.

And yet they look the other way when taxpayer funds are used for frivolous political stunts like migrant flights, or to defend laws that are so off-the-rails that they're sure to attract lawsuits, etc...

Today's so-called "conservatives" are not the responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars that they claim to be; it's all smoke and mirrors with these people.

This is why, despite me being on and off hormones over the last 7 years due to life/insurance/bullshit reasons, I haven't put much effort into trying to get on them again since Biden dropped out. (I currently don't have insurance, but I do have VA Healthcare access, which, we'll get to).

Our access to healthcare isn't protected, and at least for trans people, our rights and protections don't seem to be a platform priority for the DNC beyond lip service. The GOP has made it a defining part of their social platform, and made their intentions and goals clear. The majority of what we've gotten from Biden has been empty platitudes on various LGBTQ+ days of remembrance, pride, or visibility.

The day after the election, at least two Democratic congressional members felt comfortable enough to go on live today and basically parrot GOP talking points about trans people. They placed the blame for their loss at the feet of one of their most marginalized constituencies, and again, felt comfortable doing so. We are a token group to the DNC, they'll take our money and support but do little in the way of protecting us federally.

Which brings us to the VA: for anyone who doesn't know, the VA offers gender-affirming care to veterans. They actually offer more services beyond just medications than you'd initially assume (like voice training, certain surgeries, certain electrolysis/laser hair removal, etc). They do not cover SRS/GRS though, they legally aren't allowed do. SRS is explicitly excluded from their standard benefits package.

And with the Trump admin coming back in with Project 2025, I have no doubt the VA's gender affirming care services will be one of the first things on the chopping block. So I tabled those plans because I don't see me having access to my hormones after January next year. And since I've gotten gender affirming care there before, and it's documented I'm trans in my file, my heart is just filled with joy knowing the P25 shitstains will likely be pulling all of that info to use to deny myself and other veterans our other VA benefits (like disability, retirement, GI Bill, etc).

Groups are challenging this, but it's still illegal. Which, I guess, brings me to my final part (and the part that really scares me): they're (the GOP) going to use the budget to make us illegal, to make medically treating trans people illegal outside of conversion therapy or chemical castration or whatever. And our "allies" are going to stand by, watch, and let it happen.

In 1984, the US government passed the Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act, legally mandating the drinking age in the US at 21 years old. At the time, states dictated their own drinking age, and it ranged from 18-21 at the time. A lot of states (and people) were against the act for plenty of reasons: military service at 18 but no drinking till 21, voting at 18 but no drinking, individual rights, etc.

But it passed, and y'know why? Because any state that refused to enforce the new drinking age would lose out on federal highway funding money. So the states rolled over and accepted the new act.

And they'll do the same thing to LGBTQ+ people to force states to bend the knee, and since money is all that matters to anyone in this world, the states will bend. The GOP has every branch of government now, the judiciary, and plenty of billionaire-owned media to push their narrative.

Idk what they'll tie it to, maybe they'll be lazy and just use highway funds again, but I guarantee that's their means to the end. And everyone around us, our "allies," are going to let it happen. Because our access to healthcare, or even just basic rights for LGBTQ+ people, that doesn't affect our allies. But all of a sudden XYZ funding they rely on could be pulled if LGBTQ+ people have rights, and they're going to turn their back on us, close their eyes, plug their ears, etc.

How do you think the average Fox viewer is going to feel when the shoes host tells them if John is allowed to be Jill, then they (the viewer) will lose their Medicare/Medicaid coverage? What politician, regardless of party, is going to say "We will protect trans people, even if it means we lose federal funding for school lunches, so we'll be cutting those or we'll raise taxes?" "Is letting little Johnny play on the girl's soccer team worth losing infrastructure funding? More at 11."

Some of you are gonna say, "But Blitzø, don't you think you're being a little alarmist?" No, I don't, because we've seen this happen before. Nazi Germany didn't start throwing Jews in ovens in 1933, it was the hundreds/thousands of small, incremental steps that led the victims to their graves. The Nazis started with plenty of other groups before they moved onto Jewish folks, and there's that whole "They came for the socialists and I said nothing because I'm not a socialist," thing.

I had a very close friend already do it, years ago, when North Carolina passed the first bathroom ban. His company was sending him to either TX, NC, or like ME for 6 months of training, and he had some say in where he could go. I told him TX because I'd lived there and thought he'd like it, and ME is too close to our home state. He asked why not NC, and I told him I personally wouldn't want to give a state that's hostile towards trans people my tax money. His response, verbatim, "Yeah, but, that doesn't affect me."

Hell, look at what just happened in Minneapolis: two trans women were physically assaulted by five guys at a train station while the crowd cheered the attackers on. No one intervened to break up the assault, and no one came to defend the two women who confronted the guys about their trans slur usage. Just think about that... Numerous people tried to intervene in the George Floyd murder, with many recording the assault and demanding the police back off.

And then in the same city, 4 years later, a crowd cheers and offers no assistance while two trans women are verbally, and then physically, assaulted and then left unconscious on the train platform.

Anyway, this comment is turning into a soap-box dissertation, but, I don't see things going well for the LGBTQ+ community over the next four years, and I don't see the states doing much to be a bulwark for our rights. Hopefully I'm wrong, but...