Straight people have often asked me what I, a gay man, have in common with someone who’s trans. Gay people have often put that question to themselves.
There are many answers. Here’s one: I know what it’s like to have my identity, my dignity — my very hold on happiness — pressed into partisan battle and fashioned into a political weapon.
I know what it’s like to be used. And right now, trans people are being used, cruelly. You probably heard about what happened in Arkansas.
On Tuesday, state lawmakers there voted overwhelmingly, by a three-to-one ratio, to override a veto from the Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, and effectively ban gender-affirming medical treatments, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for trans youth under.