(((I Will Outlive)))

Even if you were a difficult child, you didn’t deserve to be hurt.

I hope this message reaches all the neurodiverse and disabled people who were made to feel like their abuse was justified because they had “behaviors”.

While this message is true for every child, you are who I had in mind when I wrote it.

Some illnesses can't be cured. Some struggles are lifelong. Not every battle you face can be won. Acknowledging this isn't negative or anti-recovery, it's a fact - and it's a fact you need to internalize in order to stop blaming people for circumstances they can't control.

I think people need to start treating this casual use of “empathy” where people mean “kindness” or “compassion”, thereby treating empathy as the mark of a kind or compassionate person, as the ableism it is.

I’m not particularly active on this blog right now due to reasons, but I think it’s important to highlight this.

I need everyone to understand that this is and was always the goal. Banning access to trans healthcare for minors was always the first step towards banning access to trans healthcare entirely. The focus on trans minors has been purely to drum up outrage (“won’t someone think of the children”) and to popularize the bans.

The Overton window has been shifted, so to speak. Less conservative individuals might be uncomfortable with the idea of outright banning adults from choosing what happens to their own bodies and making their own medical decisions…but if it’s banned for 17 year olds, is it safe for 18 year olds? 19? 20? 25? 30? Anyone?

I need everyone to understand that trans healthcare rights are inherently an issue of bodily autonomy, and that Christian conservatism is deeply opposed to the concept of bodily autonomy. Banning trans youth from accessing gender affirming health care is to trans rights as the 20 or 15 or 6 week abortion ban is to abortion rights–the goal is to ultimately erase the legal right to bodily autonomy.

I need everyone to see the connection between transphobia and ableism. I definitely need everyone to stop perpetuating the concept of mental age. This includes repeating the incorrect and neuronormative line that “brains aren’t fully developed until age 25” or suggesting that autistic or otherwise neurodivergent people aren’t capable of understanding and making our own decisions. An adult is an adult regardless of neurotype, regardless of neurological development.

I especially need everyone to be worried about the implications of banning 18-25 year olds from having full control over their own medical decisions. How else might that eventually be weaponized? Especially in regards to reproductive rights?

I’ve believed for years that banning the ability to medically, legally, and socially transition entirely would become a popular Christian conservative goal, and possibly a reality. Not only to enforce their religious beliefs around assigned sex upon us legally–but because trans people who need and are able to transition have better mental health and are more likely to live happier longer lives. And they don’t want us to live.