Texas on the Wrong Side Of History
To the Editor:
I find it fascinating visiting the grocery store. There are so many options of all sorts these days in which we have the luxury to partake. My favorite part is the chips and crackers aisle. It’s truly a menagerie. When I was a little kid in the 80s and 90s we originally just had the basics at first, like Nacho Cheese, Sour Cream & Onion, and BBQ. But then Ranch Flavor came and our eyes lit up. We thought things couldn’t get better, but, low and behold, Pizza Flavor was just around the corner and blew our minds!
Nowadays I look around with that same sense of joy while deciding what to try next. It seems like there’s a new flavor almost every month. But, often times, things are made to sound fancier then they really are. The best example in recent years is Tomato and Basil flavor. I’ve tried a couple different products, and, honestly, 30 years ago we would have just called it Pizza flavor.
What some folks are feeling when speaking against the LGBTQ+ community isn’t much different from how they felt about that community 30 years ago. They try to wrap their words and ideas in a fancier package. They will use tag phrases like “age inappropriate” and “sexually explicit.” However, that’s not how their flavor would have been sold 30 years ago. Back then they simply used labels like “sin” and “ungodly,” and a lot of us bought into it. Now that more churchgoers are lovingly accepting gay folks into their ranks there is a different minority that feels unheard. At least, I hope it’s a minority. These are folks who need opponents and conflict so they invent new marketing campaigns to make their brand seem fresh again. They still believe sin and ungodliness are at the root of the matter, but now they channel that discrimination through a campaign aimed toward others’ fears because it’s simply a more marketable sale in 2023.
And who wouldn’t be drawn to some of their catch phrases? Sexually explicit? My child? Goodness no. And you are completely right to feel that way. It’s easy to use three letters, s, e and x, in any setting, to invoke nervousness when it comes to the safety of our children. It makes me nervous. But those three little letters are being used to prey on one of our most basic fears; that our sevenyear- old might get caught up in something involving that. You are right to feel that way. Our inner lizard brain gets triggered and ready to defend our young against any potential danger.
But don’t be fooled by the new marketing campaign. Remember those letters are often used in a much more benign form. We use it all the time in Biology. Our children learn the sex of plants. Don’t even get me started on reproducing asexually! These are all merely descriptors of the world around us. They help us understand our world through classification. Being male or female is a classification, not an explicit act. Identifying as male or female (or non-binary) is a classification, not an explicit act. The sex or sexual identity of a person should not persuade how you feel about them. It certainly does not persuade our youngest kids; they just want to play, have fun and be who they are. Parents end up being that positive or negative reinforcement. The sex or sexual identity of a person does not define them. Their actions define them.
A few years ago, the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. And now the Texas Legislature has put forth a slew of bills this session aimed to marginalize the gay and transgender community. Once again, Texas is really fighting to be on the wrong side of history, and trying hard to keep the same bitter flavor of Texas, much as it did in the aftermath of Brown v. Board of Education which desegregated schools. The governor and Attorney General back in 1954 vowed to not integrate schools and it took years after they were gone to even start fixing that damage. I would argue that a lot of damage still remains because they essentially promoted hate.
We are on a similar path once again. Currently, Senate Bill 1072 seeks to ban even teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation through 12th grade. It’s already passed the Senate and is now in the House. Drag shows are a hot topic. SB12 and SB1601 are just two addressing that subject, and the laws are so encompassing that almost anything can be construed as breaking the law. A public library could lose funding just by letting someone in drag read to kids. And we already know that the library book committees addressed by SB13 are just a facade to reinforce all the above.
SB14 will be a law soon. It prohibits transgender care for kids, which is overwhelmingly aimed towards a person’s mental health and well-being, and might utilize hormone therapy. Gender affirming care decreases suicidal ideation, reduces psychological trauma, and is evidence-based. The grand majority of kids stick with it. Those that ‘revert’ back mostly do so because of the stigma society imposes on them. In reality, an estimated 2-3% revert back because it didn’t feel right. That small percent is part of why theAmericanAcademy of Pediatrics recommends a “gender- affirming” stance on both pre-teens and teens. But doctors are leaving our hospitals and state for fear of prosecution by our Attorney General, and the mental health aspect will soon be largely unavailable. It’s very sad and unfortunate because years ago when I worked at an all-children’s hospital, in this state, we put both a patient’s gender and what they identified as in their profile. For those strides of understanding and levels of care to get demolished by an ignorant wave of hate and legislation puts us at a precipice.
Dutifully justifying a stance to persuade people doesn’t much work anymore. This unfortunately leaves courts, legislative sessions, and even school boards to perform most of that work for better or for worse. And I personally find Republicans repulsive and Democrats dumb. However, if enough good people, who actually believe in people, speak and offer support on a small scale then maybe a whole new flavor of community comes to fruition. Let’s give that the promotion it deserves. Let’s help it outsell the new brand of bigotry marketed in our communities. Start small by asking our school board members to say and write, specifically, that they “stand with the LGBTQ+ community,” and don’t settle for passive reassurances. Because it is not just important for LGBTQ+ folks, it is important for all of us.