The more I look back at the deterioration of the situation for transgender individuals and the supportive families of trans children in the United States over the last few years – and even specifically over the last few weeks – the more I am struck by the prescience of Katie Laird, a Texas native and the mother of a trans child, who I interviewed last month.
Since I spoke with Laird, things have got measurably worse, as she suggested they would, saying, “At some point in the very near future, the focus will shift from trans kids to trans adults, and from there it will move out into the broader queer community.”
While most of the state-level measures passed since late March primarily target children and schools, they have also had a broader anti-queer focus. In addition, in a leaked draft opinion indicating the US Supreme Court is planning to overturn the precedent of Roe v Wade, thus abrogating Americans’ right to abortion care, Justice Samuel Alito also attacked the rights to same-sex marriage and consensual homosexual acts in ways that signal the Roberts Court is prepared to abrogate those rights as well.
