The federal protections of transgender kids that the Republican administration just rolled back were so paltry and toothless--just providing guidelines for implementation to states, with no enforcement mechanism--that the slavering enthusiasm for repealing them is especially cruel.
Many voices have already pointed out how much Trump's strategy resembles that of a schoolyard bully. This instance is particularly poignant, focusing as it does on young people in school bathrooms. We all know that bathrooms are hot spots for bullying. The movie image is of having your head flushed in the toilet, which of course is unpleasant and damaging. But for young trans people, the stakes are unusually high. A shocking 50% of trans youth have contemplated suicide, and 25% have attempted it.
As Mia Mercado wrote for Bustle,
If you were one of the more than two million people who participated in the Women’s March, you need to show up for trans rights... Trans rights affect women. They affect men. They affect people in between and outside the binary. They affect white people and people of color. They affect people who are Christian and Muslim and Jewish and atheist. They affect people who are poor, people who are disabled, and people who are LGB or Q. Because people who are transgender exist under all those categories, and more.
So it's time to step up for trans rights. Let's maybe not wear our pussy hats for this one.