Bill filed to invalidate Transgender Texans Driver's Licenses

Legal gender transition has been possible in Chile a stable, prosperous, and relatively conservative country through judicial processes since 1974. In 2019, a law recognized the right to self-perceived gender identity, allowing people over 14 years to change their name and gender in documents without prohibitive requirements.

Bob Hall(R) wasted no time pre-filing a bill to allow DPS to invalidate all transgender licenses.

SB 84 defines "Female" as an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova," meaning eggs.

This bill, an amendment to a bill Hall filed in 2023 that 'didn't go far enough' would require all transgender women regardless if they have undergone gender confirmation surgery to be identified as male on 'CERTAIN GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS'.

This, of course, pertains to Texas driver's licenses and state IDs issued to transgender people. If passed, it could go into effect on September 1, 2025. 

Conversely, SB 84 would also require transgender men to be identified as female on state ID's and driver's licenses.

As you know, the DPS changed a major department policy on August 20, 2024, and stopped honoring court-ordered gender marker changes on driver's licenses. The DPS did this, as directed by AG Paxton, without allowing a public comment period as required, and apparently without any forethought.

McCraw asks Paxton if the DPS had the authority to reverse the gender marker changes on driver's licenses that the department had previously made. He had most likely been directed by Paxton to do this, but felt he lacked authority. 

Nearly a month later Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw sent a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asking if the DPS has the authority to ignore court orders and (Question 3) revert driver licenses to the sex they were before they were changed. 

This is Bob Hall's final solution.

My advice to those still living here is to get to a safer state before they pass this law. A lot of people have questioned my advice since the election. I would offer that those who remain will live in a repressive fascist state unlike any seen in recent history."

Final Pre-Election 2024 Anti-Trans Risk Assessment Map by Erin Reed

The risk has increased nationwide for transgender youth and adults as a result of the 2024 election.

Read on Substack

Did Trump DOJ Nominee Matt Gaetz have sex with underage girls?

Donald Trump's Nominee to lead the DOJ, Matt Gaetz who is being investigated by the Ethics committee for sex trafficking, resigned from Congress Wednesday. Gaetz resigned just two days before a potentially damning report was set to be released by the Ethics Committee.

His resignation also follows Donald Trump's nomination to lead the DOJ, the agency that has been investigating his involvement in a sex trafficking ring in Florida.

The congressional committee investigating Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, reportedly interviewed a woman who said Gaetz had sex with her when she was a 17-year-old high school student, according to ABC News.

Convicted fraudster Joel Greenberg, who cooperated extensively with the Justice Department’s sex-trafficking probe into GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison by a federal judge in Florida, CNN Reports.

Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector, previously pleaded guilty to underage sex trafficking, wire fraud, stalking, identity theft, producing a fake ID card, and conspiring to defraud the US government. He has been in jail since early 2021 and will get some credit for time served.

As part of his plea deal, Greenberg provided information to investigators about Gaetz related to the sex-trafficking probe, a source familiar with the case previously told CNN. Women who attended parties with Greenberg and Gaetz previously told CNN that they participated in sex parties near Orlando that featured local political figures, young women, Venmo payments, alcohol, and drugs.

Lawmaker Zooey Zephyr Silenced by Montana Legislature Reelected

Montanna's GOP-dominated legislature silenced transgender Lawmaker Zooey Zephyr in 2023 for telling the truth. She told them that those who voted to ban trans youth healthcare had blood on their hands.

Study Shows 72% Increase of Trans Youth Suicides in Republican States

Zephyr was returned to the legislature two years later by her constituents. When ballots were counted, she won by an astounding 80%!

Zephyr, who was in her first term, was last permitted to speak on the chamber floor in April 2023, when she refused to apologize for saying some lawmakers would have blood on their hands for supporting a ban on gender-affirming medical care for youth.

Before voting to expel Zephyr from the chamber, Republicans called her words hateful and accused her of inciting a protest that brought the session to a temporary standstill. Some even sought to equate the non-violent demonstration with an insurrection.

“And I promise to do as I have always done: fight for my constituents, stand up against those who seek to break democracy, and be a bulwark against the rising tide of American fascism,” she said.

History Making Representative Elect Sarah McBride on MSNBC

Representative Elect Sarah McBride shattered yet another pink ceiling becoming the first transgender person to be elected to the US Congress, winning by 60%. McBride sat down with Chis Hayes and talked about what made her campaign so sucessfull.

She won in the November 2020 election in the 1st Delaware State Senate district. As the first openly transgender state senator in the country, she is the highest-ranking transgender elected official in United States history.

"In DC, I’ll be uniformly focused on the issues that matter most to Delawareans — making life more affordable by passing paid family and medical leave, raising wages for workers, and making healthcare and childcare more accessible and affordable," McBride posted on Instagram. "That’s what I ran this campaign promising to do, and that’s what I’ll fight for no matter who is in the White House."

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NY Passes ERA adding Transgender and Reproductive Rights to the State Constitution

Mikhail Nilov/Pexels

New York voters overwhelmingly voted yes on Prop 1 adding abortion access and transgender protections, and other protected classes to the state constitution.

It was a five-year process as the legislature had to pass the amendment twice and then be voted on during a general election.

New York State already has laws protecting these civil rights, so why amend the constitution?

Civil rights advocates recognized it was needed as laws can be challenged in courts putting enforcement of those laws on hold, possibly overturning them.

The proponents of the ERA saw that it was necessary after Roe Vs Wade was overturned and had the foresight to recognize that incoming conservative administrations would likely rescind Title IX protections as interpreted by the Biden administration and challenge Clayton County, 590 U.S. 644 (2020), the landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights decision in which the Court held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against discrimination because of sexuality or gender identity.

Read Trump's plan to crush trans rights from Trump's official site.

Will Prop 1 protect trans and reproductive rights against Trump's fascist agenda? To a point.

Cottonbro/Pexels

Prop 1 text (added protections in bold type):

a. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws of this state or any subdivision thereof. No person shall, because of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed [or], religion, or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy, be subjected to any discrimination in [his or her] their civil rights by any other person or by any firm, corporation, or institution, or by the state or any agency or subdivision of the state, pursuant to law.

b. Nothing in this section shall invalidate or prevent the adoption of any law, regulation, program, or practice that is designed to prevent or dismantle discrimination on the basis of a characteristic listed in this section, nor shall any characteristic listed in this section be interpreted to interfere with, limit, or deny the civil rights of any person based upon any other characteristic identified in this section.

City and State reports that opponents of the ERA have warned in particular about the prospect of transgender teenagers being given a constitutional right to pursue gender-affirming care and other medical procedures without their parents’ consent. PolitiFact determined that Prop 1 would not allow minors to receive gender-affirming care without parental consent. However, it is impossible to say how an individual court may rule if a case is brought. State law currently requires that, in most cases, minors receive parental consent for any medical treatment or procedure.

Trump Threatens to "Hit" Michelle Obama at NC Klan Rally

Trump closed out his presidential campaign by threatening Michelle Obama yesterday. In a video on X that already has one million views, Trump asked the assembled Klan members if he was “allowed to hit her now”, inferring he would be free to punch her if he were to be elected.

Trump: Michelle.. I was so nice to her out of respect. She hit me the other day. I was going to say, am I allowed to hit her now? pic.twitter.com/u0E8oXnOpD

— Acyn (@Acyn) November 4, 2024

That's a change in his divisive script that went from trying to frighten cisgender women with anti-trans ads to threatening the beloved wife of Barrack Obama

Importantly, Trump, last night used racist tropes while disparaging Barrack Obama and has never threatened violence against him.

Trump had already appeared to threaten Michelle Obama at a previous rally, noting ominously that she’d made “a big mistake” by criticizing him, but his latest outburst is an escalation in his language and appears to deliberately lean into the ambiguity of the word “hit,” reports HuffPost.

Apparently recounting a conversation with his advisers, Trump said, “Michelle ... I was so nice to her out of respect. She hit me the other day. I was going to say: ‘Am I allowed to hit her now?’ They said: ‘Take it easy, sir.’ My geniuses, they said, ‘Just take it easy.’ ‘What do you mean? She said that about me, I can’t hit back?’ ‘Sir, you’re winning. Just relax.’”

“Is that good or bad advice?” he asked the crowd. “I think it’s neutral.”

He then asked, “What do the ladies of North Carolina think, hit back or just relax?” before admitting, “I’d actually love to hit back, but we’ll hold it a little while.”

Trump has to escalate his violent rhetoric or lose voters who have become bored of the same old story.

Lots of people were leaving the Trump rally early today. pic.twitter.com/YstB4DNPPc

— The Good Liars (@TheGoodLiars) November 4, 2024

MAGA Goes Mad Over Women's Right to vote Video

Democracy is built on the tenet that every vote counts and whoever you vote for is your own business and no one else. An ad narrated by Juilie Roberts highlights that as Trump is losing women voters in large part due to his lies about reproductive healthcare. 

Fox News Host Jesse Watters in response to the video said that if his wife voted for someone else than he did it would be tantamount to cheating, and would end in divorce.

You can see the disbelief in Watters' women cohosts. Believe him. MAGA men like JD Vance don't believe women have a stake in the future unless, of course, we are pregnant.

Here's Jesse Watters saying he thinks his wife voting for @KamalaHarris is the same as having an affair—it "violates the sanctity of our marriage."

I don't care what type of marriage you have—traditional, modern, whatever—that's not healthy.

And it's weird. pic.twitter.com/hcxx6ViuEv

— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) October 31, 2024

Carol Berning wrote on Facebook "Just in case you didn’t know—"

"The ass who said he’d divorce his wife if she voted for Kamala, for it would be violating the sanctity of marriage is the same one who cheated on this first wife with his current wife."

“He married Noelle Inguagiato in 2009 and they have twin daughters.[52] Noelle filed for divorce in 2018 after Watters admitted to an affair with a producer on his show, Emma DiGiovine. Watters claimed to have begun dating DiGiovine by letting the air out of her vehicle's tires so she would ask him for a ride.”

"Creepy."

The producer of the Fox segment banner claims the

Watch Trans journalist Erin Reed on PBS Taking on Anti-Trans Ads

Erin Reed appeared on PBS Saturday to talk about the anti-trans ads that have inundated viewers during NFL games.

Reed wrote "Harris's late-campaign surge comes as Trump has flooded the airwaves with anti-trans advertisements during major sporting events. Meanwhile, Republican Senate candidates have also received tens of millions of dollars in support from groups like the Senate Leadership Fund, which has blanketed these swing states with ads about transgender bathroom usage, sports, and health care. Spending on transgender issues dwarfs all others; according to national political reporter Marc Caputo, the Trump campaign has spent more money on anti-trans advertisements than on any other issue, surpassing topics like the economy and immigration."

But why now when early voting is nearly over? GOP campaign of lies, divisiveness,  and disinformation never targeted undecided voters before. Who is Trump reaching for? Reed believes the ads target young male voters a demographic that Trump believes he has an edge on.

However true, I have a slightly different take on this. Trump has fallen behind spectacularly with women voters as he doubles down with statements like "I will protect you whether you like it or not."

Trump's waffling on abortion has also driven women away. Coupled with Vance's position that people with uteruses are worthless if not actively breeding have dug a hole Trump can't lie his way out of.

My take? Trump and the likes of Ted Cruz are hoping women equate transgender athletes with the methodical incubus.  The GOP, the party of hate is losing this election and in a last-ditch effort is demonizing the smallest minority in a clumsy attempt attempt to win over women voters.

Former President Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, said two-and-a-half years ago he was open to a national abortion ban, a stark contrast to comments he made this week where the Ohio senator said he adhered to Trump’s view that abortion should be a state issue.

Vance argued in 2022 that people seeking abortions would travel from states where abortion is banned to states with liberal abortion laws, necessitating federal action.

“I certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally,” Vance said in January 2022 on a podcast when running for Senate.

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