今日吃瓜

‘Trump & Queensland: Our Trans Youth Need Us To Show Up For Them, Now‘ is an opinion piece by Chloe Sargeant.

In the mere weeks (it seems like much longer, am I right?) since Donald Trump stepped into the Oval Office, the tangerine carbuncle masquerading as a global leader has passed a series of executive orders that have set LGBTQIA+ rights, all long and hard fought for, back decades.聽

The first was declaring that the US Government will only acknowledge two genders, man and woman, and one鈥檚 gender markers cannot be changed. Other orders include banning gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth, , firing federal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion employees en masse, deleting government HIV and LGBTQIA+ resources/websites, even deleting the official memorial pages for hate crime victims Matthew Shepard and Nex Benedict.

These laws are not just regressive; they are downright dangerous, and I, along with millions of other queer people across the world, have felt anxious, devastated, and genuinely terrified witnessing it.聽

The push against trans healthcare in particular isn鈥檛 happening in isolation. It鈥檚 part of a larger, coordinated effort to demonise transgender people. The war on trans youth has been misleadingly framed as 鈥減rotecting鈥� children, but the truth is that these laws are about hate and the erasure of trans identities. They undermine the autonomy of young people and their families, forcing them to navigate a complex and harmful political landscape just to survive.

And now, within just weeks of Trump鈥檚 inauguration, the Queensland Government has passed a near-identical law banning safe, lifesaving gender-affirming healthcare for people under the age of 18.

For many of us, it鈥檚 a shock to realise just how quickly and easily decades of hard-fought-for progress can be ripped away from us. It should serve as a wake-up call to us all.聽

But sadly, there鈥檚 plenty of LGB people who don’t think this affects them. Despite trans people always being alongside us on the front lines in the fight for gay liberation, decriminalisation, same-sex marriage and more 鈥� take as an example, the icons Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera鈥� they don鈥檛 want to return the allyship.

But regardless 鈥� who do they think Trump, and the Australian lawmakers who lick his boots, will target once they鈥檝e finished stripping the trans community鈥檚 rights? In Idaho, a legislative petition asking the US Supreme Court to 鈥� the ruling that legalised same-sex marriage federally 鈥� is already making headway.聽

They might be coming for the trans community first, but make no mistake: they will come for us all.聽

Our federal election is fast approaching, and we have many conservative figures running who spout anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric that mirrors Trump and his blitzkrieg of anti-trans laws. This includes Peter Dutton, who is running against Anthony Albanese for Prime Minister.

We cannot afford to let the harmful policies seen in the US continue to take root here. Trans youth deserve to live with autonomy and respect, and it鈥檚 up to all of us to make sure they get it.聽

A growing coalition of activists have banded together to create the National Day of Action to Protect Trans Youth, with rallies occurring across the country on February 8. This rally is about showing up for our youth to let them know they have the community鈥檚 unwavering support, and signalling to politicians that we will not stand for our rights being stripped away and our kids harmed.聽

As queer people, majority of us remember what it was like to feel alone, hurt, or unsupported when we were young. So let鈥檚 be the person that we needed when we were young, and do what needs to be done to protect our trans and gender-diverse youth.

They come for some of us, they come for all of us 鈥� now is the time to speak up and show up.