Making America Hate Again is not something anyone should want.

Just going to put this out there. Share if you agree, now is not the time to be silent.

Today we were greeted with the headline “Trump signs an order restricting gender-affirming care for minors” (https://www.npr.org/2025/01/29/nx-s1-5279092/trump-executive-order-gender-affirming-care). That the person sitting in the seat of the President chooses to continue his campaign of turning on American citizens is appalling. The administration’s ongoing “anti-woke” tirade against those who love this country, and who have the audacity to think that its founding ideals should apply to all, continues to test the boundaries of our worst instincts. This is not leadership, rather and to quote 47, “retribution”.

In about 1968 I met the first trans person in my lifetime - a teenage member of family friends. Correcting for being born with a particular combination of chromosomes that made it impossible for the individual to live was not a choice, not a preference, not an option, not an attempt to excel at sports, and not an attempt to stalk bathrooms. Transitioning saved the kid’s life. One can imagine the family discussions and the hard choices they were faced with, but this kid’s parents chose love over hate. I grew up in an extremely conservative family, and yet had parents that explained this as a medical procedure that some people required because of how they were born. That was it - no hate, no fear, no anger, no moralizing – just an, albeit complex, medical procedure. Contrary to what too many ascribe to today, there is nothing conservative about hating, fearing, or discriminating against trans people or any other member of the LGBTQ+ community.

All has never been this easy, however. Also, in the late 1960’s an incredibly brave pioneer that likely you have never heard of, transitioned as an adult and was fired by IBM because of it. In the 1970’s this person went on to do extraordinary and globally recognized work in Very Large Scale Integrated circuits that, ironically, enables the cesspool of hate on social media that we have today. This person significantly altered my life trajectory through the research and textbooks that I used in my undergraduate Electrical Engineering studies. Last June Lynn Conway died at the age of 86, contributing far more to society than those that would be her detractors today.?????????

In the late 1980’s I was a coworker with an individual who transitioned. While there were normal questions on the part of everyone, there was not debate over bathrooms and not an atmosphere of hate and distrust. Rather, every effort made to adjust to the person’s new name, to be respectful, and to feel good for them that they were now at peace with who they were. Where there were concerns, they were addressed privately, respectfully, and without publicly trying to shame, stoke fear and to hate. As with my teenage friend above, it is possible to do this right if people choose to.

I can go on with these stories because trans people of all ages, races, and ethnicities have been a part of our world for a long, long time. Because of the truly dangerous environment for them that is in play right now I am not going to give more contemporary examples. Data shows that trans people are far more likely to be discriminated against, to be assaulted, to be murdered, or to take their own lives than non-trans people. Ask Sarah McBride what it felt like to show up for the first day of work with a coworker and her de-facto leader actually creating workplace rules using the power of the federal government against her with intent to intimidate and place her at risk. Ask the family of Nikki Kuhnhausen about their loss. I could go on with a long, long list of names that likely most would not recognize either due to hate or simply indifference.

Trans, and all LGBTQ+ people, are scientists, EMS providers, doctors, veterans that have been willing to give the ultimate sacrifice, educators, political leaders, volunteers, neighbors, parents, sons, daughters, friends; they come as everything that non-trans people do. I for one am grateful that they have the courage to continue to be part of our society in the face of the ugly hate that rains down from the highest level of the land right now. We are all better for their presence, their engagement, and their contributions and deserve our thanks. We see you and you are welcomed and needed here, especially in these times.

So, for those who can only see a trans person as someone lurking in the next stall, “choosing” to present as someone else at their convenience, someone to fear, or someone as evil..... How about YOU choose to transition from someone that has been manipulated into hating into someone who loves? Chances are your life has been made better by a trans person and you don’t even know it. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to convince you that these individuals are contributing to the demise of our society. Were that true, why would one need to spend that much money to convince you? – it should have been self-evident. But it was not – because it is simply not true.

That we continue to have politicians and fundamentalists with zero medical credentials inserting themselves into private family medical decisions, legislating who people can love, and dictating medical choices is what truly should be feared. That many of these same politicians have criminal records for sexual assault, long track records of promoting hate and fear, and demonstrate qualities that no parent or employer would encourage ought to give everyone pause - because it is shameful.

People, we have to do better than this. Making America Hate Again is not something anyone should want.

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