Yesterday, I made my way to the Indiana Statehouse to stand in opposition to legislation put forward by lawmakers in the House of Representatives. Indiana ACLU organized the event and hundreds of individuals came out to demand the bill be voted down. Unfortunately, despite the bill’s extreme unpopularity, the highly conservative makeup of the House guaranteed its passage, and will likely guarantee its passage in the state Senate.

We have previously written about why trans women should be allowed to participate in their chosen sports, regardless of all of the false rhetoric that is often thrown around in the martial arts community, the sporting community, and sadly, our culture as a whole.

But the problem doesn’t begin and end with trans women in sports. Unfortunately, trans individuals face discrimination in all aspects of their lives, beginning in childhood and continuing throughout their adult lives. A perfect example of this is Indiana HB 1608.

HB 1608, authored by Michelle Davis, Jake Teshka, Chris Jeter, and Robert Heaton, is an extreme bill that targets transgender children. Specifically, according to the bill’s language it is required, “that an employee or staff member of a school may only use a name, pronoun, title, or other word to identify a student that is inconsistent with the student's [birth certificate]”. In other words, students may not choose a new name, new pronouns, or begin the transition process even on a social level. Any teachers who attempt to use new names or pronouns as requested by a student risk being reported and fired. The bill also requires teachers to report to parents any student who is presenting in a manner outside of the gender recorded on their birth certificate, or who requests use of a new name in accordance with their preferred gender, or who requests new pronouns in accordance with their preferred gender. Any teacher who fails to do so, can once again be reported and fired.

Not all youth will have access to medical care necessary for their transition. Many trans, non-binary, and gender-fluid students will often begin their transitions with a new name, new pronouns, changing their appearance to better conform to their true gender. This bill forces children to only accept their deadnames among their teachers and peers while at school, regardless of how they may choose to present themselves to the world.

This bill forces students to stay in the closet in all aspects of their lives. Where in the past, students have been able to be out and trans at school, even if at home they are still closeted due to a lack of family support. This bill would force trans students to suppress who they are without exception, leading to increased emotional and mental duress.

A recent study by Ashley Austin in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence titled, Suicidality Among Transgender Youth: Elucidating the Role of Interpersonal Risk Factors definitively shows that trusted adults - specifically teachers - play a major role in the survival of transgender youth. Over 80% of transgender students consider suicide, and 40% attempt to end their own lives. School belonging is listed as a critical need for transgender students to survive and thrive. The lack of school belonging creates a “statistically significant contribution to lifetime suicide attempts” which is only rivaled by familial emotional neglect. 

Contrary to what HB 1608 and bills across the country just like it claim, trans youth know exactly who they are and deserve joy at any age. This bill and others like it seem to be aimed to kill our trans youth. The cruelty is the point. This bill is nothing more than eugenics disguised as “parental concern”. It is exhausting to have to continually beg wealthy, straight, cis, white lawmakers to acknowledge our humanity from the other side of bulletproof glass while they pass violent legislation against us and our LGBT+ brothers and sisters, all while police stand guard and ready to brutalize us if we step out of line or argue too loudly.

This bill will kill. It is murder. And just because it won’t kill our trans youth with a bullet doesn’t mean it isn’t violence. The machinations of our social systems are the gun and this bill is the bullet.

And while this particular bill will not have an impact on our gym, we believe it is only a matter of time before laws are passed that could potentially impact us. Anti-trans laws have exploded across the country over the last several years and only continue to rise. If and when the day comes, we will not comply.