I live in North Carolina...

[PaulaQ]

I do want to caution folks to be careful out there. We are seeing quite a lot of attacks against trans women this year - not all bathroom related and not all in southern states. The problem with this issue is it gives knuckle-heads the feeling that it's open season on us. A couple of trans women were attacked by a mob in Portland, OR on Friday, for example. They were standing outside a convenience store, minding their own business when someone shouted "That's a man!" and then a group of people attacked them.

So understand that these things can happen, and I believe inciting such incidents is part of the point of the propaganda. Mostly it's a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people present. Mostly.

I'm not suggesting anyone do anything different - you have to live your lives. But the debate over trans rights is happening all over the country, and the truth is that no place is truly safe for us. So be careful and be as aware as you can be of your surroundings.

This is also just the beginning of this. Some of our enemies really do want us dead.

It hurts, Paula, thanks for asking. It just hurts.

This is a big part of the problem about this issue. The negative campaigns, hateful Facebook posts, clueless media stories, and outright hateful speech directed against us, especially in states that have passed these things takes a big toll on people. I've talked to people who lived in Houston when during the election where the current set of tactics made their debut. It is emotionally brutal to listen to ads on TV that compare you to a sex offender. Even if you aren't at ground zero where one of these things is happening, the repercussions of it can be felt all over the country. Since I run a support group, I see a lot of really frightened and depressed people because of this.

Edit: one last thought. The media aren't hyping the attacks against us. In fact they are likely suppressing reports of them quite a bit. We've seen this same thing happen with the wave of homophobic attacks against gay men in my old neighborhood. There were a number of savage attacks that were unreported by the media. I know this because several of them happened just outside of the condos where I lived.

[JayeLefaye]

Chiming back in for just a moment to say how encouraged I'm feeling at the moment. With all that's been going on recently, not just here in NC but in other states, a lot of eyes were watching Virginia and hoping for the best. This will seriously impact a lot. YAY!: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/c...173616399.html

Jaye

[ReineD]

That's good, Jaye.

Have you seen the sticky at the top of the Media section? I've put together a list that reflects what's going on in the country at large, to better show the situation in this country overall. It's too easy to get spooked when just looking at individual bad-news headlines. And also keep in mind that the bigoted bills are getting so much backlash that they will not stand in the long run.