State Legislatures and Trans* Genocide (?) in the United States

Certain state legislatures in the United States have targeted trans* people and other members of the queer community through an onslaught of legislative efforts since early 2020. Many of these efforts have targeted trans* youth specifically, by banning or limiting their access to gender-affirming care. As I have shown, gender-affirming care is necessary health care for trans* youth and is crucial for their mental and physical health and well-being. Some have argued that these legislative efforts targeting trans* youth are genocidal, that they are intentionally aimed at destroying the trans* community. I agree that the harm experienced by the trans* community generally, and trans* youth specifically, is severe. Yet I see the legislative efforts as part of a more widespread phenomenon of denying medical expertise and tamping down on groups and individuals who challenge the gender binary or other heteronormative expectations like reproduction. This greater phenomenon causes harm and erasure, and it need not meet the legal definition of the term “genocide” for us to say as much.