Henry Berg-Brousseau, a transgender rights advocate & deputy press secretary for politics for , has died. He was 24.
🧵 Here's a little bit about him & why his life - and death - matter:
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Loren Cameron, who brought visibility to transgender men when there was very little to be found, died several months ago at 63. Here's a little about his life, death (cw: suicide) & the importance of his work: a 🧵
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BREAKING: will pull events from states with anti-trans bills: “Our clear expectation as the Association’s top governing body is that all student-athletes will be treated with dignity and respect.”
I hope every state currently discussing these bills takes notice 💸💸💸
JOURNALISTS: when you're writing a piece about a transgender person, it is unnecessary to use their former name (if they changed their name). That's called "dead-naming."
"Dead-naming" is when someone says or publishes the name a transperson used prior to transition. 1/13
The RNC is positioning transgender athletes & trans students as "issues" for the upcoming election.
We are not issues - we are people.
🚨FLORIDA is on the verge of passing a bill that will subject any girl who is questioned on her gender to invasive examinations of her reproductive anatomy.
No 14 year old should have to drop her pants to "prove" she is a girl to play sports with her friends.
This is outrageous.
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This isn't a "you never know what someone is going through" or "here's a suicide hotline number, reach out for help if you are struggling" story. This is a "lawmakers & media are intentionally making the world uninhabitable for trans people" story. It's non-fiction.
FINA's decision to ban transgender women from swimming is based on people's opinions & fears, NOT on science or reality.
To be clear: to my knowledge, there is not a single transgender woman who ever has or is currently competing in women’s swimming at the Olympic level.
Mack Beggs is a just kid who wants to compete in the sport he loves. Texas gave him 2 options: wrestle with girls or quit. He wrestles.
As far as I know, no trans woman currently competes or has EVER competed in elite level triathlon in any country, including Great Britain, England, Scotland or Wales. British Triathlon’s move to ban trans women doesn’t address any real issue; it’s discrimination plain & simple.
A second South Dakota bill introduced this week would require any teacher, school psychologist, or social worker to out any students they suspect may be suffering from gender dysphoria to the student’s parents.
"Suspect."
This is incredibly dangerous.
The anti-trans movement in the UK has built momentum in sports - despite there being no evidence of issues with trans people playing with their cis peers. But we know this isn't really about evidence or issues.
🧵Today swimming's world governing body, FINA, voted to ban the participation of transgender athletes in elite women's competitions. The new policy takes effect Monday & only allows trans athletes who have "completed" a transition by age 12.
AGE 12. 🤯
A bisexual person does not have to be in a relationship, “experiment,” or have sexual experiences to know they are bisexual.
Straight people get to know their sexual orientation without having sex first, sooooo 🙃
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Please honor Henry's life by taking a moment today to show your support for the trans people in your life - those you know & those you do not - and by doubling down on your commitment to keep us safe & alive. 🏳️⚧️❤️
Trans women are women. Changing a men's category to "open" & forcing all trans athletes to participate there is not a policy change to be celebrated; it's a step back for sport.
Being transgender is NOT A CHOICE, but I did make some choices:
- to stay alive
- to let others know who I truly am
- to live my truth
- to fight for my community
- to dedicate my life to ensuring others, specifically other people like me, can see themselves in sport
REMINDERS:
Not all trans people take hormones.
Not every trans person has surgery.
Not all trans people change their names, pronouns, or ID.
Not every trans person hates their body.
Trans folks can be non-binary.
There's not just one way or a single "right" way to transition.
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When Mack goes out to wrestle, save your boos for the Texas superintendents, 95% of whom thought this was a good policy for trans athletes.
South Dakota HB1217 is dead! A HUGE thank you to everyone across the country who wrote, shared, and elevated the urgency of this issue, and thank you so much to the incredible organizers in South Dakota who have worked relentlessly to protect trans people. BIG LOVE!
Aimee Stephens was fired for being transgender. Her case is at the Supreme Court & is the Court's first trans civil rights case. She passed today before she could see justice, but her fight is our fight & it doesn't end today - we will keep fighting. For her. For all of us. 💔
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No 16 or 17-year-old should have to testify at the state capitol asking to be treated with respect. No one should have to fight for their right to access the healthcare they need, or to have access to library books that contain characters that look like them.
As a reminder, Texas will be ineligible to host NCAA championships because anti-trans bills violate the NCAA eligibility criteria to host events.
Big state: That’s a lot of events. And a LOT OF $$$$
SPOILER ALERT: Every human body has testosterone as part of healthy functioning.
I cannot separate my identity as an athlete from my identity as a trans person. When I show up to race, I am both.
I will not be attending Duathlon Nationals this weekend because Alabama is not a safe place.
Trans girls are girls.
When a trans girl participates on a girls' team, there are ZERO boys on that team.
Women who are transgender are WOMEN.
If you have a woman who is transgender on your rugby team, there are still ZERO men on that team.
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Everyone reading this: please know that Henry lived his life fighting for his community, but also fighting for himself, from a young age. Described by those who knew him as a "light," Henry's light went out because of anti-trans rhetoric in a bullshit, made-up culture war.
The SCOTUS ruling protects trans people in school - including black & brown trans girls and transgender athletes.
Just saying.
A NOTE FOR PARENTS: If your child tells you they are transgender, you have two choices:
1. have a trans child
2. have a dead child
It really is that simple - for so many of us, the ability to live authentically is a matter of life & death.
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Karen Berg lost her son, in part because her coworkers refused to see him as a person worthy of the same rights as his peers. It's a heartbreaking story that shows that the love & support of a parent is essential but it's not enough to shield someone from anti-trans rhetoric.
The media often gets it wrong: Not every trans person is an "activist" - but every trans person is a person, deserving of dignity & basic human rights.
Sometimes trans people talk about their experiences or call out injustices, but it doesn't mean they're "activists."
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As a teen, Henry fought against anti-trans legislation in Kentucky; he was a junior in high school in 2014 when he stood up to state legislators as they debated making a bathroom bill. “The message is clear with this bill: We don’t belong,” he told the Senate Education Committee.
CURRENT STATUS of Anti-trans sports bills across the United States:
#LetKidsPlay
Transgender women are not men trying to gain an advantage in sport; they are women who want to play with other women.
Transgender identity is real, authentic, and not a means to competitive advantage.
People simply do not transition to dominate in sports.
SPOILER ALERT: Trans people don’t just wake up one day & decide to change their gender to dominate in sport.
Not trans women. Not trans men. Not trans girls in high school or middle school trans boys. None of them.
It’s just not happening.
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We can honor Henry Berg-Brousseau's life & legacy by speaking out against the hate & vitriol being directed at the trans community. Do it in conversation with family & friends. Speak out against anti-trans bills by writing or calling lawmakers. Call out transphobia online.
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It's not even January 1 & I'm already tracking nearly a dozen anti-trans bills that have been pre-filed for 2023.
This is far from over. Those invested in hating trans people are DEEPLY invested: there is a huge budget behind these attacks & they will not stop in the new year.
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Put another way: the attempts to limit or ban trans people in all areas of life are efforts to stop trans people from existing. The goal is to make it so hostile for us that we question our safety while walking down the street like Henry did. And in so many ways, it's working.
Transgender women are women. They do not have "male bodies." They have their bodies.
They might not be the same as your body, but whose body is?
Loving & affirming your transgender child is not "child abuse" - it is parenting at its absolute best.
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Henry's mom is KY Senator Karen Berg. KY has had multiple anti-trans bills since Henry fought the bathroom bill in 2014. Each time, Karen asked her colleagues to stop attacking the trans community. She shared her experience as the mom of a trans kid.
WARNING: There is a casting agency looking for trans women who are running NYC Marathon to do a photo shoot for "billboards, ads, etc" - If you are a trans woman running NYC marathon, be cautious in responding to this ad, as it has not been verified as being trans positive.
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“As the mother of a transgender son, I gave my whole heart trying to protect my child from a world where some people & especially some politicians intentionally continued to believe that marginalizing my child was OK simply because of who he was,” Berg said.
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Karen Berg also watched in real time as these conversations in the state legislature impacted her child.
I can't imagine what it would be like to have coworkers speak about my child as if he didn't deserve the same rights & opportunities as their children.
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I'm sending love & light to Karen Berg & her family, as well as to all of Henry's friends. I'm also sending strength to every trans person who feels worn down by this loss & by the constant barrage of anti-trans rhetoric.
For everyone suddenly concerned about the state of women's sport - when was the last time you:
- bought a ticket to a women's game
- watched WNBA on TV
- talked about/watched the women's final four
- shared a positive women's sport article
- rocked the jersey of a female athlete?
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After graduating from George Washington University in 2021, Henry started working at the Human Rights Campaign as the deputy press secretary, turning his passion for LGBTQ & trans rights into a career.
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All women suffer when sports organizations police the bodies of women athletes. Period.
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The "debates" that lawmakers, podcast & TV hosts, and others demand to have about trans people & whether or not we belong - in schools, in sports, as stories in library books, in school curriculum & beyond - have a very real impact on trans people. Henry is proof.
Lawmakers in Arizona want to inspect “internal & external reproductive anatomy" of high school transgender student-athletes to prevent trans girls from competing with girls, where they belong.
READ THAT AGAIN.
The gov't has no place in the pants or insides of a young person.
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Henry spent his waking hours fighting for his community because he was deeply aware of the harm that anti-transgender rhetoric, messaging & legislation has on his community. He was living it every day. Ultimately, it impacted his sense of safety.
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In his advocacy work & role at HRC, Henry was exposed to hate, ignorance & violence against the trans community across this country. It took a toll.
In one of Henry's last conversations with his mom, he told her he wondered if he was “safe walking down the street.”
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But it's more than that. The bills introduced about the rights of trans people to live & do the same things as our cisgender peers not only impact trans people's mental health & sense of safety, it also impacts the ways cis people think about, talk about & treat trans people.
Trans girls are GIRLS. They are not boys pretending to be girls.
Grown ups act like they don’t remember how miserable ages 12-18 were in terms of confidence, making friends, fitting in & feeling accepted.
No one is transitioning in this world for any other reason than survival.
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This may have started off as a way to score political points, but there's no way lawmakers haven't noticed the real-world implications - the violence, harassment & deep mental/physical tolls their actions are creating on the trans community. ... But they don't care.
So many people who don't give a shit about watching, promoting, or supporting women's sports suddenly have an opinion about them when someone says the word transgender.
If you are really worried about saving women's sports, go to/watch game, buy a jersey & give respect online.
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To require transgender athletes to "complete" a medical transition by age 12 - particularly when it is increasingly difficult & in some states nearly impossible to get gender-affirming care - is outrageous & completely unrealistic.
Cisgender women in sports: now is the time speak up on behalf of your transgender teammates. There are loud voices endorsing discrimination- we need you to be vocal 🙏
🚨ALABAMA: SB10, the transgender medical ban, is on the House this week. Not only would this bill criminalize doctors who provide gender-affirming care, but it could also criminalize parents & kids who are administering medication at home (a class C felony).
Transphobia in the form of “comedy” is still transphobia.
Also: Trans women are harassed, fired from their jobs, denied housing/health care/shelter spaces & MURDERED at a rate exponentially higher than their peers, but please, tell me one more time to take a joke....
#TransWeek
Quote Tweet
I ❤️ BEING TRANS.
No amount of legislation will make me love myself less.
🚨SOUTH DAKOTA: HB1217 would ban trans kids from sport AND require ALL KIDS participating in sports to turn over information to the government certifying their genetics & reproductive anatomy.
Every👏single👏kid👏playing sports in South Dakota.
must VETO HB1217.
Laurel Hubbard becoming the first transgender athlete in the Olympics will be meaningful - to the trans community as a whole, but to me specifically, as I’ve spent over the last decade of my life trying to lay the groundwork for this moment.
I am so incredibly proud of her.
Transgender athletes at all levels – including U Penn swimmer Lia Thomas – deserve equal access to & participation in the sport they love, without discrimination or abuse. PERIOD.
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Not only is dead-naming unnecessary, but it's also bad practice and incredibly disrespectful. It's a way to sensationalize a story and to position trans people constantly as "other." 2/13
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Revealing a transgender person’s birth name without their explicit permission is an invasion of privacy. It undermines a trans person’s true authentic identity and can put them at risk for discrimination, harassment, and violence. 3/13
Today marks 8 years on Testosterone! So grateful for the support and the opportunity to live the life I always knew I was meant to live. #TransIsBeautiful
Proud to be an out trans man representing the very best of the USA. 9th place AG at World Championship yesterday. #thisiswhattranslookslike
The Caster Semenya decision governing natural testosterone levels continues the practice of intrusive oversight & judging of women’s bodies in sport - with a specific target on black & brown bodies & anyone whose gender presentation is masculine of center.
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TLDR: Using a transgender person's "dead name" is never appropriate - not in a quote, not in a flashback, not in a caption, never - unless they have given you explicit permission to do so. 11/13
Trans identity is not up for debate. Please stop referring to this moment in time as the "trans debate."
People who hate trans people because we challenge their notions of gender & what they've been told want to "debate" but: I am real, I exist, I play sports....
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Buck, you know the time it takes to get into any surgeon for an appointment is more than ample time to fully consider the impacts of top surgery. Let's not pretend that people can get a walk-in appointment for this. It just doesn't happen.
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Loren Rex Cameron was a pioneer in the trans community, best known for his work as a photographer. His collection of groundbreaking portraits of himself & other trans men, "Body Alchemy," is considered a milestone of FTM documentation.
If your “news” piece about Laurel Hubbard only quotes someone who opposes her being there - no supporters, no one to frame up this moment, no one to speak to policy if you’re stuck on that - that, my friends, is called an “opinion piece” & should be labeled as such.
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“When determining where championships are held, NCAA policy directs that only locations where hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy & free of discrimination should be selected.” States can’t ban trans athletes & qualify to host events. Period.
What trans kid is going to feel safe in a world where Abigail Shrier is considered an expert?
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Avoiding dead names is not "policing your language" or "being PC" - it's being a respectful human to other humans. 12/13
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(also noting: some trans people may be cool with acknowledging a previous name and kudos to them; the rule is to default to not using it unless they say it's okay)
Okay - good talk. Thanks in advance for not dead-naming people moving forward.
13/13
10 years ago today I had top surgery with - I had never been happier than when I woke up from the procedure; it was gender-affirming & life-saving.
We should not be criminalizing care for trans people.
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For many trans people, that old name represents a time with some painful memories, where the world didn't see them as the person they knew they were. Dead-naming not only shows a lack of respect for a person's identity, but it can also cause anxiety, dysphoria & self-doubt. 4/13
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I encourage you to dive into Loren's work & honor his legacy as a trancestor by buying his book (if you can find it), watching work he was featured in, visiting his archives, & keeping his name & memory alive.
Rest in power, Loren Rex Cameron. 🏳️⚧️📸❤️
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JUST A REMINDER: Trans women have been participating in sport for decades & they are not dominating women's sport - not at the elite levels, not at the recreational levels, and not in high school or college sports.
Have a great Saturday!
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FINA's new policy does not follow the IOC framework; not only is FINA's policy discriminatory, but it will also encourage & allow the policing of all women's bodies in swimming. The only way to enforce this policy will be to violate the rights & privacy of all women swimmers.
4 things you can do RIGHT NOW to help trans youth this weekend:
instagram.com/p/CNxc1Phhj-l/
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James Pearce, a spokesperson for FINA president, told The AP, "They're not saying everyone should transition by age 11; that's ridiculous. You can't transition by that age in most countries & hopefully you wouldn't be encouraged to." But if not, then... there's no pathway at all.
The way the media covers stories like FINA's new policy banning trans athletes & the way sports organizations discuss us in their policies directly influence the way all cisgender people in the world look at, think of, speak to & act towards trans people.
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Many journalists - if it's even on their radar at all - believe dead-naming is okay if you're talking about the person in a time before their transition. But, for the above reasons, using someone's dead name at any time is an act of violence. 5/13
1 in 3 #trans people have experienced discrimination from a doctor. I'm one of those people - & have been multiple times.
A story about my doctor visit yesterday:
#protecttranshealth
Texas lawmakers are so set on hurting trans kids that as soon as they had quorum again they rushed SB2, the anti-trans sports bill, to the Public Education Committee for a hearing - TOMORROW.
Here's how you can help:
Trans men don’t need to be your type of masculine.
Trans women don’t owe you femininity.
Non-binary people don’t have to be androgynous.
Not all trans people want to “look” or be cis.
Non-binary femmes exist.
Masculine folks can use they/them pronouns.
Identity is not for debate.
‼️NORTH DAKOTA: Gov. Doug Burgum has vetoed HB 1298, which would have restricted transgender girls in K-12 sports.
THANK YOU to the incredible organizers in ND & to EVERYONE who used the toolkit & links to email Gov Burgum to veto this bill. YOUR VOICE MATTERS. #LetKidsPlay
Brittney Griner has been wrongfully detained in Russia for 278 days. As we are reflecting & giving thanks this week, I thank everyone who has kept BG's name in the conversation as we advocate for her release. We love you, BG & we won't stop fighting to get you home. #WeAreBG
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Trans rights do not hurt women’s rights.
Not in sport, not in business, not in healthcare or housing or anti-discrimination laws or anything else.
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Refusing to call someone by their new name is the same as refusing to acknowledge their new gender identity or misgendering through the use of incorrect pronouns. Transphobic media often uses dead-naming and incorrect pronouns as a way to invalidate trans identities. 6/13