For transgender individuals in the United States, the first half of March offered two very different stories when compared to the barrage of anti-Trans reports offered from mainstream and queer media over the past couple of years: something positive for a change.
On Tuesday, March 11, Representative Keith Self (R-TX) abruptly adjourned a congressional hearing after being challenged for referring to Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) as a man. During the European Subcommittee of the House on Foreign Affairs panel (Self is the chairman), discussions were progressing regarding arms control and U.S. assistance when Self abruptly introduced McBride as “Mr. McBride.”
While McBride had replied with a degree of sarcasm by showing her displeasure for Self’s slight by responding, “Thank you, Madam Chair,” it was her fellow colleague, Rep. William Keating (D-MA), that made the meeting newsworthy that day.
Barely a moment after McBride’s reply, Keating fired back at Self with a response of his own. After challenging the chairman to reintroduce McBride, only to come to the same result, Keating shouted in displeasure, “Mr. Chairman, you are out of order. Have you no decency? I mean, I’ve come to know you a little bit. But this is not decent.”
After Self attempted to move the meeting forward, Keating pushed back. “You will not continue [this] with me unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way,” he said. Rather than resolve the disrespectful action in a proper manner, Self disregarded Keating and McBride and chose to adjourn the meeting for the day. But in this instance, Keating and McBride got the point across: the appetite for hate-speech and intolerance towards the Trans community has been exposed as cruel, rude and weakening.
Less than a week before, on Friday, March 7, it was the Republican side of the aisle that took the news. In Montana, after two Democratic transgender representatives, Zooey Zephyr and SJ Howell, delivered powerful speeches to their right-leaning colleagues, the seemingly impossible happened. On both anti-trans bills being introduced, one advocating a ban on drag performances and Pride parades in Montana, the other looking to remove transgender children from their parents and put them in the state’s care, Republicans voted against their own to sink the legislation.
Republican Rep. Sherry Essmann joined her left-of-the-aisle colleagues in speaking up against the bills.
“Trust the parents to do what’s right, and stop these crazy bills that are a waste of time,” Essmann exclaimed. “They’re a waste of energy. We should be working on property tax relief and not doing this sort of business on the floor of this house and having to even talk about this.”
Zephyr would later reflect in a Bluesky post about the event. “Rep Howell & I have built solid relationships with Republicans and those relationships change hearts, minds, and (eventually) votes,” the post reads. “It is painful, grueling work. But it makes a difference. May [Rep Essmann’s] courage be contagious, and may it lead to more Republicans standing up against these bills.”
The two events bring to the fore that an appetite for the type of attitudes and actions far-right Republicans have brought into congress & legislatures across the nation is showing the beginning of diminishment. As Donald Trump continues to issue executive orders targeting the minority group within the LGBTQ+ community, most recently dealing with transgender participation in women’s sports, those opposed to such attacks will hopefully continue raising their voices and speaking out against the returning administration’s actions.
Morgan Callahan, a local activist in the Charlotte transgender community, shared her thoughts on the recent developments.
“I think we’re starting to see this as well,” Callahan told QNotes. “All the anti-Trans legislation being pushed across the whole country is forcing us to come forward and humanize our experiences. I think Zooey Zephyr was able to sway 29 conservative seats with her personal testimony because she humanized her experience, rather than our lives being some ominous thing that conservatives can spin to look how they want us to. I think Sarah McBride is also helping tremendously because she’s showing that Trans [folks] can hold high level governmental positions and rise above culture war bait that the conservatives are trying to throw at her.”
Callahan also shared their thoughts on what those looking for change should be doing currently. “As for what to do amid the chaos, I would say first priority would be to find community,” Callahan advised. “It’s where I’ve found strength on the days where it’s felt the hardest. Sometimes, especially when constantly following the news, it can feel a bit overbearing, like the weight of the world is on top of you. But being with others is very empowering. Speaking from personal experience, it definitely pulls me out of the news wormhole and back into the here and now where I know others support me, and they know I support them.
“The constant barrage against Trans [folk] is very transparent now, since the Trump Administration has completely shown their hand and playbook. Our friends, family, and allies everywhere aren’t going to stand for it. The more they push, the more publicity it gets. The more publicity it gets, the more push back they’ll receive. This is definitely a civil rights battle and this is unfortunately how this go. Sometimes it is darkest before the dawn.”