Guest: As Oklahoma trans kids are bullied, lawmakers celebrate actions that lead to suffering

As I sat on my pickup tailgate, soaking in the sunshine within the safety of the Oklahoma City Gay District, I spoke with numerous friends who were walking by. We discussed in detail the outrage we feel regarding the onslaught of anti-2SLGBTQIA+ legislation that has been levied against us by lawmakers. I sensed no despair nor surrender. Instead, I felt their exasperation and the indisputable will to fight back.

I expressly recalled gay history and the events that triggered the Gay Rights Revolution 54 years ago. Laws against the queer community provoked protests and riots that spanned nearly two years. A once peaceful community came together as one united front. I can’t help but wonder if the numerous anti-gay state governments will push our people to a breaking point once more.

Oklahoma lawmakers, for example, introduced scores of anti-LGBTQ+ bills and related bills in 2023. One must ask, what crimes against humanity has our peaceful community committed? What would warrant a group of suit-wearing officials to tie us to their political whipping posts, laughing and ridiculing us, while they do their best to beat us into submission?

In a country where one would reasonably expect that elected officials would care about all children, transgender children watched in horror as one state bill after another was signed into law, slowly stripping away their rights to medical care. As transgender children are bullied and made fun of in their schools, lawmakers, who pretend to wear lab coats and stethoscopes as they play doctor with trans children’s lives, clink their glasses of Champagne together and celebrate actions that will lead to the suffering of innocent children.

Reminiscent of bullies in a school yard, handfuls of Republican state representatives scattered throughout our nation, continue their assault with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. They demand that we symbolically kneel before them as the lawmakers preach, telling an estimated more than 22 million queer Americans that their lives are worthless and they are ridden with mental illness and must be punished. Their actions recklessly invite their constituents to insult and degrade the LGBTQ+ community, as if to say we are less than human and not worthy to live among them. Their LGBTQ+ constituents are dismayed and don’t understand why lawmakers are being so cruel and vindictive. Many of their family and friends are victims of the lawmakers' actions, and they plead for mercy, but the lawmakers are unwilling to listen.

Drag queens, transgender men and transgender adults also are on the lawmakers' list. Drag queens might soon be prohibited from performing in public as they are falsely accused of being “pedophiles" and “groomers.” Their performances are ridiculously compared to that of a strip show. Trans men soon will be prohibited from competing in sports, and trans adults will no longer be able to use their health insurance to pay for medical care.

Within our wonderful queer community, we have the politically connected, the wealthy, business owners, those who work in public safety and a general population who are hardworking, civic-minded and law-abiding citizens. In a world where we see attorneys, clergy members, public officials, politicians and church leaders being criminally charged and convicted of sex crimes against children, I find it endlessly hypocritical that it is, in fact, the gay community that is targeted by such accusations.

We have held peaceful demonstrations, and we have respectfully and diligently met in person with our state representatives. There are moderate conservatives within state governments who care and work behind the scenes to help the gay community. We applaud their efforts, and they are not to be included in the short list of lawmakers who have introduced such damaging legislation.

In a world where peace, prosperity and happiness should be the rule, queer communities throughout our country have their backs against the wall. State governments, such as those here in Oklahoma, are forcing us again to stand up for the same rights, liberty and happiness as all Americans. There are good and decent human beings on both sides of our political fence. It is time for our combined moderate voices to inject common sense and sound reasoning into this equation. We have never tried to tell the straight community how to live their lives, yet some in state governments, in their quest to purge gay people from society, will stop at nothing to create a world where those who are different, such as those in the queer community, will be legislatively abolished.

Tessa White has been with Oklahoma City Pride for three years and is serving her second term as president. Tessa is a retired detective sergeant from the Seacoast Region of New Hampshire and a Marine Corps veteran. She is originally from Oklahoma.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Guest: As Oklahoma trans kids are bullied, lawmakers clink glasses