'Transgender women are women and transgender men are men.' It is time allies stand up| Pastor

Ben Huelskamp
·4 min read
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Ben Huelskamp is the Executive Director of LOVEboldly, an Ohio nonprofit working to create spaces where LGBTQIA+ people can flourish in Christianity.

During a time of unprecedented attacks against the transgender community and with today's celebration of Trans Day of Visibility, cisgender allies must step up and use our privilege to speak out and act up.

Cisgender people — those of us whose sex assigned at birth is congruent with our gender identity — often have the option to remain silent when we see legislation targeting our trans siblings or when we hear about the murder of another trans person, particularly another trans person of color.

There are even people— often referred to as trans exclusionary radical feminists or TERFs — who argue that trans women are really just men.

Let’s be clear, transgender women are women and transgender men are men. Hard stop.

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As a cisgender Queer person, I don’t have to worry about attacks on the trans community.

In fact, with the larger attacks on the queer community, it might be easier to not be involved and stay silent. But our trans siblings need us now more than ever. They need us to disrupt transphobia. They need us to challenge trans the exclusionary radical feminists arguments.

They need us to amplify their voices. They need us to listen and follow their lead as they act in their own best interests.

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Trans people and trans bodies are under physical, existential, and legal assaults. In 2022, at least 38 trans people were killed according to the Human Rights Campaign (I write “at least” because many transgender people are not identified as trans at the time of their deaths or their deaths are not investigated as murders).

Within hours of the school shooting in Nashville on Monday, the news had identified the shooter as a transgender woman and right-wing politicians began using the identification as “evidence” of the “need” to ban gender affirming care. While this is causation without a hint of truth or even logic, my fear that this would become a right-wing talking point and conspiracy theory was quickly confirmed.

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Across the United States LGBTQIA+ rights, particularly transgender rights, are under attack by state legislatures. As of March 27, the Human Rights Campaign had tracked 11 states which had already passed a ban on gender affirming care for people under the age of 18 and 21 additional states—including Ohio—where these bans were being actively considered.

Dr. Ben Huelskamp
Dr. Ben Huelskamp

Proposed Legislation in Ohio:

All of these bills are on top of the ongoing struggle to get Ohio probate courts to act in accordance with the federal court ruling in 2020's Ray v. McCloud allowing for trans people born in Ohio to change the gender marker on their birth certificates.

The Ohio Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on a case where such a change was denied on April 4.

How to be an allies for trans Ohioans?

So, you’re a cisgender person and you want to speak up and act out with the transgender community? Where can you start?

Whatever you do, remember as the community with privilege, cisgender people must follow the lead of and prioritize the agency of transgender people to act in their own best interests.

Ben Huelskamp is the Executive Director of LOVEboldly, an Ohio nonprofit working to create spaces where LGBTQIA+ people can flourish in Christianity.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How to be allies for trans people in Ohio. How to support transgender men, women.