TRANSLASH'S GUIDE TO THE ANTI-TRANS HATE MACHINE

By Daniela “Dani” Capistrano for TransLash Media

figures and extreme ideology driving the anti-trans backlash across the country.

We are exposing a highly-organized political apparatus, which is trying to make the future darker for everyone. Hundreds of anti-trans bills have been introduced in 2023 alone.

By listening to Season 2 and Season 1 of The Anti-Trans Hate Machine: A Plot Against Equality, TransLash Media’s podcast mini-series, award-winning journalist Imara Jones breaks down everything you need to know about this disinformation ecosystem constructed by the Christian Nationalist movement; the anti-trans lies being laundered through some of the biggest and most respected news rooms in the country, and how this effort creates a world where the existence of trans people is questioned.

Trans people are in crisis and America is in crisis. These two stories are inherently linked. That’s why this season, we’re charting how over 40 years of focus by the conservative movement have brought us here.

It’s a story of how anti-trans ideas are dressed up as pseudoscience by Christian Nationalist groups, and at each stage of the process, they traffic in the notion that trans people aren’t real, that we aren’t human. They create the cultural arguments and environment necessary to generate public support for the hundreds of anti-trans bills we’ve been seeing in state houses over the past few years, inching us further towards fascism.

On this journey we center the voices of trans people, as well as their families, who are victimized by this hostile movement––with Imara guiding us along the way. This edition of TransLash

Zine is a companion reader for the ATHM podcast series, animated films, as well as infographics, and features the personal stories of some TGNC folks whose lives have been directly impacted by the #AntiTransHateMachine. In this guide you’ll find some key terms, visual aids, and tips for fighting back against The Anti-Trans Hate Machine.

To understand all that’s happening right now, we need to travel back in time more than a half a century ago: we have to begin with conversion therapy.

WHAT IS CONVERSION THERAPY?

According to HRC, "Reparative" or "conversion" therapy is a dangerous practice that targets LGBTQ+ youth and seeks to change their sexual or gender identities.

So-called “conversion therapy,” sometimes known as “reparative therapy,” is a range of dangerous and discredited practices that falsely claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. Such practices have been rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health orga nization for decades, but due to continuing discri mination and societal bias against LGBTQ people, some practitioners continue to conduct conversion therapy. Minors are especially vulnerable, and con version therapy can lead to depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness, and suicide.

A recent report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law estimates that 20,000 LGBTQ minors in states without protections will be subjected to conversion therapy by a licensed healthcare professional if state officials fail to act.

So, how did we get here, to 2023, where LGBTQ+ youth and adults are still being abused and exploited through conversion therapy?

For much of the 20th century, “homosexuality” was a psychiatric diagnosis. It was an umbrella term for anyone operating outside of gender norms, whether they were gay, trans, or bisexual. Those diagnosed with “homosexuality” could be sent away and subjected to all kinds of quack medical treatments –in an effort to “correct” the condition – with electric shocks, hysterectomies, even lobotomies.

What’s astounding is that after nearly 50 years, LGBTQ+ youth are still victims of the latest version of these practices. In fact, nearly 1 out of 12 LGBTQ+ adults in the US have endured some form of conversion therapy in their life. That’s according to research from UCLA’s Williams Institute. This means that almost everyone knows someone who has experienced it.

Homosexuality was effectively removed from the list of psychological disorders in the 1970’s. One psychologist though, James Dobson, was mortified by this change. And he made it his personal crusade to rewind all of this progress. That’s why he founded a group called Focus on the Family.

In addition to Focus on the Family, Dobson founded the Family Research Council. It takes the goals of Focus on the Family and translates them into policies that are pushed by politicians all across the country at every level. It’s been labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center actually, and is one of the essential pieces of the anti-trans hate machine.

But Dobson didn’t stop there in his campaign against sexual orientation and gender identity. He added a third prong to his pitchfork.

In 1988, Dobson also created a group called Love Won Out. The point was to elevate people who said they were ex-gay and ex-lesbian as part of a ministry to spread the idea that queerness was a choice, and could be changed. And they were keen to put people in front of the media.

If homosexuality is natural, is intrinsic to who people are, then it could be accepted. The only answer then is to say that it is made up. That’s where the ex-gay movement comes in.

From the 1970’s until the time he stepped down in 2009, Dobson was creating the infrastructure to spread misinformation about queer people. And his influence still looms large. Even today, Focus on the Family maintains a Christian Counseling network. They claim to have referred more than 300,000 people to therapists, who are required to agree to its policy on “counseling for sexual identity concerns.”

To learn more about Conversion Therapy, scan this QR code to access the audio and full transcript for ‘Conversion Therapy: The Disinformation Blueprint' are many reasons that people can decide to detransition. Physical safety, family exclusion, financial security, including housing and employment access, can play an important role in trans people’s assessment of what’s right for them. And for even more personal reasons trans people often choose to stop, rework or reassess what transitioning looks like for them. But we’re not talking about any of that. We are addressing ideological detransition.

Transition describes the social,psychological,and/ or medical processes by which a transgender person realigns themselves towards the gender with whichtheyidentify.

Today, Christian Nationalists have teamed up with TERFs, and even Dianic Witches, to find people who are “ex-trans” in an attempt to show that transgender people aren’t real. Those whom they target are at potentially vulnerable stages of their gender journey. And Chrisitian Nationalists exploit these sensitive moments for political purposes.

To learn more about Detransitioning, scan this QR code to access our infographic:

Scan this QR code to stream ‘Detransition Pseudo-Science and Misleading Examples' on Spotify: join us as we follow Ky Schevers and her journey into the depths of the detransition movement. We will learn how her story was seized upon by pseudo-scientific groups and the harm it caused both to Ky and the community she loves.

Access all of our #AntiTransHateMachine content: translash.org/antitranshatemachine

AUTHOR BIO: Daniela “Dani” Capistrano (they/them) is the founder & CEO of DCAP MEDIA LLC, an NGLCC Certified LGBTBE® Enterprise that leads digital & content strategy, audience development, brand consulting, and strategic partnerships for TransLash Media and other BIPOC and LGBTQIA-led nonprofits, B2Bs, and B2Cs. Dani is proud to be a latinx, queer, trans non-binary storyteller, entrepreneur, and co-parent. Learn more about their latest initiative: Non-Binary Entrepreneurship with Daniela Capistrano, a podcast series that applies a non-binary lens to startup ecosystems, unpacking the ways that transgender and cisgender founders innovate and collaborate.

Learn more: nonbinaryentrepreneur.com

by Adunni