Well articulated, horrifying, and absolutely 100% spot on! Thank you, Cristina Breshears! It is my belief that there is a vital need to engage in shadow work, speak up, and shine bright light on dark places. This is how the power of truth and fierce love interrupts and stops the flow of dangerous disinformation, dehumanization, and that which divides rather than connects. Bless us all, no exceptions. — Molly
What’s happening right now to transgender Americans should matter to all of us even if we don’t personally know or love someone who is trans because this isn’t only about gender, it’s about identity and who gets to define it.
Every single one of us has an identity that shapes how we move through the world:
Our faith.
Our marriage.
Our political beliefs.
Our name.
Our clothing.
Our medical decisions.
Our geographical roots.
Our sports teams.
The way we raise our children.
The causes we support.
The language we speak.
The way we understand our own bodies.
.
.
These are all expressions of identity. And we all already have an identity that depends on freedom. Every single person’s life is shaped by choices and traits that form who they are and how they move through the world.
The question isn’t whether you understand someone else’s identity. The question is whether you want the government deciding whose identity is allowed to exist. Because once that power exists, it never stays contained to just one group.
Some identities feel “neutral” only because they’ve never been challenged. But imagine this: imagine being told your marriage certificate is no longer recognized; imagine being told your legal name no longer stands; imagine being told your medical decisions are invalid; imagine being told that how you understand yourself is now against the law. (Actually, some of these are under threat with the SAVE Act. I mean, what happens when the government becomes the final authority on whose identity documents are valid enough to vote and participate in public life?)
My point is, you don’t have to fully understand someone else’s experience to understand what it means to have your identity questioned or erased.
The current wave of policies targeting transgender people (from identity documents to healthcare access to participation in public life) may affect a relatively small percentage of Americans. But the principle underneath is not small at all. When the government claims authority to decide which identities are legitimate, freedom becomes conditional. And conditional freedom is fragile.
Policies that tie basic rights to perfectly matching documentation may sound administrative on the surface, but they raise a larger question: who gets recognized as legitimate by the state? History shows that when identity recognition becomes conditional, it rarely stays limited to one group. The line of exclusion has a way of moving.
So, the question isn’t whether you understand someone else’s identity. The question is whether you want the government deciding whose identity is allowed to exist. Because once that power exists, it never stays contained to just one group.
There are people fighting back. Courts are reviewing these laws. States are pushing back. Advocates are organizing. Families are standing up for their children. But beyond politics, this is about something simpler: do we believe people should have the dignity to live honestly and safely in the world? Even if their life doesn’t look like ours?
My answer is and always will be: I believe everyone should have the right to live safely and honestly as who they are; especially when their life is different from mine. Rights are safest when they are universal. The moment rights depend on whether a group is approved or acceptable, everyone’s freedom becomes conditional.
Mississippi-born activist, Fannie Lou Hamer (who became a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement, testifying at the 1964 Democratic National Convention) said it best,
“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”
Pay attention. Stay informed. Speak up. Stand beside.
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