After Arkansas passes its trans ban, parents and teens wonder: Should we stay?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Kris Vaughn’s great-grandparents were born in Arkansas, and she was raised on barbecue and the Razorbacks.

But ever since Arkansas banned gender-confirming treatments and surgery for minors, she spends most evenings poring over websites that rank the states most welcoming to transgender teens like her son.

“It’s heartbreaking, because it’s the state where my loved ones are buried, where I got married, where my husband returned home from serving in Afghanistan,” said Vaughn, 37. But “it’s just not home if my child isn’t welcome.”

More and more families are struggling with the same dilemma, as Republican lawmakers push a raft of bills that would limit the right of transgender children and teenagers to receive gender-affirming medical care, use certain bathrooms and play on school sports teams.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/after-arkansas-passes-its-trans-ban-parents-and-teens-wonder-should-we-stay/2021/04/23/74c822f0-9d34-11eb-8005-bffc3a39f6d3_story.html

[PortTack]

1. Not only will ppl lose the ban trans nonsense but moving to a blue state will give them more

Opportunity.

Do it ....move!!

[Laffy Kat]

2. No way I would stay.

They start with a trans band and it will be extended to gay, etc., etc. Eliminating rights for one group eliminates rights for all. Even if I didn't have a gay child I would leave in solidarity.

[DBoon]

7. Trans rights are everyone's rights

The attack on trans people is an attack on anyone who does not fit "traditional" gender roles - whether gay or straight

To the homophobe, it doesn't matter if you are gay or not - only that they think you might be gay

[Laffy Kat]

11. Absolutely.

Ultimately, it's about control, misogyny, and racism.

[Patterson]

3. Get out before that Huckabee woman is governor

[Retired Engineer Bob]

4. Hubby and I

Decided to take a long weekend in Kentucky several years ago. Wanted to see Cave of the Mounds and Corvette museum.

Decided to stay in a small town south of Louisville on the first night. First disappointing item was the local Pizza Hut could not sell beer. Much more was the disturbing phone call we got the next morning, “Are you gay?”.

We high tailed it out of the place immediately. Most likely a closeted front desk boy looking for a cheap thrill, but the possibility of a Matthew Shepard incident came to mind.

It freaked us both out. Haven’t been back to vacation in the Bible Belt since.

[Aristus]

9. Americans living in Saudi Arabia for business purposes report much the same thing.

Saudi wives and daughters, closeted in their stifling, restrictive, male-dominated prisons, often call phone numbers in neighborhoods known to host foreign-born residents, hoping to strike up a conversation, a friendship, or a romance that can take them out of their velvet dungeons.

[nocoincidences]

5. No...let that history go!

The future is important, and AK has decided to stay in the past.

Come to VA. Best state I have ever lived in.

[TomSlick]

6. Families with trans kids need to get out of Arkansas as quickly as possible.

Those of us with grown kids or no kids will stay and fight the fight.

People must do what's best for their kids. They should go in peace.

[Aristus]

8. Move to Western Washington!

We love you!

You will be welcome!

[Laffy Kat]

12. Or Colorado!

We are not perfect---yet. Plus, we have a gay Governor, legal recreational weed, and beautiful weather (sort of).

[colsohlibgal]

10. How About Live And Let Live Republicans?

They seem so absorbed by petty bigotry.

Nobody, would be my guess, changes Gender on a whim.

[roamer65]

13. Ann Arbor, Michigan.

We have legal pot and went 72 pct for Biden in Washtenaw County.