Written by Kairo Weber
Photo description: Erin Reed standing with her arms crossed, smiling in a black dress with small, rainbow-colored hearts on it, looking into the camera. She is leaning against a tree with a natural background of green trees.
Transgender, non-binary, intersex, and other gender diverse people face significant discrimination and hardship, and in the past several years we’ve seen an increase in anti-trans legislation and political scapegoating by conservative lawmakers. A new study demonstrates how this legislation has negatively impacted transgender youth, who make up a large portion of those who are targeted by the bills.
Despite the mounting difficulties of being trans in the U.S., the visibility of trans and gender diverse people has increased. Visibility can be used to further trans rights and acceptance, but it can also lead to increased hate and discrimination, as we are experiencing now. With increased visibility and civil rights advancements, there is social and legal backlash from those who feel threatened by changing social attitudes and norms.
Sociologists for Trans Justice (S4TJ) seeks to increase public understanding of trans, nonbinary, and intersex issues as education is integral to addressing social injustices. We oppose legislation that discriminates against transgender, non-binary, and other gender diverse people. As part of this effort, we interviewed Erin Reed, an independent transgender journalist covering anti-trans legislation across the U.S. She is trailblazing the synthesis and reporting on all things trans rights after identifying a lack of transgender resources and journalism amidst a rise in anti-trans political attacks.
Read below for the full interview with Erin, including details of her work, how allies can support the trans community, and how she cultivates trans joy.
Can you describe the work that you do, and the impact that it has on transgender issues in the United States?
I’m an independent transgender journalist. I syndicate my work at the Advocate and the Los Angeles Blade. I report on all of the LGBTQ+ legislation, moving around the United States, the major cultural moments, the big news, even worldwide now. I track all of the bills and specifically note the ways in which they impact trans and queer people’s lives, as well as cisgender, heterosexual people’s lives.
Can you tell me about why you got into this work?
Five years ago, I noted there were very few resources on how to find healthcare clinics for trans people. I myself had to drive three hours each way to go to a healthcare clinic. And I lived in the D.C. area, where there are a lot of resources. But when I first transitioned, finding out where resources were was not very accessible.
I sought out to make a map of healthcare clinics that give trans people their medical care via the informed consent process. I created something called the “Erin’s Informed Consent HRT Map,” which has, as of March 2024, been viewed around eight million times. People have used this map to find their own clinics.
Through making that map, I developed relationships with people in several states that were giving the information on the healthcare resources that were there. I started having conversations with these people about the anti-trans laws that were being proposed around the same time I made that map. I found myself increasingly becoming a source of community information. A lot of people looked at what I would post on Twitter because I would report on news through the information from the people who lived in those states. I endeavored to learn how to read bills, to learn case law around trans healthcare, and I developed relationships with legal and medical leading voices, and then just started writing. About a year and a half ago, I opened my newsletter “Erin in the Morning.” It has since become one of the top newsletters on the platform Substack. I try to tell our stories every day.
Also check out Erin’s Anti-Trans Legislative Risk Map, which is another resource she’s since developed to track states’ anti-trans laws and/or protections.
What do you think the future of trans care will look like 5 years from now?
There are so many potential developments and so many potential problems. The problems are the attacks on trans care continue unchecked and continue to increase at the rate at which they have been over the last four years. Trans care could be inaccessible to everyone. We are looking at the potential mass withdrawal of medication for the population. The reason I say that is because if some of the most intense previsions that have been proposed by presidential candidates and people in congress find their way into law, we are going to see a very large lack of availability. For instance, former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he will go after the manufacturers and the doctors for gender affirming care–at any age, he said. We’ve also seen Ken Paxton threatening to sue hormone therapy providers and manufacturers. If those efforts gain political power, this could disrupt supply for a large number of people around the globe, even. There is also the risk of gender affirming care not being covered by insurance, resulting in people losing access.
On the flip side, there are advancements in trans healthcare being made every day. There are people doing amazing work. We’ve seen new surgical techniques be developed for trans feminine and trans masculine care. We’ve seen amazing future research on things ranging up to even womb implants. These are things that people are working on right now. And so, I think we are also seeing, in a lot of states, an increase in clinics so that people can access and maintain their care more easily. We’re seeing an increase in these clinics in states that are not targeting care–about 15 to 20 of them.
We’re at a divergent point right now where we could go in one direction, we could go in another direction, or we could go in both directions where in half the country it becomes very hard to access care, and in half the country it becomes easier. I think the national legislation is the biggest threat right now.
What can allies do to help trans people during this time?
Right now, trans people are at an enormous amount of stress. We’ve got a lot of things that make our lives harder because of these laws–because of the ways we are targeted. For cisgender allies, being understanding of the stress that trans people are under and trying to ensure that the trans people in their life are getting the care that they need. Help advocate for our healthcare, especially in companies, in the workplace. Even in states that have better trans healthcare, there are often companies that are lagging behind in their healthcare coverage for trans people.
Educating yourself is really important. Making sure you are reading the material on why this care is important. Reading trans people’s own stories. Changing your media diet is a huge one. Many people grew up with a media diet that painted trans people as either victims or perpetrators of a crime, or the butt of a joke. Today, there are so many people now who are doing good work—trans content creators, trans trans authors, trans video game designers, trans actors, trans singers. Including these people in your media diet as a cisgender person makes a big difference.
Everybody has a room where they can do the most good in. The most important thing is to find where that room is. If that room is inside of a courtroom, inside of a legislative body, standing in the streets with activists, then sure that’s one thing. But that room might also be a board room, a church group—there are so many different places where you can do good and where you can move the needle. More than prescribing that someone does a very particular thing, I think the most important thing is trying to find that room. And once you find it, you’ll know what to do.
If there is one thing you could tell people who do not know much about being transgender, what would it be?
Trans people live rich lives. Because of the ways we are being targeted right now, we get boiled down to only our transness. I understand why; a lot of us have to center that in our lives right now. But also, trans people are doing amazing things. I know so many trans people who are making cutting edge technology, who are writing new books, who are painting and drawing and producing amazing works of art. We just want to live our lives just like anybody else. We struggle with the very basic things that people take for granted, like being able to use the public bathroom without thinking about it, or being able to apply for a job without worrying that you are going to be denied that job because of the way that you dress or the way that people perceive you. I hope that cisgender people realize that we are fully formed human beings, and often after our transitions, we feel even more fully formed. And getting to know us as people, rather than as just trans people, is very important.
How do you cultivate trans joy amidst all the hate you report on?
Number one, young people are going to save the f***ing world. I often hear about the amazing things that young people are doing to advance the dignity of their trans peers. Last year’s trans day of visibility had the largest marches around the United States, and it was entirely led by under 26-year-olds. I see school walk-outs in Virginia and Florida and Tennessee and Kentucky, and whenever I see those things, I know that this is how things change.
Number two, I have an amazing fiance. My partner, representative Zooey Zephyr, and I spend so much time together just enjoying each other’s presence. I like to hike with her, live with her, take care of her kid with her. Harking back on what I said earlier, we are fully formed people, and allowing our transness to exist, while also allowing our fully formed selves to exist at the same time, helps me cultivate joy.
The last thing is that people constantly send me messages about how my work has helped them. Those things help change things for me.
Can you describe one of the most hopeful experiences you have had while doing your work?
In early 2023, I received a message from a 17-year-old transgender girl, and she said “Hey Erin, I love your work, it’s so important to me. I’m from Louisiana, I went to this high school–” And I’m from Louisiana myself. I went to a similar high school almost 20 years ago, only 20 minutes away from the one that she mentioned. And I remember my experience at my high school… I was bullied, I was harassed, I was abused by my peers. They targeted me because of my mannerisms, my subconscious displaying of my identity. Things were very hard back then. And she says “I just wanted to let you know that I was nominated for the homecoming court.” And that made me cry. Here’s this girl, who’s not only accepted, but celebrated and loved by her peers. There are pictures of her dad driving her around a football stadium, and she’s waving to everyone in a dress. That’s how things change. That’s how we get through this.
