1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

I am writing to express my deep concern about the House Republican hearing held on Wednesday titled "Europe's Threat to American Speech and Innovation: Part II," which provided a taxpayer-funded platform for anti-transgender hate speech. This hearing featured Graham Linehan, whose activism includes comparing doctors who provide transgender healthcare to Nazis, calling actor David Tennant a "groomer" for supporting trans children, and physically assaulting a teenage transgender activist in 2024 by grabbing and throwing her phone. Congressional hearings should advance legitimate legislative purposes, not amplify eliminationist rhetoric against a vulnerable population representing less than one percent of Americans. Linehan has stated his life goal is to "help bring about" the end of gender identity recognition in society. This is not policy debate but advocacy for erasing an entire community's existence. The irony of this hearing is striking. While Republicans criticized European content laws, they ignored investigations into GOP donor Elon Musk's company for disseminating nonconsensual sexual images, including of minors, across multiple European nations. This selective outrage reveals the hearing's true purpose was not protecting speech or innovation but providing cover for discrimination. Transgender Americans deserve the same dignity, safety, and equal treatment under law as all constituents. The shift to informed consent models for transgender healthcare in the 2000s and 2010s dramatically reduced suicide rates in this community. Attacks on these evidence-based practices, amplified through congressional platforms, have real consequences for people's lives. I urge you to publicly oppose the use of congressional hearings to platform hate speech against transgender people. Refuse to participate in or support similar hearings that scapegoat vulnerable communities rather than address substantive policy concerns. Your constituents expect Congress to focus on issues that improve our lives, not manufacture crises targeting marginalized groups for political gain.