1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

You need to take action against the wave of anti-transgender legislation — over 2,000 bills proposed since 2020 — that is actively harming the mental health of transgender and gender-diverse people across this country. New research from Virginia Commonwealth University found that anxiety around anti-trans legislation drives psychological distress even more than personal experiences of discrimination, and that this harm reaches people regardless of whether they live in a trans-protective state. This isn't abstract. VCU researcher Catherine Wall put it plainly: participants viewed anti-trans legislation as "an existential threat — a threat to their very existence." People are leaving their home states, afraid to visit family, and living in constant fear of violence. Individual resilience and community support help, but Wall was clear that individual-level coping "is not going to be enough in the long term." Societal solutions are required. That means opposing discriminatory bills, protecting access to gender-affirming healthcare, and using your platform to push back on the political targeting of this community. Transgender people are not a political abstraction — they are constituents, and they are suffering. Do your job and protect them.