Support Transgender Rights to Protect Democracy and Human Rights

I am writing to urge you to oppose legislation that restricts transgender rights and access to gender-affirming care. The growing wave of anti-trans policies represents more than discrimination against one community. It signals a broader authoritarian trend that threatens democratic values and human rights for everyone. Across Europe and globally, governments are increasingly using gender norms as justification for restrictive policies. The 2025 UK Supreme Court ruling that defined womanhood based solely on biological sex, potentially denying transgender women access to single-sex spaces, exemplifies how biologically essentialist arguments are being weaponized. These same types of arguments have historically been used to oppress women and other marginalized groups. When we allow the state to dictate who qualifies for basic dignity and access based on rigid definitions, we open the door to authoritarianism. Gender-affirming care saves lives. Data consistently shows this, yet restrictions on such care, particularly for transgender youth, continue to proliferate under the guise of fighting so-called gender ideology or wokeness. Transgender and gender non-conforming people face disproportionate violence and marginalization. Dehumanizing rhetoric that reduces people to the trans erases their ordinary humanity and makes them targets. The struggle for justice is intersectional. Attacks on transgender rights are connected to the marginalization of migrants, refugees, people with disabilities, Indigenous communities, and other historically oppressed groups. Divide-and-rule tactics destabilize communities that could otherwise support each other in defending democratic freedoms. I ask you to stand firmly against any legislation that restricts transgender rights or access to gender-affirming care. Support policies that affirm the dignity and humanity of all people. Protecting transgender rights is protecting freedom, democracy, and the principle that government should not dictate who deserves basic human rights. Our communities are stronger when we resist authoritarianism together.