The right’s blood thirst for trans people will never be satisfied

In an age when reactionaries need increasingly sinister conspiracy theories to thrive on, their obsession with trans people will only get more dangerous

Earlier this wee a controversy erupted on right wing social media about The Trevor Project, a long-standing LGBTQ suicide hotline that has helped countless young queer teens deal with suicidal thoughts following school bullying or abusive parenting.

In order for any teen suicide prevention hotline to work, calls must be kept private from parents if the teen likes it that way. It’s standard protocol for any organization dedicated to fighting abuse. Domestic violence hotlines don’t go telling abusive spouses that the abused partner is seeking outside assistance. Same with teen hotlines. It’s common sense.

But to modern day reactionary conservatives, this is an outrage. They claim this is dangerous and constitutes “grooming.” It’s a gross distortion of reality meant to drive outrage and clicks.

The Trevor Project was founded in the run up to the release of the film “Trevor” on HBO in 1998. The film told the story of a 13 year old gay boy who struggles with suicidal thoughts and filmmakers wanted to include a resource for teens who may find themselves in a similar situation.

But upon investigation, they realized that no such resource existed. This was just 24 years ago. So they set up their own, establishing the Trevor Lifeline before the film’s air date.

Now two and a half decades later, conservatives are suddenly on the attack against the organization. And it’s driven by transphobia. Conservatives have come to believe that any affirmation of the identities of trans kids is akin to pedophilia and “grooming.” They got to that point by believing a whole collection of other increasingly sinister conspiracy theories about trans people over the years.

It’s getting quite dangerous to be trans or even be a trans ally in the US and the UK. The rhetoric has gotten to the point where a bombing of a youth gender clinic wouldn’t surprise me at all. It already happened to abortion clinics, and with the propaganda campaign against trans lives well under way, it’s only a matter of time.

Conservatives have realized that transphobia sells. But they’ve also realized they need to keep evolving to ever more insane and dangerous theories in order to keep the interest of their bigoted followings. That’s how you get a completely anodyne organization like the Trevor Project coming under the direct fire of right wing media over completely standard abuse hotline practices.

It seems conservatives want to turn back the clock on 24 years of valuable Trevor Project work, all to support their drive for parents to further abuse their trans kids.

It’s sick and needs to stop.