ST LU

As a survivor of bullying, I vehemently oppose HB1442. HB1442 egregiously ignores the hardships that the trans community faces. It ignores that self-harm is alarmingly common for trans youth. And most damning of all, it is a dereliction of the state's duties to protect ALL of its citizens. The trans community demonstrably faces overwhelming discrimination. In renting, in the workplace, in school, and even at home they are targets of hate and abuse. For many, public spaces are the ONLY safety they can obtain, and this bill would strip them of even that. This bill also ignores bullying. My whole youth I was told there was no tolerance for bullying in school, which was a provable lie as I can attest. This bill wouldn't even afford the illusion that the state cares enough about the vulnerable to do the bare minimum to provide their safety. This discussion isn't about the validity of the trans community's identities. That has already been settled. When the first slur was tossed, the first law against them written, the first discussion about their place in society we collectively agreed, regardless of how we felt about them, that they were a people. And with that personhood comes an OBLIGATION to protect them as any other minority group within society would be. HB1442 suggests that the end of that discussion is to isolate them further, to police their mere existence, and to treat trans identity as a problem the state must correct rather than a lived experience. To pass this bill would be to fail at every level of statehood. To deny freedom, dignity, the pursuit of happiness, and even basic humanity only to gain nothing but harsher policing in return. I oppose HB1442 and strongly recommend this committee vote ITL