Opinion | GOP targeting trans youth ‘like watching a murder in slow motion’ – Washington Blade
My name is Eric Tannehill, I’m 18 years old, and I’m a trans man. I have been out as trans for approximately four years now. I started testosterone two years ago, and have been competing as a boy in sports for all four years of high school. I am a coxswain and rower for my school’s crew team (coxswains give orders and steer the boat).
A lot of anti-trans bills targeting people like me passed recently and more are being proposed. Republicans have decided that the most important thing to do in the middle of a pandemic is to take away life-saving treatment from children and ban them from playing sports. This has been painful for me. It’s like watching a murder in slow motion. I see what they’re doing and recognize that it’s going to get people killed and there’s nothing I can do but just watch as they target kids like me with a smile on their face and a Bible in hand.
My time on the men’s crew team means the absolute world to me. Without a doubt it was the best part of high school. The only reason I didn’t opt to graduate early was it would disqualify me from the crew team. My coaches and my teammates correct people when they mess up my pronouns. It’s a small thing, but that little supportive gesture is why I care so deeply for my team and why I’m willing to commit so much time and energy to the sport. Most of my friends in high school are from the crew team. It’s made me a better person because I’ve gotten to meet a more diverse group of people.
The reason I worry so much about these laws banning trans athletes is because crew saved my life. My mental health completely fell apart during my sophomore year, due mostly to a concussion that caused me to fall behind in school, the after-effects of sustained bullying I endured while we still lived in a rural red state, and my first real heartbreak. I couldn’t have combatted my depression and anxiety without my team’s support. My teammates and coaches were a constant for me when I needed them most and I will forever be grateful.
I have invested so much time, energy, and love in my crew team and they have in turn given me friendship, trust, and the strength to persevere through everything life has thrown my way. Being accepted on the men’s team reaffirmed my identity when I was most insecure. I know in the long-run high school sports don’t mean much, but for teens actively facing adversity a sports team really can prevent a tragedy.
I’m lucky. I live in the one of the most progressive parts of Virginia so I didn’t have to worry about legalized discrimination. I don’t think I would have survived if I lived in a state like Texas passing these discriminatory laws. To reiterate, the laws taking trans kids away from competing in the category that aligns with their gender identity is keeping trans kids from finding a community and does nothing but harm their mental health.
Even though I’m in a blue area I was still aware that any and all actions I made in this sport not only reflected on me but reflected on my community. I wanted to make sure that every trans athlete who came after me wouldn’t need to deal with a mistake I had made. I was an ambassador for all trans athletes that would come after me.
I can also say with absolute certainty that getting medical care saved my life. I would be dead without them. I remember the relief and sense of elation I felt when I was finally prescribed testosterone. My body had betrayed me and testosterone would both help me pass as male and would make me feel whole. The argument against this medical treatment is that kids will recklessly choose to undergo irreversible hormone therapy then go on to regret it.
I don’t know a single trans youth who has received hormone therapy without talking with multiple doctors for at least several months. For me it was more than a year of counseling before finally receiving the care I so desperately needed. It’s a choice between trusting young adults to know themselves, and doctors to do their job, versus making children miserable to the point of suicide. Call me crazy but I think I’ll take the option that’s less likely to get someone killed.
Republicans have heard stories like mine before, and know the harm they will cause. They just don’t care. I’ve been through enough active shooter drills that I already knew Republicans couldn’t care less about innocent children dying. Credit where credit is due, they are good at staying on brand and reaffirming I made the right decision to attend a Canadian university.
Republicans have decided to attack two of the things that were most important to my mental health when I was going through difficult times. It fills me with rage and sadness knowing that my trans brothers, sisters, and siblings are going to die. If there are any sponsors of these bills reading this, I hope for your sake the God you use to excuse your cruelty doesn’t exist because that means you won’t receive the eternal punishment you deserve. Just remember, Jesus was a Middle Eastern Jewish anti-capitalist and the modern image of “white Jesus” is based off of Michelangelo and DaVinci’s gay lovers.
These legislators should mind their own damn business, let kids like me compete for a plastic trophy in peace, and pay attention to trained medical professionals who actually treat trans patients. They should focus on real issues, rather than pandering to the idiots on Fox News who have never so much as met a trans person.
Eric Tannehill is an 18-year-old high school senior and trans man living in Fairfax County, Va.