cut and paste from an email I got sent to all regions yesterday (2/21/2025):
On behalf of the Trans-Librarians Advocacy Group, a group that's focused on professional advocacy for trans, nonbinary, and gender-diverse Library and Information Science (LIS) workers in Massachusetts, we hereby release the following:
During his first 30 days in office, incoming President Donald Trump has moved decisively to curtail the recognition and rights of the United States transgender community. Mass. Trans-Librarians have created two documents in response:
Our Fact Sheet on the First 30 Days of the New Administration lays out the various actions the Trump administration has taken, their immediate impacts, and their potential future implications for the trans community.
Our Personal Impact Statements collect the thoughts and experiences of ten Mass. Trans-Librarians' members as we navigate the rapidly changing landscape of our sociopolitical situation.
On February 13, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security issued a red-flag alert for the anti-trans agenda of the Trump Administration, writing that Trump’s series of executive orders “are in line with a genocidal process against the transgender community that has been emerging in the United States for over a decade. … Taken together, the Trump Administration’s executive orders related to trans people would effectively destroy, if fully implemented, trans people as a group, in whole, to summarize the text of the Genocide Convention.”
The Trump administration’s language and actions are mirrored in the extreme escalation of language and actions among politicians and our fellow citizens who feel empowered to further scaremonger, misrepresent, and dehumanize the trans community. Trans people have been blamed, with no evidence, for everything from nearly every recent mass shooting, to the results of the 2024 presidential election, to the tragic American Airlines crash in January 2025. Representative Nancy Mace has declared a personal crusade against trans people, going so far as to shout the t-slur in a Congressional hearing multiple times with no reprimand or consequences. This hostility affects marginalized people across the U.S., especially those with intersectional identities. The recent murder of Sam Nordquist–which bears all the hallmarks of a hate crime despite investigators’ refusal to acknowledge it as such–shows the intersection of anti-Blackness and transphobia in its most violent form.
Ongoing ICE raids, classroom censorship, gender policing, transphobic policy, and hate crimes are all interwoven threads within a long-extant fascist ideology in America that the Trump administration is exploiting. The constant bombardment of frightening developments is intended to make us feel overwhelmed and hopeless, but we must not let anguish prevent us from acting. In fact, taking action is a powerful source of hope and courage. Outlined below are actions you can take to show solidarity with trans people in your life and across the country:
Contact your legislative representatives, ideally by calling, emailing, and/or attending town hall meetings
Comment on U.S. passport form changes related to trans, nonbinary, and intersex people
Support trans-led and other organizations that are working to fight these executive orders, including but not limited to: ACLU, Advocates for Trans Equality, Gender Liberation Movement, Lambda Legal, PFLAG National, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and Transgender Law Center
Push back against anti-trans rhetoric in conversation at your library and in your personal life
Stay informed about issues and misinformation impacting the trans community by reading or listening to: Erin in the Morning, TransLash Media, The 19th News, Media Matters for America
Participate in efforts to preserve trans literature, landmarks and culture, federal data, and health and medical data against removal or censorship
