The Atlanta Pride Committee released their statement on Georgia's Anti-Trans Legislation and Efforts of Trans Erasure today. Click below for the official Release.
APC Statement on Anti-Trans Legislation and Efforts of Trans Erasure For Immediate Release: February 24, 2022
In response to recent efforts of Trans erasure and anti-Trans legislation, we, the Atlanta Pride Committee - Georgia's oldest non-profit agency serving the LGBTQ+ community - release the following statement:
'On Wednesday, February 22, The Georgia Senate Committee passed a bill limiting treatment for Trans-identifying youth under 18 - specifically denying medical professionals from giving Trans youth access to medical care and specific medication that aligns with their gender identity.
The State of Georgia has four progressing bills that explicitly target Trans healthcare and educational resources. If successfully passed, Trans youth and communities will meritoriously not have comparable protection under the law or proper medical care. This unswervingly displaces many Trans and Queer people from proper pursuits of life, liberty, and happiness.
There are numerous advancing bills throughout the country seeking to limit the ability to change gender information on official documentation- such as driver's licenses and birth certificates, access to medically-necessary health care for Trans-identified people, and prevention of Trans and gender-fluid students from participating in school activities, alongside increased censorship of LGBTQ+ narratives and issues.
Atlanta Pride Committee is in solidarity with all, those impacted and any disenfranchised, Trans people- as the Trans community contributes to the essence of Queer excellence. APC prioritizes Trans liberation, justice, and pursuits of equality.
APC specifically echoes that Queer liberation is intertwined with the liberation of all Trans-identifying people in Atlanta and everywhere and is devoted to the work and spaces required of us. APC is engaged in people of color (POC) liberation, improving Trans visibility and equality, healthcare access, and gender justice.
We call on all allies to uplift and amplify Trans histories and voices to support the Trans community authentically. APC invites other Atlanta and Georgia organizations to join us as we identify and create solutions for all Trans lives.
Steered by APC's mission and community initiatives and efforts - we ask lawmakers not to contribute to determinations of Trans erasure of culture, youth, expression, and spaces. We charge our audiences to elevate their understanding of the Trans community by engaging Trans histories and voices.
While those in power continue to contribute to anti-Trans efforts and erasure of Trans voices deliberately, APC will continue the collective work of equity and queer visibility."
"Justice work is complex and imperfect and incremental, built on past victories and by seeing the best intentions in one another. Every step counts." ― Precious Brady-Davis, I Have Always Been Me: A Memoir