Let’s see what kind of caustic hateful Background Radiation has my dander up this week.

First, before I get into anything else, we’ve had another death in the transgender community. Pink News reports: Black trans woman killed in the US is the 16th recorded this year. That’s more than two murders a month. Her name was TeeTee Dangerfield, and she was murdered in Atlanta, GA. We have this happen so much, I have no idea, anymore, how to even say my thoughts are with her family and friends, and I hope they find justice for her. I never stop being horrified at the sheer number of deaths and attacks on the community.

In the brighter side of the news, the backlash against Trump’s anti-transgender tweets are still coming in.

Reuters had a poll that showed the 58% of Americans opposed the exclusion of transgender people in the military: Majority of Americans support transgender military service. This article really breaks it down by demographic. Conservatives are split on this one, I guess individually they have to ask themselves if they support active duty soldiers more than they hate transgender people.

Even gay conservatives are jumping off that sinking ship. Gay candidate for Trump administration post withdraws over trans military ban. John Fluharty, who is gay and Republican, withdrew himself from consideration for a senior position in the Department of Homeland Security. He then made a nice statement about it being because of the anti-transgender tweets the President sent out. I may not understand LGBT folks that are conservative politically, but it’s nice they have my back.

45 Senators Pen Letter Urging Defense Secretary Not to Implement Trans Ban. A bipartisan group of 45 senators wrote a letter urging James Mattis, the Secretary of Defense not to implement the transgender ban. I found it noteworthy that it was bipartisan. It seems attacking active duty service members might have split the GOP quite a bit.

Even the Military Times is getting into the act by pointing out that the $8 million estimate that they are using for transgender care (which wrongly assumes all are on HRT, and need maximum surgery options) is completely dwarfed by the $294 million in erectile dysfunction drugs. See the article titled: The military spends more on giving retirees erections than on transgender troops. You know shit is getting real when the Military Times is pointing to the President’s bullshit.

Fifty-Six Retired Generals and Admirals Warn That President Trump’s Anti-Transgender Tweets, If Implemented, Would Degrade Military Readiness. I’m not sure if any of these people have ever really thought about transgender rights in their lives, but they do know unfair and ridiculous when they see it.

Finally, 19 attorneys general sent Congress a letter opposing the ban on trans soldiers. The states involved are: Hawaii, New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Washington D.C.

Back to the bad side of the news. . . Texas.

If you hadn’t heard, Texas ran headfirst into a wall, and decided to implement their own bathroom bill. This was despite some valiant efforts: Despite hours of testimony against the Texas bathroom bill, it passes. Also, Texas Senate passes bathroom bill despite overwhelming police opposition.

Additionally, a lot of businesses stepped up. The Dallas News has two articles:
Oil and gas companies — including Shell, Chevron and Exxon Mobil — come out against Texas bathroom bill
See the letter here without their annoying pop-ups
CEOs from AT&T, American Airlines, TI and BNSF join the chorus against a ‘bathroom bill’

Dallas News has some really annoying pop ups, so here is a quote regarding the businesses that did step up:

CEOs from 14 leading employers in the Dallas area, including AT&T, American Airlines and Texas Instruments, are taking a public stand against a “bathroom bill” that would discriminate against transgender people in Texas.

There is a lot of bad things happening out there, but this is the first time I can really see mainstream people coming out to defend us. Whether they are fighting Trump’s anti-transgender tweets, or Texas’ bathroom bill. It’s nice to see.

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