Transgender Rights Are Human Rights

The Arkansas Republican-led group of lawmakers should be ashamed of themselves for attacking the state’s transgender youth & passing the most extreme anti-transgender law in the country. History will catch up with them but in the meantime 25 state senators & 71 state representatives have placed a moral stain with their own bigotry above the lives of children. Winnie Stachelberg, Center for American Progress Executive Vice President for External Affairs stated, “A Republican-led group of lawmakers in Arkansas voted to put children’s lives at risk. Transgender youth, their parents & allies, the entire medical community & the state’s own Republican governor have all decried this law as abhorrent, immoral, dangerous & extreme. None of that mattered to state legislators hell-bent on antagonizing children.” On a positive note the Miami Heat & the eSport giant Misfits Gaming have joined the growing list of sports leaders & business organizations condemning bans that would prevent transgender children from playing sports in school. The National Women’s Soccer League, the NCAA & women’s sports legends in basketball, soccer & wrestling are publicly opposing blanket bans targeting trans youth. Also dozens of major corporations have spoken out as well including Airbnb, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Hilton, IHG Hotels, Instacart, Lyft, Microsoft, SunLife, Uber & others arguing that the business community has “consistently communicated to lawmakers at every level that such laws have a negative effect on our employees, our customers, our competitiveness & state & national economies” Nadine Smith, Equality Florida Executive Director concluded, “We applaud the Heat & Misfits & the legion of sports & business leaders for standing on the right side of history -- on the side of transgender young people.”