Protect Trans Healthcare & LGBTQ+ Civil Rights
Right now:
Pressure Congress to Remove Anti-Trans and Anti-LGBTQ+ Provisions from the Federal Funding Bill
Background:
As of October 1st, the Federal Government has shut down because the annual budget bill has not been passed. This bill includes:
A ban on “any federal funds” supporting gender-affirming care for transgender people, at any age (You can read more here);
Gutting protections for LGBTQ+ foster children;
Imposing a nationwide ban on transgender participation in sports;
And prohibiting Pride flags in public buildings.
The Republican party is holding our country hostage in an effort to hurt our most vulnerable citizens.
What You Can do Right Now:
Call and email our elected officials to tell them they must keep the government shut down unless the anti-trans provisions are dropped from all spending bills.
You can do this quickly and conveniently via the 5Calls website, even if you don’t live in Oregon!
If you would rather do it with a more personal touch….
If you live in the Eugene/Springfield area here are your Congressional representatives and their contact information:
Representative Val Hoyle (D-OR):
DC Office: 202-225-6416
Eugene office: 541-465-6732
Email: Via her websiteSenator Jeff Merkley (D-OR):
DC Office: 202-224-3753
Eugene Office: 541-465-6750
Salem Office: 503-362-8102
Email: Via his websiteSenator Ron Wyden (D-OR):
DC Office: 202-224-5244
Eugene Office: 541-431-0229
Salem Office: 503-589-4555
Email: Via his website
Here with a script (PDF) that you can use when contacting these representatives.
Why You Should Care:
Passing this budget bill, in its current form, would mean blocking federal funding for life-saving therapy for transgender people.
The bill’s provisions would go beyond just affecting Medicaid recipients. One measure would prohibit private health-insurance plans sold via Healthcare.gov from considering gender-affirming care as an “essential health benefit” (Source: cms.gov). They seek to deny the clinical necessity of gender-affirming care as it exists for millions of transgender people - on the basis of bigotry, not science.
This is blatant discrimination, being carried out to deny the humanity of transgender people under the excuse of “slashing the federal budget.” Denying basic, life-saving healthcare for a marginalized group of citizens is not an acceptable way to decrease federal spending.
We cannot allow our government to deny the basic civil rights of anyone, no matter how marginalized, and especially on the basis of their marginalized status. If we allow our government to selectively deny civil rights as a matter of convenience, that puts us all in jeopardy of losing our own rights when they become inconvenient to those in power.
Their excuse of "decreasing the federal deficit” also holds little water when they are also adding trillions to that deficit via tax cuts for billionaires.