The Monday Roundup | September 22, 2025

INTRO

This has been an exceptionally brutal week. I'm writing this after processing what feels like an endless stream of attacks on our community.

I know many of you are feeling what I'm feeling right now: a bone-deep exhaustion that comes from watching systematic dehumanization unfold in real time. For trans folks especially, these headlines are our lived reality, our safety, our basic right to exist being negotiated by people who see us as expendable.

The mental and spiritual cost of staying informed about these attacks while continuing to show up is immense. I want to name that cost because it's real, and because acknowledging it is part of how we sustain ourselves through this moment.

This week's escalation makes clear why independent journalism matters more than ever. If this roundup helps you stay informed and prepared to advocate for your patients and clients, consider upgrading to a paid subscription to support the work to keep you connected to the news, research, and the broader community of providers fighting for affirming care.

Your work as healthcare providers, researchers, and wellness professionals has never been more critical. The attacks are designed to isolate and intimidate, but they're also revealing our collective strength.

NEWS

This has been a brutal week for trans and gender-diverse people, marked by an unprecedented escalation in both rhetoric and policy attacks that deserve our focused attention. The coordinated nature of these assaults—from federal investigations into patient records to calls for mass institutionalization—signals a dangerous moment that demands response.

Constitutional Overrides and International Attacks

Premier Danielle Smith in Alberta, Canada plans to invoke the Charter's notwithstanding clause to shield three anti-trans laws from constitutional challenge, while advocacy groups vow to continue their legal fight despite this unprecedented override of Charter protections.

In the UK over 650 organizations warn that new draft guidance on single-sex spaces is "unworkable" and threatens business operations. And the Guardian notes an alarming rise in violence against intersex people in Europe, with the EU finding 34% faced physical or sexual assault and 57% underwent non-consensual medical treatments.

Medical Privacy Under Siege

The federal assault on privacy intensified as subpoenas targeting medical records of transgender minors raise alarming medical privacy concerns, though a Massachusetts judge blocked the Department of Justice from accessing sensitive health information at Boston Children's Hospital.

Meanwhile, a Missouri appeals court has given the state attorney general a pathway to access patient records from Washington University's Transgender Center, continuing a pattern of judicial erosion of medical privacy protections.

Institutional Extortion and Censorship

Trump's proposed UCLA settlement reveals the administration's blueprint for dismantling gender-affirming care through billion-dollar extortion tactics that could eliminate trans healthcare across California's massive UC system.

In an even more alarming turn of events, the Michigan GOP has proposed a bill banning online depictions of trans people under the guise of anti-pornography legislation. The provision would prohibit the distribution of any content that “includes a disconnection between biology and gender by an individual of 1 biological sex imitating, depicting, or representing himself or herself to be of the other biological sex.”

Escalating Rhetoric and Criminalization

Perhaps most concerning is the massive escalation in Republicans' anti-trans rhetoric this week, including calls for involuntary commitment of trans people and proposed FBI classification systems that would criminalize trans identities.

As we process this week's events, I want to acknowledge what so many of us are feeling: exhaustion, fear, and the weight of watching systematic dehumanization unfold in real time. For those of us who are trans, each headline represents not just policy but lived reality—the erosion of our safety, dignity, and basic right to exist. The mental and spiritual cost of this work cannot be understated, and we must tend to our own wellbeing even as we fight for our communities.

GOOD READS

• How Social Media Fuels Both Hate and Hope for Trans People - Examining the double-edged nature of social media platforms that simultaneously amplify anti-trans rhetoric while providing crucial spaces for trans joy and community building

• On Surviving Trans Genocide - A powerful reflection on trans resilience in the face of escalating fascist rhetoric, encouraging community members to hold onto past joys while working toward future hope

• How to stop doom scrolling & protect your peace, according to LGBTQ+ mental health experts - LGBTQ+ therapists offer practical strategies for managing mental health during political attacks, emphasizing community building, limiting social media intake, and distinguishing between being informed versus being obsessed with constant news consumption.

RESEARCH

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