Coulrophobia (COOl-ruh-FOE-bee-uh) is a fear (phobia) of clowns. Children and adults who fear clowns may experience extreme reactions when they see clowns in person or view pictures or videos of clowns. Someone with a fear of clowns is coulrophobic.
When I was young, my great thrill was Hellraiser. I didn’t understand the movie at all, I was too young to get the points, but the images were mindboggling frightening even though I knew they were fake movie magic. But in my mind they could be real, and that was all that mattered. I put away my incredulity for the thrill of the emotion.
Like many people, it wasn’t that I was afraid so much, but that I wasn’t! I was thrilled, scared, laughing that I survived it like a near miss from a speeding bus and I wanted to feel that thrill again. I wanted my friends to know how brave I was, how I could look into the face of destruction and laugh.
In point of fact, it was actually a movie by Michael Keaton that I found the most frightening thing I’ve ever watched as a movie. Pacific Heights was horror show for me as it showed a nice couple building a home and renting out apartments, only for one man to come along with a plan of greed, terrorism and theft seeking to steal what they worked so hard to make.
He seemed like a straight forward person, if a somewhat intense and a bit strange individual. There were no drooling fangs or chainsaws, and that violation of what seems safe frightened me more than I can say. It was realistic. It was very very possible. And worse, the homeowner’s destruction came at their own actions. Here I am in my later 50’s and it still bothers me. I won’t watch the movie again.
In the same way I found such fear in Michael Keaton’s character in Pacific Heights, the fear of clowns stems from the unpredictable nature they represent. Their image says one thing, their actions say another, but somewhere inside exists a nature that makes no sense. Are they a sad clown, a happy clown, a juggler? You just never know until a comically oversized cleaver guts you and he plays with your innards. Too dark? They laugh at your surprise, they mock your confusion, they change reality on a whim and you never know if they are lying or not.
It is that element of unpredictability that frightens many of us while emboldening others like a rollercoaster ride of “what if”.
I have made it into my 50’s without the fear of clowns, but that has changed. I don’t know what the clowns will do. Will it simply be uncomfortable, embarassing, or physically and financially devastating.
No matter how popular the clown is, he is still a clown. But, we have lost the ability to fear the unknown because the clown told us we were the smart ones. We lost the ability to fear the results of thrill seeking because the clown told us the people who warn us about it were fake. We don’t care about the truth because the truth isn’t near as fun as the power the lies give us. Us? Who is the “us”?
It is my belief and opinion that this latest group of clowns are seeking to pillage the money from the taxpayers and destroy the services the government provides the middle and lower class citizens. For anecdotal proof I offer Louis DeJoy, the postmaster Trump emplaced who set out to ruin the post office by publicly destroying the irreplaceable sorting machines, underpaying the workers and refusing to fill vacant needed positions, only to have the Republicans in Congress question him on why he can’t run the post office efficiently and speculate it should be abolished. These people worship power as their god and crave money as their drug, they think long-term gains and have no compunctions on who they hurt to take what they want. Many of Trump’s first acts have been to remove the inspector generals, to emplace the easily manipulated and underqualified, line edit off the constitution and flaunt the rule of law while the fools cheer.
Hugs All. Randy
Here’s the latest on key Trump picks to join his administration care of The Hill:
The Senate unanimously confirmed former Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as America’s 72nd secretary of State.
The vote came in on Trump’s inauguration day, cementing the first member of the president’s Cabinet just as he assumed office.
Rubio’s seat in the Senate will be filled by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.
John Ratcliffe, Trump’s former director of national intelligence, will lead the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in his second term.
After a largely cordial hearing, the Senate Intelligence Committee advanced his nomination with a 14-3 vote. The full chamber confirmed him 74-25, as 21 members who caucus with Democrats voted alongside every present Republican.
After Rubio, Ratcliffe’s confirmation puts half of Trump’s national security team in place in his first week in office.
The Senate on Thursday advanced Hegseth’s nomination to lead the Pentagon on a largely party-line, 51-49 vote.
That sets up a likely Friday evening final confirmation vote.
Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) voted against Hegseth.
Hegseth was the first of Trump’s Cabinet picks to appear before a Senate committee in the week ahead of his inauguration. The former Fox News host has been one of the president’s most controversial choices, drawing sharp criticism from Democrats over his qualifications, views on women in combat and allegations of infidelity and excessive drinking, which he denies.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, went before senators last week after an initial delay to her hearing.
Noem has been vocal about immigration and border issues, though the Mount Rushmore State is far from the U.S-Mexico line. She was floated as a possible running mate for Trump before a controversial anecdote from her memoir appeared to dull her chances.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Monday advanced Noem by a largely bipartisan 13-2 vote. Senate Republicans hoped to confirm her the week of Trump’s inauguration, and a cloture vote is expected Friday evening.
Russell Vought is on track to be Trump’s next director of the Office of Management and Budget, reprising first-term role.
Democrats grilled Vought during in two hearings about his ties to Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a second Trump term.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-7 on Monday to advance the would-be budget chief. He also went before the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday.
Scott Bessent, the billionaire founder and CEO of hedge fund Key Square Group, is Trump’s nominee to lead the Treasury, overseeing U.S. financial security.
The Senate Finance Committee voted 16-11 on Tuesday to advance Bessent, teeing up a floor vote. Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) notably bucked party lines to join Republicans in backing the nomination.
Bessent would be the first openly LGBTQ Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate under a Republican president.
Pam Bondi, Florida’s former attorney general, is Trump’s second choice to lead the Department of Justice after his initial pick, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) withdrew from consideration amid controversy.
Bondi was a senior adviser on the defense team for Trump’s first impeachment and has backed Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
She appeared last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where she was grilled by Democrats over Trump’s potential influence over a Bondi-led DOJ. A committee meeting to advance her nomination initially slated for Wednesday has been postponed.
The Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced Doug Burgum (R) by an 18-2 vote, putting the former North Dakota governor on track to lead the Interior Department.
Burgum, who ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, faced Democratic questions about the new administration’s controversial climate stances, though the hearing was largely cordial.
If confirmed to the post, Burgum would also be in charge of Trump’s new “Council of National Energy.”
Former Wisconsin congressman Sean Duffy, who would oversee national transportation systems and infrastructure as Transportation Secretary, was unanimously advanced by his Senate panel.
He told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee that, if confirmed, he’d dig into issues around Boeing and buck pressure to interfere with Tesla – the company helmed by top Trump ally Elon Musk.
An alum of Trump’s first administration, Scott Turner was previously executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. For the president’s second term, he’s been tapped to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The former NFL player appeared last week before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and was advanced with a 13-11 vote.
Chris Wright, the founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, is Trump’s controversial pick to lead the Energy Department amid Trump’s pledges to “drill, baby, drill” and roll back environmental regulations.
The Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 15-5 to advance him on Thursday.
If confirmed to the post, Wright will also serve on a newly formed “Council of National Energy” led by Burgum.
Former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin (R) went before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last week in his effort to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, and he advanced in an 11-8 vote on Thursday.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) was the only Democrat voting in favor of moving Zeldin forward.
In nominating Zeldin, the president promised that his pick will “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards.”
Trump’s pick to represent the U.S. in the United Nations is Elise Stefanik, an outspoken Trump ally and defender of Israel who went before senators in the Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.
Senate Democrats appeared ahead of the hearing to be warming up to the nominee despite concerns about how the new administration views the international organization, after Trump moved on Day One to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate agreement.
Former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) is Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, overseeing the body tasked with providing health care and other benefits to former members of the military.
A vocal Trump ally and defender, Collins served as counsel for Trump after the 2020 presidential election, as Trump questioned Georgia’s election results.
The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs advanced him by an 18-1 vote, with the lone dissent coming from Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).
Brooke Rollins, a former White House aide in Trump’s first administration, is set to appear Thursday before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who ran an independent bid for president in 2024 before endorsing Trump, is on tap to helm the Health and Human Services Department.
But the vaccine skeptic has faced pushback from public health experts as senators ready to review the nomination.
A hearing before the Senate Finance Committee was scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 29, and an appearance before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday, Jan. 30.
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) is Trump’s controversial pick to lead the U.S. intelligence community, and her process through the Senate has faced delays after Democrats said they didn’t have the full slate of background checks and other paperwork needed to move forward.
The former Democrat’s path to confirmation could be in trouble over her past support for Edward Snowden, a meeting with now-deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and other controversial comments about Ukraine and Russia.
A hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee was scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 30.
Howard Lutnick, chair and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, is Trump’s pick for Commerce Secretary. Lutnick’s hearing was also reportedly held up my paperwork delays, but he’s set to appear before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) would serve as administrator of Trump’s second-term Small Business Administration. She was previously rumored to be Trump’s pick for secretary of Agriculture before the role went to Rollins.
Loeffler was scheduled to appear before the Senate Small Business and Leadership Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
Linda McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, and she’s his pick for Education secretary in his second tenure. She’s chair of the board at America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank, and served on his transition team. Politico reported earlier this month that McMahon’s hearing was waiting on paperwork delays.
Former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), who flipped her Oregon district in the midterms but lost reelection in November, is Trump’s pick to lead the Labor Department. Her nomination was taken by some as a signal that Trump’s second administration could have a more receptive stance to unions.
Jamieson Greer, an aide in the trade office during Trump’s first term, has been nominated as U.S. trade representative. The president has said Greer “played a key role” with tariffs and other moves in his first term.
Last night I had gone to bed earlier than Ron, my husband as is normal. I slept on my side of the bed and Tupac slept on Ron’s side against Ron’s pillows. We have two small car type pillows and we normally put one down against Ron’s pillows with a towel over them for Tupac to lay on. He sometimes has incontinence of his bladder and at the end of the time length of his drops he tends to get drips from his anus. We are not sure if he just gets into something outside that causes it or it is his drops preventing it as Ron is not great at keeping track of the drops or his spotting.
So when Ron came to bed he started to pull back his blanket and sheets only to realize Tupac had urinated a lot. Again not his fault, he does this when deep asleep sometimes. He is old and badly injured on his lower back end. We think he got hit by a golf cart because he is terrified by them. So Ron and I changed the bed at 10 pm last night.
Ron has gone out to visit with a nurse he worked with and I started washing the sheet and blankets from last night. As I lifted the bedding up to put it in the washer the smell and sight of a pee soaked circle right in my face triggered first one and then more memories. I lost track of time, I was that boy having been peed on while on my mat in the hallway, I was the boy so proud of his first bed to be forced to beg to drink a teen male’s urine rather than have it on my first bed at age 8 … only to have them do it to me anyway. To have to kneel or stand as the males peed on my pants or in them knowing I would be given public punishment by the adopting parents for peeing myself. Forced to accept them doing to me something I had no way to stop, too small and too weak to stop to do anything, and then suffering the public punishment in front of them as they laughed and mocked me with the approval of the adopting parents.
I went to the bathroom next to the washer / dryer and threw up in the toilet. Once done with that I just sat there on the floor and cried. A damned 62 year old man, once a decorated enlisted military man who served in two branches of the service, sitting on the bathroom floor with my back to the sink cabinet sobbing for remembered past pains, hurts, and emotions I can never seem to make stay away but resurface again and again and again into eternity. They tear at me, destroy me it seems like every time.
Finally I was able to calm down. Ron was gone so I had to deal with no support. Yes I could have called Randy but I did not have my phone and even the thought to find it was something I couldn’t manage. Damn even as I try to type this I keep breaking out in tears. I sometimes wonder if the living abusers ever feel bad over what they did to me? But I know not, they were too well schooled and inducted into hate by their parents. So I finished putting stuff in the laundry, kept drying my eyes and blowing my nose.
When I got back to my Pink Palace office … which I will be leaving soon for a grand better brighter room, I took the dry up nasal spray and sat down to write this. I struggled as always … should I burden my friends with it … Well they did not do this it is not their fault. Hey they are really good people I shouldn’t throw this dirt on them and soil them with my own past it is not their fault!
These people don’t deserve to have these thoughts in their head like you do, give them a fuck break from your whining you piece of damaged shit the voice of my adoptive father screams in my head! It rings so loud along with the other names called me. The worst were when he was angry or during the abuse. But his general feeling about me he beat into me. Now I am so tired. I want to quit. I want it all to end. I want to give up.
But there is joy in my life I force myself to remember. I have my wonderful husband of nearly 35 year. I have a home, and enough income to survive. I have good things in my life. But they only cover the screams of the abused child I was, even raped after I came home from the military by them until I was able to escape to my own home and then to the safety of Ron’s protection from them.
Thank you for letting me write this. As always it is a horrible fight to do it, it is like being abused all over again to describe it. But the process of doing that, of voicing the hurt makes is so much less, drives it back into the holes it hides into. I need to write to get it out of me. I am so grateful there are people who understand this and willing to listen as I do, taking unto themselves their own memories my writing may trigger. I am so sorry I might do that to others, to hurt them. But it is the only way I know to get some relief myself. So I thank you all greatly. Hugs.
I like this person and his teachings. Clearly. In truth had he been the one to save me as a 17 yr old beaten boy hiding in his barn I think he may have still sent me to a church school to protect me but he wouldn’t have then expected me to go on and become a priest in their religion. I couldn’t tell my savior who wanted that from me why I rejected his strong demand / offer and instead went into the military was that I was gay. I had accepted it to myself. I was well versed enough in the acts of it due to my abuse to know that along with my internal emotions about guys vs women that the acts themselves did not repulse me. Just the way they were forced on me. Remember I had been forced to please females as well as males since I was 3 years old and I understood my attractions were to males. I was very gay. Instead I think he would have asked me my goals and I would have had to tell him the mystical parts of the religion I had issues with … but the reason I need to withdraw was I was gay. If he responded as he did in my comment to him, then I would have stayed in his congregation. Not believing the magic parts of the religion but the community and acceptance that their god has for those different. Rev. Ed Trevors admits he doesn’t preach facts, he preaches faith, and much of what he stresses is things as a humanest I can fully endorse.
I do wonder with his … more violent past if he had found a badly beaten very thin small 17 year old boy who told him he was being abuse if he would have done more than force the parents … well in their mind’s owner of the boy to let him leave. But again maybe that is my hopes / emotions talking over my understanding of reality. Hugs
Has Oklahoma already become a theocracy? Is the will of the people not important, or only the doctrines of the fundamentalist Christ the majority of these people belong to so their god will be happy is important. The voters don’t matter, the wants and needs of those who elect the lawmakers don’t matter, only pleasing their one version of a god out of 1100 other versions of god. To hell with the rights of the people, to hell with the instruction of the woke hippy Jesus, just push the hates and desires of white males cis straight males to dominate and run everything. As Roger says if they win how long will they start warring with each other for the top positions of speaking for their god? Hugs
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From Oklahoma GOP state Rep. Dusty Deevers:
Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin, announced on Tuesday a bold slate of eight legislative measures aimed at restoring moral sanity in Oklahoma. Together, these bills set a course for pushing back against the moral decay foisted upon Oklahoma by the far-left’s march through our institutions to destroy the moral foundations upon which the United States and Christian Civilization had long rested.
“Sadly, the left’s century-long assault on morality and decency has been so successful that some have come to accept as normal a society that is drowning in hardcore pornography, prenatal homicide, and sexual performances for children. None of this is normal. Each one of these evils is a result of a policy choice to not stand for what we know is right. Opposing these evils does not mean we are extremists. It means we are sane,” Deevers said.
“Contrary to what the left would have us believe, it doesn’t have to be this way. We can and should imagine and move toward a society that celebrates virtue in the public square rather than vice. We can restore normalcy, decency, and morality; we can protect the most vulnerable, restore a high view of marriage, and shield children from explicit material that can warp their innocent minds. We simply must have the courage to stand against the most radical and degenerate elements of the far-left.”
A sampling from Deever’s bills:
SB456 – The Abolition of Abortion Act
SB456 seeks to protect the lives of all preborn children in Oklahoma by closing the self-managed abortion loophole. While clinics may be prohibited from performing abortions, pro-life laws currently being enforced allow mothers to order abortion pills online and administer them herself. Recent research from the Foundation to Abolish Abortion shows that an estimated 3,274 self-managed abortions are taking place annually in Oklahoma.
SB593 – Prohibiting Pornography in Oklahoma
The bill prohibits pornography in general, providing for criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison for production, distribution, or possession. It also provides heightened 10-to-30-year criminal penalties for organized pornography trafficking. “Pornography is both degenerate material and a highly addictive drug,” Deevers said. “It ruins marriages, ruins lives, destroys innocence, warps young people’s perception of the opposite sex, turns women into objects, turns men into objects, degrades human dignity, and corrodes the moral fabric of society. Any decent society will stand against this plague with the full weight of the law.”
SB550 – Prohibiting Drag Performances for Children
SB550 would ensure that Oklahoma kids are not subjected to adult cabaret performances including Drag Queen Story Hour. Under the provisions of the bill, the performer would be subject to a prison sentence of one-to-five years, while the organizer of the event would face up to one year behind bars.
SB228 – The Covenant Marriage Act
The Covenant Marriage Act would allow for couples in Oklahoma to opt into a covenant marriage, based on the traditional understanding of marriage as a binding legal contract with meaningful vows to one another. Covenant marriages would only be able to be dissolved in cases of abuse, adultery, or abandonment. Couples who opt into a covenant marriage would be eligible for a $2,500 tax credit.
SB829 – Prohibiting No-Fault Divorce
This bill would end no-fault divorce in Oklahoma by removing “incompatibility” as a justification for divorce, leaving abandonment, gross neglect, extreme cruelty, habitual drunkenness, insanity for a period of five years, adultery, unknown pregnancy, and fraudulent contract as the available justifications. It also establishes that the at-fault parent must pay restitution to the victims of divorce–that is, the children–in the form of a trust fund that they get access to when they turn 18.
Deever’s appeared here in January 2024 when he first tried to make viewing porn and sexting a consenting person a felony.
In March 2024, he declared during a Oklahoma House floor speech that all federal regulations are “against God’s law.”
In September 2024, he declared that people who vote for Kamala Harris are “possessed by demons.”
As you’ve probably already guessed, Deever’s is a pastor.
- by Matthew S. Bajko, Assistant Editor
- Wednesday January 22, 2025
Logan Casey, left, of the Movement Advancement Project, and Steven Hobaica, Ph.D., with The Trevor Project, worked on a report looking at LGBTQ+ youth who leave a state because of anti-LGBTQ laws. Photos: Courtesy MAP, Trevor Project
A new report estimates that roughly 266,000 LGBTQ+ young people and their families have uprooted their lives and left a state because of anti-LGBTQ politics or laws. It is also detailing in stark relief the positive outcomes on the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ youth that state lawmakers can have when enacting policy.
The eight-page research brief being released Wednesday by LGBTQ youth advocacy nonprofit The Trevor Project and the Movement Advancement Project used data sets from both organizations to draw its conclusions. It is the first time the two groups have utilized their data in such a way.
The report drew on the findings of Trevor’s 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People, which was based on the responses of 18,663 LGBTQ+ young people between the ages of 13 to 24 from across the country. And it incorporated MAP’s policy tally scores for all 50 states that it compiles based on what laws individual states have passed benefitting or targeting the LGBTQ community.
“Year over year has been a record-breaking year for anti-LGBTQ bills. And the attacks continue to escalate,” said Logan Casey, a queer and transgender man who is MAP’s director of policy research. “The more we can do to illustrate the harm of those attacks, and on the flip side the positive impacts of good policy, I think the better it will be to help us communicate to the public, policymakers and beyond that policies matter in shaping everyone’s individual lives, and that is true for LGBTQ people as well.”
One of the key findings in the brief is that an overwhelming 90% of LGBTQ+ young people cited “recent politics” as having impacted their well-being. Among transgender and nonbinary youth, the percentage was 94%.
Nearly half (45%) of the transgender and nonbinary young people reported considering moving to a different state because of their home state’s LGBTQ+ politics or laws. Among all LGBTQ+ youth, just 39% had done so.
“When we incorporated the MAP data, I was not surprised, but it was striking. It was very clear to me the data had a very clear relationship to how LGBTQ-related policy is related to relocation,” said Steven Hobaica, Ph.D., a Honolulu-based licensed clinical psychologist who is a research scientist at The Trevor Project.
According to the research brief, titled “How State Policy Affects the Well-Being and Relocation of LGBTQ+ Young People,” 12% of transgender and nonbinary youth said they had traveled to another state to receive medical care due to their own states’ policies. Among all LGBTQ+ young people, 9% reported doing so.
Twenty-seven percent of LGBTQ+ young people reported living in a state with a negative policy index, or within a particularly harmful policy environment, according to the brief. Unsurprisingly, LGBTQ+ young people in states that received a lower LGBTQ+ policy index from MAP, meaning their states have less LGBTQ+-affirming policy, were more likely to consider moving and to travel to another state to access health care, compared to those residing in states that have adopted more LGBTQ+-affirming policy.
“For me, I think sometimes when individuals approach policy surrounding a community they are not a part of, they often don’t understand the impacts it can directly have on that community. I hope it points to that,” Hobaica, who identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, said of the research brief.
The Trevor project did not ask the youth what states they had moved to in order to find a more LGBTQ-welcoming legislative environment. It remains unclear how many LGBTQ youth and their families have relocated to California, one of a handful of states to declare itself a transgender sanctuary, to escape the anti-LGBTQ laws adopted in their former states.
Kathie Moehlig, executive director of Trans Family Support Services, told the Bay Area Reporter that her San Diego-based organization two years ago routinely had fielded calls from LGBTQ families wanting to move out of their states due to anti-LGBTQ laws, especially when it came to health care for their trans children. More recently, they have handled far fewer requests for such assistance.
“Most people who sat in a privileged position and could move out of state for care have done that,” said Moehlig, whose 24-year-old son is trans.
A graph shows the number of LGBTQ+ youth considering leaving a state because of its anti-LGBTQ laws. Image: Courtesy The Trevor Project
Trump impact uncertain
She has not seen any numbers on how many such families have moved to California, but surmised relatively few have due to the high cost of housing in the state and other factors. What impact the Trump administration and its attacks on trans rights will have on such relocations remains to be seen, she added.
“With Trump, maybe more families will move. More likely families will be hunkering down, finding resources, staying connected to community, and staying engaged in what may be coming our way,” said Moehlig. “We really don’t know. We just have to wait and see.”
The researchers noted that only 4% of LGBTQ+ young people in the sample they used had reported leaving a state because of LGBTQ+-related policies. Using estimations that 9.5% of youth age 13 to 17 and 15.2% of young people age 18 to 24 in the U.S. are LGBT, they then deduced the 266,000 number for how many have relocated to a new state.
“Unsurprisingly, these issues are even more pronounced for trans and nonbinary youth,” said Hobaica. “It impacts the whole LGBTQ community, but especially trans and nonbinary youth are going to be the youth who feel the most impact and typically are attacked the most by policymakers.”
In Missouri, where Casey lives, LGBTQ rights have been under assault. It has a negative rating on MAP’s policy tally, with an over score of -1.5/49.
“Politicians here are playing games with LGBTQ people’s lives, in particular LGBTQ young people’s lives,” said Casey.
He has had friends leave the state for Minnesota, California, and Pennsylvania. Casey told the B.A.R. he had contemplated doing so himself but hasn’t yet because Missouri is his home, he grew up in Ferguson, outside St. Louis, and he can still access the health care he needs.
“What me and other trans people are watching is whether the state or the new Trump admin will cut off medical care. That is the line in the sand for many people who either choose to move or have to move,” said Casey.
Positive benefits
While the media’s and public’s attention are usually focused on the negative LGBTQ policies being adopted, and the impacts they have, what often goes missing from the discourse is how LGBTQ people, particularly young people, positively benefit when policymakers adopt affirming legislation, noted Casey. The research brief intentionally highlights those outcomes, noting LGBTQ+ young people are more likely to report being positively impacted by recent politics if they live in a state assigned a higher LGBTQ+ policy index by MAP.
“LGBTQ+ young people living in states with a higher LGBTQ+ policy index reported that recent politics were less likely to negatively impact their well-being. They were also less likely to report crossing state lines for health care or consider moving to another state,” noted the research brief.
Casey told the B.A.R., “It is not just bad policies lead to bad outcomes, it is the reverse is also true. Good policies lead to improved outcomes for mental health and all other kinds of outcomes.”
Shira Berkowitz, senior director of public policy and advocacy at PROMO, Missouri’s statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, believes the research brief will be beneficial to the lobbying efforts it and similar groups in other states undertake this year.
“We do significant policy work to change the landscape in this area so people feel Missouri is a state they can live and thrive in,” said Berkowitz, noting that “the most important thing to most lawmakers is the condition or ability for their state to thrive, or it should be.”
Hopefully the research brief will embolden lawmakers who want to help protect the LGBTQ community, said Casey.
“I hope it adds to the growing body of evidence that harmful policies have real costs on LGBTQ young people and their families across the country, but also that it will encourage legislators in states who want to do something proactive that they should,” said Casey.
For Moehlig, she would like to see pro-LGBTQ lawmakers make an effort to reach LGBTQ young people where they are at. It is not enough to just pass laws and talk about doing so at events, in media outlets, or on social media platforms that may not be reaching LGBTQ youth, contended Moehlig.
“I don’t think it is spoken enough in spaces where kids are going to hear that,” she said. “They need to be reaching in to where they are, whether on social media or whether communicating through their schools. They need to be finding those spaces so kids are hearing directly from the people who hold the power to say, ‘We’ve got you here.'”
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