Bathroom laws are unenforceable and largely function instead like: “conform as closely as possible to gendered expectations of appearance and presentation or get the shit kicked out of you”.

This mostly affects cis women. Having broad shoulders and short hair is all it takes really. The more these laws are promoted, the more cis women who don’t conform to social body standards for women will suffer. Wearing a skirt and growing your hair long and wearing makeup every single day could legitimately become a matter of your own safety.

Biological gender essentialism is just gender roles all over again. They’ve packaged it as a way to force trans people out of society, and it does for anyone who can’t go stealth. But far more than it affects trans people, it affects cis people. They know that. That’s actually the point in the first place. They want to socially enforce patriarchy. The goal is to force women to submit to men and male scrutiny of their gender.

They’d have to shoot me before I will ever deny my own womanhood. Not even with a gun to my head would I call myself a man. I lived in a closet for 18 years and it nearly killed me. It damaged me in ways I have to live with forever. I am a woman. They can say whatever the fuck they want it won’t change that. I will not bow my head. If it comes to it, I’ll die with my back straight, proud of who I am.