It’s a dark time to be trans in America. While expected, yesterday’s Skrmetti decision was devastating and disgraceful, and it will have heartbreaking consequences for trans youth across the country. I try to avoid being more alarmist than necessary, but there is a legitimate concern that the precedent set will be used to justify additional bans on youth or even adult care going forward.

Somehow, some way, an administration that is deeply unpopular on almost every issue manages to stay above water on its unconscionable policies on trans people– with at least a little help from Democrats’ own spineless stance. A majority believes that being trans is not innate but a matter of nurture over nature, and a similar majority believes that changing your gender is morally wrong.

I can’t stress how ridiculous these claims are. Being trans is as innate as any part of my identity. But at the end of the day, so what if it’s not? I didn’t choose this, but also so what if I did?

I don’t deserve the right to transition because it’s innate or my mental health is at risk if I don’t or because I have dysphoria about my body or any of the other most common reasons for starting gender-affirming care. I deserve the right to transition because I am a person with bodily autonomy who is capable of making informed decisions about what I do with my body. Decisions about my body that have no impact on how anyone else chooses to live or what they choose to do with their own body.

Honestly, I don’t really care why I am trans. I care that I am happier, healthier, and an all-around fuller person because I transitioned. I care that the science says that the regret rate for transitioning is next to zero, and for those who do detransition it’s almost always as a result of peer pressure or a lack of a support system. I care that any perceived risk is between me and my doctor and no one else.

I grapple with whether it is evil, fear, or negligence driving the anti-trans movement. It’s ironic and sad that we as a society saw all the harm and danger for women created by cis men and decided to scapegoat trans women as the real predators instead of the people actually responsible for making spaces unsafe. I think that patriarchy is so ingrained in society that those who benefit from it could never imagine someone surrendering their male privilege or on the other end claiming it when they were not born with it. Maybe more than anything the anti-trans movement is a testament to conformity and a masterclass in propaganda. Trans people aren’t the problem. You shouldn’t care about people simply living their lives in the matter they feel is most authentic.

You should care about the state of trans rights in this country. Not just because I’m trans or you know someone close to you who is trans, but because the freedom to transition and live freely and authentically with appropriate informed consent is a critical line of defense in the protection of self-autonomy for everyone.

Trans rights are

Women’s rights are

Immigrant rights are

Black rights are

Disabled rights are

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

We’re all in this together. It doesn’t matter why I’m trans or what “made” me trans, I simply am. I don’t care and neither should you. What matters is that we all have the autonomy and right to exist, and that’s a core value that goes far and beyond the matter of trans rights. We owe each other that solidarity.