Republican trifecta governments are singling out & stigmatizing the very people they're elected to serve.

Attacking a soft target like trans kids with little pushback helps with fundraising and satiates a desire to win while out of federal power.

Here's what we can do about it: https://twitter.com/CarlosGSmith/status/1380637906855936000

1) @LambdaLegal, @ACLU, @NCLRights, @TransEquality, @LGBTBar and other groups are going to have their hands full fighting discriminatory policies in the courts. Support them however you can.

2) Call out corporate America. They need to replicate the pressure applied to the (now former) R trifecta in NC during the 2016 bathroom bill fight.

It'd be great if they stopped donating to every politician but in lieu of that, they need to stop donating to discriminatory ones.

3) Activists can search the campaign finance reports of every state legislator and governor supporting these discriminatory bills and call out their corporate donors - including their PACs, their lobbyists and their trade associations.

Put them on the record for funding bigotry.

4) We've seen in Utah, South Dakota and Arkansas tiny glimmers of hope that Republican governors at least acknowledge adverse consequences exist for attacking their trans constituents.

That's a product of trans people being vulnerable enough to be visible -- to tell our stories.

5a) We dealt with all of this in Virginia for years, due in part to my predecessor being the most anti-LGBTQ state legislator in the country during his 26 years (13 terms) in office.

So I made myself vulnerable enough to be visible and unseated him Nov. 7, 2017.

It can be done.

5b) The point to that is that we need pro-equality candidates running for every seat in every state across the country. We cannot sit out anywhere. You can't win a race you don't enter. Even if we lose most of them, your win can be what it takes to sustain a veto.
Go get trained.

6) There are groups that train candidates to run like the @VictoryInst, @EmergeAmerica, @runforsomething, @BoldProgressive, @TrainDems and more. Get trained, go run and go win.

Also: Democratic majorities matter! One chamber is enough to stop bad bills. Two can pass good bills.

7) I don't expect to agree with the Democratic governors of Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and North Carolina on everything -- sometimes bitterly so -- but their presence in office overall makes a world of difference for their LGBTQ constituents. Democratic governors matter.

8) Finally: not every trans kid is able to leave their home state. Poverty, homelessness, safety, family; there are a ton of reasons.

That said, if you do have to leave, please know Virginia's government welcomes you and will protect you because of who you are, not despite it.