Episode 91: First They Came for the Trans People
Guest: Lilliana Young - Founder, The Sisterhood of Bloomington & Secretary, Bloomington/Monroe County Human Rights Commission
https://bloomington.in.gov/boards/human-rights
Welcome to the HoosLeft Podcast, a show about Indiana politics, history, and culture from an unapologetically leftist perspective. My name is Scott Aaron Rogers, and I’m recording from Bloomington.
The Trump regime returned to power in Washington, just as the Braun/Beckwith ticket cruised to victory in Indiana, as did countless religious extremist candidates nationwide, on an avalanche of bigotry and grievance. Immigrants to this country have been, perhaps, the largest and most visible group to suffer at the hands of the administration, but they’re not alone.
The Christian nationalist playbook guiding the far-right, the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 - of which we spoke at length on this program - is unsparing in the vitriol it directs at the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender people.
Not unlike certain other right-wing nationalist movements that rose to power in the 20th century, the MAGA movement has found trans folks to be a useful target, developing, honing, and increasing their attacks on this vulnerable community over the last few years. The pace has only quickened since Trump’s January inauguration.
Earlier this year, I spoke with Indiana Stonewall Democrats’ President Veronica Pejril, the first openly-trans elected official in the state. In that discussion, we largely took a high-level view of the political landscape and lamented the fact that some liberals seemed eager to leave the trans community behind for electoral expediency.
Now, several months into the Trump and Braun administrations, let’s zoom in and look at the ways these hostile regimes have targeted our trans friends and neighbors. Gender-affirming care for trans youth has been severely curtailed since 2021, but this year has seen aggressive rollbacks of trans rights for adults, too. As if it isn’t hard enough to exist in this world as a transgender individual, Republicans are now using the full force of the state to make it even harder.
My guest today is Lilliana Young, Secretary of the Bloomington/Monroe County Human Rights Commission and founder of The Sisterhood of Bloomington, a solidarity and support group for trans women. In the following conversation, we’ll talk about the various ways the state and federal governments, under GOP leadership, have actively made life more difficult for the trans community, how municipalities can help protect their vulnerable populations, and why something as simple as an ID card can be so important.
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Now, here is my conversation with Lilliana Young.
Things We Talked About:
Bloomington Resolution 2024-14: https://www.bloomington.in.gov/council/legislation/Resolution/2024/2024-14
Anti-Trans Bills Proposed in Indiana 2025: https://translegislation.com/bills/2025/IN
Michelle Davis’ 2025 Legislation: https://legiscan.com/IN/people/michelle-davis/id/21918
“Less than 10” Trans Athletes in Whole NCAA: https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/5046662-ncaa-president-transgender-athletes-college-sports/
“Kamala is for they/them” Ad: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-goes-harris-anti-trans-ads-football-games-rcna174354
Transgender Population Numbers: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/trans-adults-united-states/
“Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty” https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/christine-jorgensen
“Harris rarely, if every, brought up transgender rights” https://www.yahoo.com/news/yahoo-newsyougov-poll-74-of-voters-heard-about-harriss-plan-to-protect-transgender-people-more-than-almost-any-other-campaign-issue-130058273.html
Mamdani at NYC Pride Parade: https://www.newsflare.com/video/760472/muslim-new-york-mayor-hopeful-zohran-mamdani-joins-pride-parade
NY Hospitals Continue Trans Care: https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/new-york-ag-tells-hospitals-continue-trans-care-trumps-executive-order-rcna190589
State Lawmakers Taking Aim At Adult Trans Care: https://stateline.org/2025/02/14/heres-how-state-lawmakers-are-taking-aim-at-transgender-adults-health-care/
Braun Executive Orders on “Extreme Gender Ideology” https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/briefs/indiana-governor-signs-executive-orders-aimed-at-extreme-gender-ideology/
Current Indiana Policy on Identity Documents: https://transequality.org/documents/indiana-identity-documents
Nazi Persecution of LGBTQ People: https://www.pinktrianglelegacies.org/learn/history
Failed Document Revision Ban Legislation: https://translegislation.com/bills/2025/IN/HB1341
Survey - Incarcerated Trans People’s Experiences: https://www.vera.org/newsroom/new-survey-transgender-peoples-experiences-in-prison-and-their-calls-for-policy-change
Texas Bill Would Criminalize “Gender Identity Fraud” https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/texas-bill-identify-transgender-state-felony-rcna195642
Municipal IDs: https://www.albanylaw.edu/government-law-center/municipal-ids-local-governments-and-the-power-create-identity-documents
South Bend Launched City ID Program in 2016: https://www.wndu.com/content/news/South-Bend-launches-city-ID-program-406933405.html
Chicago’s CityKey Program: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/supp_info/office-of-new-americans/Municipal-ID.html
Bloomington/Monroe County HRC Archive: https://bloomington.in.gov/boards/human-rights/meetings?year=2025
Hoosiers Protest Anti-Trans BMV Rule: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/23/transgender-bmv-ban-gender-marker-drivers-license-indiana/85325904007/
Rokita Personally Intervening in Gender Change Cases: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/briefs/ag-rokita-intervenes-in-gender-change-cases-calls-amendments-falsified-records/
Ft Wayne Pursuing City ID Program: https://www.wane.com/investigations/fort-wayne-to-offer-community-id-cards
Once again, that was Lilliana Young, Secretary of the Bloomington/Monroe County Human Rights Commission and founder of the solidarity group The Sisterhood of Bloomington.
Democrats - do not be tempted to listen to the Seth Moultons, Tom Suozzis, and Gavin Newsoms of the party. Defending the trans community is not a liability, but a strength. Demonstrating a willingness to throw one group overboard is hardly reassuring to the next vulnerable group. Will you abandon them next depending on which way the wind blows? We must stand ten toes down for human rights and dignity FOR ALL.
That’s it for now, but I’ll be back this weekend on Project Next Media network’s YouTube, FaceBook Live, and Twitch streams, where I host HoosLeft This Week, Indiana’s most thorough Sunday morning news and politics talk show. Come check that out live if you get a chance. It’s a lot of fun, if you can call following the news in this timeline fun. But I bring together a diverse group of panelists from the democratic socialist left to never-Trump conservatives and we look at the week’s headlines from around Indiana and beyond. We’ll also take time to examine one big thing, a different deep dive every week. I hope to see you there in the comments, but if you can’t make it live, the program will be available as a podcast Sunday afternoon.
Thanks again to Lilliana Young for her time and for her service to the community. It takes a lot of courage for her to put herself in a public-facing position in these difficult times. The least that those of us with cisgender privilege can do is lend our support. Finally, I’ll ask one last time for a little financial support at HoosLeft.US, where you’ll find everything I’ve ever published and you can help with a paid subscription. I rely solely on the generosity of kind patrons like you to make this information available for free to everybody. In addition to the website, you can also find me on Facebook, Bluesky, YouTube and TikTok at HoosLeft or on most other social media sites at ScottRog78, where you can hit me up with feedback, tips, ideas, and concerns. Finally, please forward the show to a friend and have them pass it on. Let’s keep building this project - and a truly democratic state - one conversation at a time. Until the next one, this has been the HoosLeft podcast. I’m Scott Aaron Rogers. Love each other, Indiana.
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