the United States of America just saw a "blue tsunami" after a bunch of Democrats swept in the midterm election on November 4th; my state remained entirely blue through it. i did my part, but obviously voting is only a fraction of the battle and I was not too happy settling with one particular candidate on my ballot. i wrote her an email to let her know where i stand and what issues we definitely don't align on, and i'm sharing it here to encourage you to do similar things where you live. let's make sure our government has less incentive to block progress this time around.
Governor-Elect Klobuchar, I hope this message finds you well.
I am a proud transgender lifelong Minnesotan and I’m disabled from a genetic condition I was diagnosed with at age 13 (from which I’m fully Deaf and partially blind). I receive SSDI, Medicaid and supplemental insurance (SNBC) in large part thanks to my mom pointing me to what’s available. I have trouble finding a job so I am a student at the U of M returning from disability leave and hoping to find a career in accessible design and computing once I graduate.
As I’ve grown up and learned to navigate life’s necessities, I have always believed that tying health insurance to employment is a completely unethical practice. It leaves less privileged folks in life-threatening situations if they, for example, are absent from their job one too many times or are like me and cannot find a job in the first place. I just don’t understand why our state, if not the USA, can’t offer affordable health care for all people with no strings attached. If it’s a money issue, maybe we could stand to divest from the genocidal apartheid state of Israel—they don’t need our help desecrating historically Palestinian lands and they don’t need our weapons and intelligence systems to decide who gets to live or die. We can also stop funding new data centers and ICE detention facilities if that helps even out the budget. It’s our money and I would like to see it invested back into our state to improve the lives of everyone, not just me.
I have met several gender-variant people here who’ve had to flee their home states due to exclusionary laws, such as bathroom and healthcare bans, and I do not ever want to see Minnesota turn against them too—we already increasingly have nowhere else to go. Laws requiring things such as genital inspections are unbelievably inhumane and sex is not as binary or observable as most people think it is. Please don’t play into the conservative game of pretending like everyday trans people are the real issue when actual child predators are still running this country. That means no bathroom bans, no healthcare bans, and keeping the government out of kids’ sports. I consider Minnesota one of the freest states in this country, and Washington was a close second until their recent ballot measure passed. I am horrified by what it will mean in practice: no kid will be allowed to play sports until they are sexually assaulted by a physician, leading to a chilling effect akin to eugenic practices I thought we’d left behind nearly a century ago.
My point is, we are all just trying to live. As governor I’d like to see you stand up for regular Minnesotans and put forward policies that benefit everyone who lives here. Not just the rich. Not only US citizens. Not foreign militaries, and not at the expense of the already marginalized. I want you to remember that even though you won the election, your work has only just begun. You must earn our vote.
Thank you for taking the time to read.
Sincerely, Reese [Ovine]
