Defending Trans Youth Is a Fight Against White Supremacy
By: Vix Burgett-Prunty
The Ohio Supreme Court’s recent decision to maintain a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender minors while the legal battle continues is not just an attack on trans rights, it’s also deeply rooted in white supremacy culture. While the connection may not be immediately obvious, the enforcement of rigid gender norms, the suppression of bodily autonomy, and the legal system's role in upholding these restrictions all align with the ideologies that sustain white supremacist power structures.
White Supremacy Culture and Control Over Bodies
White supremacy culture thrives on enforcing strict hierarchies, racial, gendered, and otherwise. One of its key tools is control over marginalized bodies, whether through policing reproductive rights, criminalizing Black and Brown communities, or denying trans people the right to self-determination.
The Ohio ban, like similar laws across the U.S., operates under the guise of "protecting children," a narrative often weaponized to justify state control over marginalized groups. Historically, this rhetoric has been used to:
Police Black families through child welfare systems.
Enforce gender conformity on Indigenous and queer communities.
Legitimize eugenics by regulating who is allowed to reproduce or access healthcare.
By denying trans youth life-saving medical care, the state is effectively enforcing a rigid, binary view of gender that aligns with white, Christian nationalist ideals, a core tenet of modern white supremacist movements.
The Legal System as an Arm of White Supremacy
The Ohio Supreme Court’s decision reflects how legal systems often prioritize "order" over justice. White supremacy culture values:
Perfectionism & binary thinking. The idea that gender must fit into strict, unchanging categories.
Paternalism. The belief that the state (dominated by white, cisgender, conservative elites) knows what’s best for marginalized communities.
Fear of difference. Trans youth, especially Black and Brown trans kids, are seen as threats to the "natural order."
This ruling is part of a broader trend where conservative lawmakers use the courts to codify discrimination, much like how segregationists weaponized the legal system to uphold Jim Crow laws.
Resistance and Solidarity
Fighting back against these bans requires recognizing that trans liberation is tied to racial justice. White supremacy seeks to divide marginalized groups, but solidarity across movements, such as Black trans activists leading the charge for LGBTQ+ rights, disrupts this power structure.
Key actions to challenge these oppressive systems include:
Supporting trans-led organizations (e.g., TransOhio, Black Trans Advocacy Coalition).
Demanding that lawmakers reject white supremacist ideologies embedded in healthcare bans.
Educating others on how gender oppression and racial oppression are interconnected.
Conclusion
The Ohio Supreme Court’s decision is not just about trans rights. It’s about who gets to decide what is "normal" and who is allowed to exist freely. By understanding these bans as part of white supremacy’s broader strategy to control marginalized bodies, we can better resist them in unity.
Trans youth deserve autonomy. Their lives are not up for debate.
Would you like any additions, such as specific historical examples or more emphasis on certain points?