Still looking for an elective next fall? From media theory to marketing, MCS has a wide selection of courses that will equip you well with media literacy and communication skill sets valuable in any professional environment. While this broad array may seem overwhelming at first, I encourage you to take advantage of it and explore through media topics you may be unfamiliar with or even just slightly interested in! With any course you take with MCS, it’s never a matter of if it will be applicable, but just a matter of when — hence the reason you’ll find many UMBC scholars adding MCS as a double major to enhance their other degree. As you learn how media is woven through every aspect of society, you’ll be surprised to find how easily applicable the coursework is throughout seemingly unrelated aspects of your career and personal life. MCS 355 (Social Media: Networking) sparked my initial interest in the field of marketing and introduced the career option of social media marketing — something I hadn’t previously known existed at all; furthermore, the social media marketing campaign in MCS 355 (Social Media: Networking) definitely came in use as I proposed a rebranding project at my current job as a social media manager. All the research I’m currently doing on the westernization of Chinese food in MCS 499 (Senior Seminar) has me reconsidering a career of food journalism — something I’d previously written off. So take a look at what the MCS department has to offer, whether you’re an MCS major or not! 

Positionality Statement: This post is written by Marybeth Mareski, a Returning Women’s Scholar and social work intern at the Women’s Center in her final year at UMBC. I am a gender nonconforming lesbian in the queer and trans community, and I am in social work school with the professional goal of providing therapy to primarily queer and trans clients. I write this post as a summary of the recent anti-trans legislation, to draw attention to some of the underlying motivations, and to offer suggestions on how to support the queer and trans community.

Almost as if they had no intentions or ideas about how to solve any of America’s actual problems, lawmakers have made this the worst year in American history so far for anti-trans legislation, with more than three anti LGBTQ laws being filed each day in 2022. 

These bills tend to fall into three main categories:

1. The first is school policies, such as Florida’s controversial so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, recently signed into law by Ron DeSantis, which forbids teachers from discussing the topic of LGBTQ people with students before fourth grade, even though 1% of 9-year olds already self-identify as gay or trans. 
2. The second is youth healthcare bans, the most of extreme of which attempted to criminalize helping a child cross state lines to seek care (in Idaho, though passed by their State House mercifully killed by their State Senate). 
3. The third is youth sports bans, like the recent Utah bill banning trans students from playing on women’s school teams, which the governor vetoed but the state legislature overturned to force into law. Reader, there is one transgender girl playing on a women’s K-12 team in all of Utah. All of this legislative effort spent to prevent one girl from playing sports. Perhaps this is about something else, then?

When society is suddenly up in arms about something that presents very little if any actual harm, it is time to wonder if we have a moral panic on our hands.

Moral Panics

Moral panics are a phenomenon where a behavior or group of individuals is targeted for public concern that is far in excess of the actual danger presented. Moral panics are beneficial to the state, because they amplify the powers of the law, and beneficial to the news media, because coverage of these moral panics drive viewership and advertising revenue. For instance, as the the US legislative apparatus spends its time keeping trans kids out of the sports of their choice in late March and early April, Fox news aired 170 segments discussing trans people over those three weeks, including Tucker Carlson’s lie that kids are trans because of adult predators. What is the outcome of programming like this? Increased viewership and ad revenue to Fox News, and increased public attacks against LGBTQ people: a recent example includes a family with two dads who endured a man screaming at them on a train that they were pedophiles who had had stolen their own children.

Republicans hammer on moral panics like trans issues and Critical Race Theory to mobilize their base. This sort of outrage is very effective at bringing voters to the polls, but it leads to uncertain outcomes: 67% of national voters oppose legislation that prohibits trans athletes from playing on their team of choice. Fascinatingly, it is not because most Republicans support trans athletes – it seems to be because voters find the involvement of the law itself in this issue to be distasteful.

At the risk of giving too much credit to the American voter, is it not also clear that spending effort on legislating this issue is a huge waste of time? Nearly one million Americans are dead from Covid. Inflation is the highest it’s been in forty years. Housing costs have gone up more than 25% since March 2020. How is keeping trans kids out of sports improving the lives of Americans?

Transness is Not New

The notion that children who believe themselves to be trans are being ‘groomed’ by LGBTQ adults is an age-old fearmongering tactic. It stems from the right-wing ideology that being LGBTQ is unnatural, and therefore queer kids must have been indoctrinated into being queer, which is absurd on its face: one of the biggest mental health threats that LGBTQ people face is rejection from their own families. It is not seeing representations of the sinful urban lifestyle that converts innocent children into being queer – young people discover their own LGBTQ tendencies, do not feel safe in their own communities, and move to the diverse urban centers where they are free to be fully themselves.

What about concerns that such an increasing number of young people are transitioning that it must be a trend? 

Obstacles to transgender care have been immense. The psychiatric community has controlled access to gender-affirming services, and the terms of that access has been giving the answers that caregivers demanded to hear. Once barriers are lowered and the stigma is decreased, the natural incidence can be allowed to emerge. Take the history of left-handedness, for instance. In the early 20th century, left-handedness was seen as unnatural and punished, and rates of left-handedness were artificially suppressed. Once that stigma faded, rates rose more than ten percent in the population to their natural level, and remained there. Has being trans been vanishingly rare, or has being able to be trans been vanishingly rare?

Being trans is not new. People with a gender expression beyond biological male and female have always existed:

“… cultures worldwide have often recognized genders other than “male” and “female.” India’s hijra, which has existed for millennia, has an essential place in Hinduism and a socio-cultural role as performers. Judaism recognizes no fewer than six distinct sex¹ categories in its classical texts and tradition. In Oaxaca, Mexico, the third gender muxe dates back to the pre-Columbian era. The South Sulawesi Bugis people recognize five genders which have been crucial to their society for at least 600 years. – The Gender Binary Is a Tool of White Supremacy

And just as people throughout millenia have expressed their identity beyond the gender binary, researcher Jules Gill-Peterson found evidence that young people have been socially transitioning throughout the twentieth century, and attempting to transition medically for as long as medical transition as existed:

“I found handwritten letters from trans kids to a famous endocrinologist, Harry Benjamin, who was known for providing trans healthcare. In the 60s and 70s, they would say, “I’m X years old. I’m a transsexual. I read about that in the news” or “I looked up your work at a library, and it describes who I am”. They were from all over the country and they would ask if Dr Benjamin could see them, send them hormones, give them a permit to wear the clothes they wanted, talk to their family or teacher. It was young kids knowing really clearly that they were trans and going toe-to-toe with medical professionals. Suddenly, I had not only proof that kids were trans, but that they contacted doctors and tried to transition the best they could. It speaks to the remarkable ingenuity and resilience that trans young people have had for a really long time. And it’s pretty unimpeachable evidence that this is not a new social phenomenon. It’s not some trendy thing that kids are picking up now.” – ‘Trans kids are not new’: a historian on the long record of youth transitioning in America

What Can You Do?

ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio and writer and activist Raquel Willis used the occasion of the Trans Day of Visibility to devote an entire week to activism against these bills. They created a website called Trans Week of Visibility and Action which outlines many of the bills in question, some of which are still in session, with links to scripts to write to lawmakers, as well as links to local, trans-led grassroots organizations that are helping trans kids in each state. In Maryland, Trans Maryland is a “multi-racial, multi-gender, trans-led community power building organization dedicated to Maryland’s trans community” which works to pass trans-affirming bills in Annapolis and promote trans-inclusive health care in Maryland, as well as offering legal and financial support for name changes for trans people and a weekly digital support group – follow them online for action alerts for Maryland-based trans-related legislation, or donate to help support their cause.

Baltimore Safe Haven is a trans-led organization that provides services to the trans community members in survival mode. They offer a drop-in center, transitional housing, youth housing, meal services, and more. They are seeking volunteers, donations, and wish list purchases.

Trans people have always been on the forefront of LGBTQ+ rights, because society is so hostile to trans people that they so often have to fight to simply survive. We can call this bravery or resilience, and it is, but it is also the result of trans people being forced to constantly advocate for themselves, with little help from other, less marginalized groups. If you are cis, what about helping the trans people in your life, or clearly identifying yourself as an ally to them? 

Modeling trans-inclusive behavior increases the safety, comfort, and well-being of trans people around you. The National Center of Transgender Equality has a list of actions you can take that include challenging anti-transgender remarks, supporting trans people who experience discrimination, ensuring non-gendered bathrooms in your spaces, crafting anti-discrimination policies for trans people in your workplace, writing your representatives about laws related to trans people, and working to make sure that systems you are involved in are trans-inclusive. 

Does none of this sound direct or effective enough? Are you a financially stable person with privilege? The most immediate way to make an impact for young trans people fighting for their survival is to give money to them directly. Here are some twitter accounts that crowdsource black trans people who need help paying their bills:

Black Trans Futures

Trans hoodoo funds

Pay Black Trans Women

Keep an eye out for trans people in your social media network who are crowdsourcing for their survival, and make a point to donate to them. More than signing a petition, you can be sure that you had a part in taking care of a trans member in your community.

Survival in America is difficult enough these days. Making the existence of trans children into a moral panic is a cynical and cowardly move by transphobic lawmakers who are attempting to draw focus away from failures of governance. But at the end of the day, we are all suffering from these failures of governance, and the best way to continue to move forward is to dedicate ourselves to the notion that every life has value by supporting each other.

Resources:

Moral Panic: Who Benefits From Public Fear?

The Gender Binary Is a Tool of White Supremacy

 ‘Trans kids are not new’: a historian on the long record of youth transitioning in America

Trans Week of Visibility and Action

Supporting the Transgender People in Your Life: A Guide to Being a Good Ally

Summary

This position is located at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of RESEARCH. The purpose of this position is collect and analyze data from primary sources, develop reliable reports, and prepare economic, statistical, or financial analyses on well-defined questions.

See our tips on the application process and printable checklist to ensure each step of the application is completed.

Eversheds Sutherland Scholars Program  

The program's goal is to demystify the law school experience by exposing participants to introductory courses in contracts and legal writing. Lessons are taught by an Emory University School of Law professor. Additionally, our attorneys and other legal professionals provide valuable law school and industry insight and advice through networking events and attorney panel discussions.
 
Since its inception, more than 400 ES Scholars have graduated from the program, and 95% of that group have been accepted into law schools across the country. In 2017, the program was awarded the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) George B. Vashon Innovator Award, which recognized Eversheds Sutherland for excellence in innovative practices and commitment in assisting diverse attorneys.

The program is offered at no cost to participants and includes:

•  Introduction to contracts, legal writing, and bluebooking
•  Panel discussions including topics such as:
•  Admissions guidelines to law schools and law firm recruitment
• A practical approach to assignments, reading, and studying strategies

• Resume workshops and mock interviews
• Networking with fellow ES Scholars, ES Scholars Alums, Eversheds Sutherland attorneys, and other legal professionals
• A modest stipend upon successful completion of the program

About the Eversheds Sutherland Program 

If you're interested in a career in public service, a group of UMBC alumni have just founded an organization to help you. 

Public University Public Servants (which they affectionately abbreviate as "PUPS") is a professional development society for students of public universities interested in careers in policy, politics, and law, and they're seeking new members. They're providing direct mentoring, hosting lectures and networking events, and distributing a newsletter explaining all the tips and tricks that you should know about when applying to jobs in DC, and it's absolutely free for all UMBC students and alumni.

The founders have all graduated in recent years and gone on to work in multiple executive departments and the US Congress, and they'd like to share what they've learned along the way. If you'd like to check them out, their website is pupsprogram.org, and you can apply to join from right there. If you have any questions, they'd love to hear from you at pupspilotprogram@gmail.com.