Sunday Salon perusing delivers an essay from a woman by the name of Carolyn Hays. According to Carolyn, there are only 18 states in our America.

Why? Because Carolyn has a daughter who is trans. Her daughter was born a male. Hays is now in the process of the college hunt with this child, as she muses in the essay. But, (gasp), they were in Ohio!

But then I stopped myself. We were in Ohio. I’d forgotten that my youngest daughter’s hunt for the perfect college would be very different. I added, ‘Well, I mean, when we’re visiting states where you’re allowed to exist.'”-Carolyn Hays

And so the United States of America, for her, is the Eighteen States of America, along with Washington, D.C.— the places where she is sufficiently protected by law and we feel she is likely to remain so throughout her education.”-Carolyn Hays

So, basically only 18 states wave the Pride Flag before our official colors. Got it.

Carolyn, who writes under a nom de plume, has a long track record of writing about her trans daughter and the struggles this kid is going through. She is the author of “A Girlhood: Letter to My Transgender Daughter“. The Broadstreet Review calls this “ferocious parenting”. How did Hays know her child was transgender? Because the child yelled back at them when they said “He’s in the playroom” with a “SHE’s in the playroom!”

We’re sure there were other indicators Hay’s child threw out to lead these parents to believe their son was indeed a girl. They lived in a conservative (“right-wing”, as they called it) state. They even had the Department of Children and Families come knocking on their door. They did what any “good” parents would do and uprooted the whole family.

The investigator’s visit felt like a bizarre clerical error; our four kids were thriving and we were well-liked in our community. The investigator ultimately found us to be good parents doing what was best for our child. However, it had become urgently clear that we would have to leave the deep south and move to a place where our youngest daughter, who had recently transitioned to she/her pronouns and a nickname, would have basic rights to equal education, housing, healthcare and, as she grew up, employment.”-Carolyn Hays, The Guardian

Back to Salon, Carolyn reflects more:

My daughter’s America has become apocalyptic — safe states scattered wide and broken up by vast stretches of lands that are openly hostile to her existence.”-Carolyn Hays, Salon

She’s got a point there, America has become somewhat apocalyptic. But why, in her opine, have we become so? Because in some states, biological men are barred from using restrooms of the opposite sex. Because in some states, trans minors have lost access to “medical health” (read: hormones and surgery). Because, in some states, trans healthcare is not publicly funded by initiatives.

With over 500 anti-trans bills introduced this year alone, we are watching a wildfire take over this country. My daughter’s America has become apocalyptic — safe states scattered wide and broken up by vast stretches of lands that are openly hostile to her existence.”-Carolyn Hays, Salon

As a parent, I sympathize with anyone who ferociously advocates for their child. I have ferociously advocated for my own. All parents should do the same. But, oh, the drama! A wildfire taking over this country? It seems Carolyn Hays does not see the other side in this and why pushing an agenda so hard is harmful. There is a cognitive dissonance there. She has written about her child in several publications. For her piece in The Insider, she also sounded off on trans athletes:

When legislators target transgender athletes, I get the feeling that they’re envisioning a strapping athletic boy in a dress.”-Carolyn Hays, Salon

She’s somewhat in touch with reality there. She actually called her child a “terrible athlete” in the article. Oof. So much for being anything and anyone you want, kiddo-a unicorn, a cat, a pony who poops sparkles. You can even be a “girl” but you athleticism sucks. After all, not everybody can be Lia(r) Thomas.

Getting back to this cognitive dissonance thing, Hays, while defending her position via Salon, does not understand how or why-ever, would a parent of a biological teenage girl, be upset when her child who has a penis, uses their restroom or locker room. Here’s why:

Right-wingers are burning things down in this apocalypse, as the narrative goes. Never mind the Pride parades that are rammed down the throats of young, unassuming elementary-schoolers, the Pride agendas by large corporations targeting these same young, unassuming elementary students and big spectacles on our White House lawn.

The anger and frustration felt by these parents who just want a return of our schools and big entertainment to actually educating and entertaining our kids minus the agenda, do not matter in Carolyn Hays’ world. The outright sexualization of our children is not a factor of consideration. To the “far left”, this is not a consideration at all-bring on all the sex and the confusion and the dysfunction early-on. Perhaps our children will become “their” children and be completely unable to function without state intervention. Parents in opposition to harmful agendas and even more damaging hormones and surgeries that are irreversible need to get with the program and comply.

Despite all of this, Carolyn Hays only feels there are 18 “legit” states in our United States of America and is holding her breath until the rest of the “vast wasteland” of our country capitulates…or else.

Just another Sunday at Salon. You know what? We’re holding our breath, too.

Photo Credit: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office via FlickR/Creative Commons/Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)