Heightened Scrutiny Chronicles LGBTQ Fight for Trans Gender Affirming Right

In 1999, Boys Don’t Cry was my introduction to what a transperson looked like.  Hatred and misunderstanding, stoked in fear from the status quo, was a lane as a Black woman in America I know all too well.  It’s one of the reasons Heightened Scrutiny peaked my curiosity.

This Sam Feder directed doc follows the journey of  ACLU attorney Chase Strangio on fight for Transgender rights for children arguing with The Supreme Court in favor of gender-affirming care access for trans youth in U.S. v. Skrmetti.

Heightened Scrutiny made its World Premiere at Sundance highlighting the high-stakes legal battle to overturn Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Featuring activists Laverne Cox and Elliot Page and journalists, Tre’vell Anderson and Jelani Cobb, the film traces the dangerous role of mainstream media in fueling anti-trans legislation and how we arrived at this current moment.

Since the completion of this doc twenty-seven states have passed bans on gender-affirming health care for transgender children and teenagers. But, what exactly is gender affirming healthcare? Gender-affirming care is medically necessary, evidence-based care that uses a multidisciplinary approach for a person transitioning from their assigned gender — the one the person was designated at birth — to their affirmed gender, the gender by which one wants to be known.

The education surrounding these laws are quite eye-opening, as are the many claims against this type of healthcare are coming from individuals like Matt Walsh and mainstream media whose misinformation has taken the train off the rails.  Walsh, the creator of the documentary film “What is a Woman?” explores this topic  cinematically and has been criticized for being transphobic and promoting hateful rhetoric against transgender people.

In additions, witnessing how this particular subject coupled with the election shenanigans of the current administration grossly effected the Supreme Court ruling was disheartening and disappointing as the topic of gender has now become a primary battleground for an authoritarian regime hellbent on turning the clock backward on civil rights for all.

Consistent fear mongering, whether its gender affirming rights, bathrooms or drag queens has become bullying fodder against the trans community.  After making history as the first out transgender person to argue before the Supreme Court, Strangio has set the bar pretty high.  A bar that began with an HBCU/Ivy league grad name Pauli Murray, whose words were tattooed upon their back when going in to fight the good fight.

I sing of a new America
Separate from all others,
Yet enlarged and diminished by all others.
I am the child of kings and serfs, freemen and slaves,
Having neither superiors nor inferiors,
Progeny of all colors, all cultures, all systems, all beliefs.
I have been enslaved, yet my spirit is unbound.
I have been cast aside, but I sparkle in the darkness.
I have been slain but live on in the rivers of history.
I seek no conquest, no wealth, no power, no revenge;
I seek only discovery
Of the illimitable heights and depths of my own being.

Heightened Scrutiny is a cinematic documentation that the fight won’t be over anytime soon, but our resolve in continuing to call out injustice in its grossest form no matter the consequences are worth its weight in gold. This is a must see film for anyone who loves the law and for those who have sworn to uphold and protect ALL citizens in America.