This cartoon is by me and frequent collaborator Nadine Scholtes.

In December 2025, Representative Sarah McBride – who is herself trans – commented about her Republican colleagues:

They are obsessed with trans people. I actually think they think more about trans people than trans people think about trans people.

Responding to McBride’s comment, Vera Eikon wrote:

This is true. My transition is long since over and rarely figures much in my life any more. I really only think about being trans because obsessed creepy Republicans can’t help themselves.

Reading those comments inspired this cartoon, but I’ve heard sentiments like this from many trans people for years.

At least ninety percent of trans-related controversies are created by right-wingers’ refusal to just mind their own business and let other people be. The sheer irrationality of it boggles my mind.

Other issues are real issues. Even if Republicans didn’t deny the existence of climate change, how to address climate change would remain a real issue that needed to be debated in Congress. Even if Republicans didn’t have an abiding and vicious hatred of immigrants, we’d still need to figure out immigration policy and there’d be good-faith policy questions to work out.

But most trans issues would never be discussed at high levels of government if conservatives would just live and let live. There’s no need, at all, for the White House to decide what specific health care a fifteen year old trans kid needs. Why not leave that for the fifteen year old to decide with her doctor and her parents?

Part of it is just the grift. Republicans need hate to fundraise and be elected. Blaming problems on marginalized groups like immigrants and trans people is extremely practical for a party whose top priority is making rich people richer, but which also needs to pretend to be addressing ordinary people’s problems.

But it’s not just a grift. There’s sincere spite and bigotry – and, as Representative McBride said, obsession – behind the deluge of anti-trans legislation and activism we’ve seen.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels, each showing the same central character, a fortyish redheaded woman, in a different setting.

PANEL 1

A woman wearing a red cardigan over a white t-shirt, and a cross necklace, is handing a brown paper lunch bag to her daughter. The daughter is rolling her eyes.

WOMAN: Schools are hotbeds for trans groomers! Don’t let any of them talk to you.

PANEL 2

Four women, including our main character (who is currently speaking), are having a meeting on Zoom.

WOMAN: I found a petition supporting this week’s new bills banning trans heath care. I’m sending the link so we can all sign.

PANEL 3

A woman with short brown hair is washing her hands in a public restroom. Nearby, our main character watches the woman suspiciously.

WOMAN (thought): Short hair… Might be trans? I better call the manager!

PANEL 4

The woman lies in bed. It’s nighttime, but she’s wide awake.

WOMAN (thought): Why is the left obsessed with trans?

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken fat” is ancient, mostly forgotten cartoonist-ese for fun but needless details in the art.

PANEL 1 – The dog is rolling its eyes, just like the daughter. The daughter’s t-shirt says “Plants are gooood!” with a picture of a lit joint.

PANEL 2 – One person on Zoom is drinking with a mug with a picture of Jesus grinning and with his thumb up, a reference to the Kevin Smith movie Dogma. Another zoom person has dozed off, and the cat in her lap is anxiously taking notes. And a third zoom person is knitting a sweater with three sleeves, a reference to a famous Charles Addams cartoon.

PANEL 3 – The short-haired woman has a tattoo of Mr. Cupcake from Five Nights At Freddy’s.

PANEL 4 – The dog is wearing a sleep mask and pajamas with little hearts. Also, there are four books lying on the bed, which are:

1. TRANS PEOPLE HATE YOU. They’re Probably Hiding Under Your Bed Right Now, by Matt Waltz & Dave Chappelle.
2. HARRY POTTER AND THE INFINITE WELL OF ANTI-TRANS FUNDING by J.K. Rowling.
3. TRANSGENDERS ATE MY DOG and other things that definitely really happened, by Abigail Crier. “This is the best and probably only book I’ve ever read” – D. Trump
4. HOW THE TRANS DESTROYED MY LIFE. It’s Definitely Their Fault And Not Just That I’m An Insufferable Asshole And Everyone Who Has Ever Met Me Hates Me, by Graham Lineham.
   

   ---

The Obsession | Patreon

The right-wing (plus some alleged liberals cough Singal cough) assault on trans kids is genuinely horrifying. Literally hundreds of anti-trans bills – most focused on trans people under 19 years old – are proposed every year, and some succeed in becoming law.

Unfortunately, it’s obvious which side the conservative majority of the Supreme Court is on. Earlier this month, regarding California’s policy of not outing trans students to their parents, the Court ruled:

Gender dysphoria is a condition that has an important bearing on a child’s mental health, but when a child exhibits symptoms of gender dysphoria at school, California’s policies conceal that information from parents and facilitate a degree of gender transitioning during school hours. These policies likely violate parents’ rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children.

In her dissent, Judge Kagen noted that the conservative majority’s concern for parents’ rights has been inconsistent.

Another contrast—this time, between this case and United States v. Skrmetti (2025)—is also striking. In Skrmetti, several parents challenged Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors. The suit raised claims grounded in both equal protection and substantive due process. As to the latter, the parents in Skrmetti, similarly to the parents here, asserted a right “to make decisions concerning medical care for their minor children.” …And in support of that right, the Skrmetti parents relied on the same precedents the Court does today. But the Court, when deciding to grant certiorari in Skrmetti, limited its review to the equal protection issue: It would not even hear the parents out on their substantive due process claim.

This is typical of Republican hypocrisy – in the courts, but also in the way everyday Republicans talk about parental rights. As journalist Chris Quinn put it, “Republicans always say the parents know best, except when the Republicans know better.”

Some Republicans square this circle by saying that gender affirmative care for minors is child abuse (a claim they support with lies about what the research shows), and child abuse is the exception to parental rights.

But necessary medical treatments, supported by the overwhelming majority of experts and legitimate medical organizations, aren’t child abuse because Republicans arbitrarily declare it so.

Even if you, dear reader, happen to be a centrist weenie who can “see both sides” of this issue, that in and of itself is an argument for keeping gender affirmative care for minors legal. If this issue is complex and multifaceted, that’s even more reason that a minor’s medical care needs should not be decided by random Republican legislators.

Republican legislators don’t know Sam Examplekid; they don’t love Sam Examplekid; they have no familiarity with Sam’s needs or background or condition or individual circumstances. The decision should lie with people who know Sam and are committed to Sam Examplekid’s well-being – Sam, Sam’s parents, and Sam’s doctors.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has for panels, showing two women talking as they walk through a hilly park. The woman in front has dark hair and is wearing a red t-shirt; the person in the rear has light brown hair and is wearing floral pants. I’ll call them TSHIRT and FLORAL.

PANEL 1

Tshirt is listening as Floral lectures.

FLORAL: Of course teachers should be legally required to “out” trans kids to their parents. Because of parents’ rights.

PANEL 2

FLORAL: It doesn’t matter if it’s outing trans kids, or vaccinations, or what books teachers are allowed to assign. It should always be up to the parents!

PANEL 3

Close-up on Flora, who is pounding a fist into her palm, very intense.

FLORAL: Parents’ rights are sacrosanct! Period!

PANEL 4

Tshirt turns to ask Floral a question; Floral replies cheerily.

TSHIRT: What if parents want their trans kid to have gender affirming care?

FLORAL: Fuck parents’ rights.

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken fat” is a long-obscure cartoonists’ term for unimportant but amusing details slipped into the art, which I want to bring back. (“Stop trying to make fetch happen!”)

PANEL 1: A grinning kid is hanging upside-down high in a tree. A notice nailed to the tree shows a sad-looking robot and says “NOTICE: Background gags weren’t made by A.I.” On the ground, Steamboat Willie (the earliest form of Mickey Mouse, now copyright-free) is fleeing from a vicious cat.

PANEL 2: An evil-looking bunny is behind the bush, smoking a cig. High in a tree, a rat has disguised itself as a squirrel by taping a big leaf to its real end, and is trying to pass itself off to a real squirrel. A notice nailed to the tree has a picture of an evilly grinning robot and says “NOTICE: Then again isn’t that what an A.I. would say.”

PANEL 3: On top of a cloud, a cloud-colored person with a mohawk is lying on their back and reading their phone.

PANEL 4: A basset hound is in the hole in the tree. A sign below the hole says “Home Sweet Hole.” The robot from the notices in panels 1 and 2 is hiding behind the tree. Steamboat Willie’s lifeless corpse lies in the grass. A notice nailed to another tree shows a picture of a vague shadow shape, and says “MISSING: Small robot which functions as a visual representation of A.I. in background gags. Extremely hackneyed, but functional.”

T-SHIRT: In panel 1, the t-shirt has a logo of a piece of cake. Panel 2, it’s a peace sign. And in panel 4, it’s a chess piece.

Parents’ Rights | Patreon