Evil ‘SAVE America Act’ Fails on the Senate Floor

feature image photo by Heather Diehl / Staff via Getty Images

One of the most controversial voter identification bills made its way to the Senate floor last week. The bill — titled the SAVE America Act — would have put rigid restrictions on the types of identification people can use to vote in local and national elections and would have made absentee voting and voting-by-mail virtually impossible.

In the earliest iterations of the bill, Republicans included other restrictions on trans people’s ability to access gender-affirming care and to participate in athletic programs that receive local and federal funding. While the latter restrictions were taken out of the bill before it went to the Senate floor for a vote, the SAVE America Act appeared to have the necessary bipartisan support to pass. Then, in a surprising turn last week, the bill was defeated in a 48-50 vote, with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina joining every Democrat in voting “No.”

You might be wondering why I’m making this the focus of this week’s column. Well, if you’ve been paying attention to the news, you know trans people have had their rights to the appropriate documentation and photo identification strictly limited since the Trump administration began their second term. Since many trans people across the country have already had their correct documents voided or are struggling to attain the documents they need, the SAVE America Act would have put yet another barrier in place for trans people when it comes to registering to vote, voting at the polls on election days, or voting via absentee ballot or mail-in ballot.

Beyond that, the SAVE America Act should be of grave concern for any person currently living in the United States. Whether you believe voting does actually make a difference or not, these extremely restrictive bills point to the potential for more unchecked power for the far right. The more they can limit our ability to access certain kinds of “freedoms” in this country, the more they’ll keep pushing until we’re nearly stripped of our ability to fight against them via legislative victories and much more radical revolutionary tactics.

While the SAVE America Act is dead for now, it’s important to keep paying close attention to states that are following in the federal government’s footsteps in passing their own voter identification laws and to the new federal bills that will pop up to replace it. The far right and the GOP are hell-bent on getting these kinds of restrictions put in place, so this is certainly not the end of the battle for them.

Some Good Trans News For Once

Montana Supreme Court upholds ability of transgender residents to update documents. Speaking of having the appropriate documentation, the Montana Supreme Court has struck down Montana’s Senate Bill 458, which sought to restrict trans people’s ability to access appropriate state identification. Apparently, it was a heated debate amongst the members of the court, but the court still ended up in a 5-2 split against the law.

Federal court sides with trans athletes & says Donald Trump’s executive orders aren’t law. The ‘M’ states have truly been dominating the trans right sector in the last few months. In Minnesota, a federal appeals court has struck down a ban to push trans athletes from girls’ sports in the state and argued that the Trump administration’s executive orders banning trans people from participating in sports in the gender category of their choosing does not represent “settled law.” I really love that they added that last part, as I’ve been arguing that executive orders aren’t law since I understood the difference between the two in high school.

Supreme Court turns away parental rights dispute involving child’s gender transition in school. In what is maybe a short-term win for children’s rights to autonomy and privacy, the Supreme Court decided not to hear the case of Massachusetts parents who argued their child’s public school violated their parental rights by allowing students to socially transition without the parents’ knowledge. This is not the first time they declined to hear this kind of case, and a similar case from Florida is still awaiting a decision on whether it will be heard or not. We’ll see what happens.

Oregon to pay $295K to trans woman imprisoned until 2049. Despite the Trump administration’s continued attempts to completely dehumanize trans people — especially trans prisoners — a trans woman in Oregon sued the state for abuse she faced during her time at Two Rivers Correctional Institution and won.

RFK Jr. agenda suffers another loss as trans advocates hail “huge step forward.” Man, I love to see this guy LOSING. Yet another U.S. District Court judge has completely overturned the Trump administration’s ban on gender-affirming care for young trans people. Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai of Oregon began his decision with the line “Unserious leaders are unsafe,” and I just think that’s a great burn.

Virginia researchers debunk the claim that most trans kids “grow out of it.” Your “Water is Wet” News of the day: Another study confirms trans people are real and often know they’re trans at a very young age.

International Trans News:

EU court rules against Hungary’s LGBTQ+ media ban: Repeal it or possibly face fines. Hungary has been getting smashed by the highest European Union courts in recent months. This time, they’ve been instructed to remove their ban on LGBTQ+ media in the country or face harsh penalties from the EU courts if they don’t. We’ll see if they actually follow through.

Trans News I Wish I Didn’t Have to Report

Trump’s FCC weighs whether to flag shows with trans or non-binary “programming.” The Federal Communications Commission is starting the process of investigating whether or not they should include new warnings on television shows that include trans characters or content related to trans lives. Brenda Carr, welcome to the enemies list.

Bill requiring sex-based restrooms, dorms clears Missouri House. It’s 2026, and the fart right [editor’s note: this was a typo that I am leaving in, because it fits] is still hung up on bathroom bills. At this point, I can’t believe people aren’t just constantly shouting for these creeps to get a life.

Louisiana could remove references to ‘gender’ in state law. Critics say it erases trans people. A new bill with the backing of state Governor Jeff Landry is being proposed in Louisiana. The bill — ridiculously named the “Restoring Biological Truth Act” — seeks to eliminate the word “gender” from all state laws and replace it with the word “sex,” in an attempt to force people in the state to identify with their sex assigned at birth in all legal matters.

Trump admin’s proposed new gun rule will make it harder for trans people to buy firearms. I’m not necessarily pro-guns for everyone, but I’m not against them, either. And my views on the subject are nuanced and controversial for a lot of left-leaning spaces. However, the fact that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is enacting a rule that requires all new gun owners to list their birth sex on mandatory gun ownership paperwork — even if they have legally changed their gender markers — does leave me particularly incensed.

HUD aims to roll back protections for trans people in federally funded housing, shelters. In what is possibly the weirdest new attempt at limiting trans people’s freedoms, a proposed Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rule seeks to force people applying for housing assistance to list their sex assigned at birth on all of their documents, even if they have legally changed their gender markers. According to reports, “The rule would also allow facilities under HUD programs to ‘require reasonable assurances and evidence to confirm the sex of an individual seeking service in order to protect the safety of other individuals in the facility.’” It’s amazing how these people reach new levels of reprehensibility every single day.

Last Bits of Trans News

Tim Heidecker wants to make Infowars the premier destination for trans comedy. I was a little bit skeptical about The Onion purchase of the famously far-right Alex Jones vehicle Infowars when the news originally dropped because I was unsure of what the purpose was. I understand domain ownership and what that could mean, and yet I still felt a little unsettled. I don’t think those feelings are entirely eliminated just yet, but as a long time Tim & Eric media powerhouse fan, I was hyped to see this news. And I can’t wait to see what becomes of it.

Talking trans history with a trans legend. This is just a lovely conversation between the Assigned Media editorial team and Susan Stryker that everyone should read.