Help protect trans kids and save lives by getting involved with advocacy against youth care bans. When I first started providing testimony it was with the support of some of our local policy advocacy organizations like Legal Voice. Their support was essential in helping me understand the key points of a piece of legislation and how to construct my testimony. I would submit a draft of what I wanted to write or say, and they would give suggested edits and feedback. This helped make providing testimony feel less scary.
Legislative Testimony can be written or verbal, and it may or may not include questions from the committee or legislators. I recommend training in advocacy as a great starting point. Even attending a couple of 1 hour training sessions can make approaching testimony so much more accessible. Written testimony and verbal statements with no questions can be reviewed by local leaders in policy work and thus can be approached with less training! Training shouldn’t be a barrier if you have access to other supports as volume of commentary is often very important. I highly recommended training prior to verbal testimony that includes questions. The rest of this article a really simplified version of tips and resources to implement. Additionally, get FREE access to our Legislative Testimony Tip Sheet download here:
- Get connected with
- Advocacy Training
- Local, on-the ground leads for the organized response
- Your local Equality Federation
- Your local ACLU
- Your local LGBTQ+ Nonprofit
- Get prepared
- Know who you are testifying to- names, pronunciation, stances (hostile or supportive, previous votes)
- Know the legislation your testifying against
- Read the proposed legislation
- Review the proposed legislation summary with your local on-the ground legal partners (see above)
- Review good source material that address frequent points in care bans
- watch Dr. Meredithe McNamera (at the FLBOM hearing)
- read Scientific Misinformation and Gender Affirming Care: Tools for Providers on the Front Lines
- read Science Based Medicine Gender Affirming Care is Not Experimental
- this is my long ass response to the FLBOM
- Know your references
- keep your key statistics and data points accurate- find our fact sheet here
- CITATIONS SUPPORTING ADOLESCENT GENDER CARE – APRIL 2024
- Draft Your Testimony
- Time yourself reading it to fit the testimony slot
- Have it proofed by your on-the ground team
- Day of
- Show up early (virtually or IRL)
- Center your authoritative knowledge, training, and experience balanced with your compassion and empathy
- My brief list for myself is:
- Don’t answer hypotheticals
- Don’t answer with a yes or no when being asked for a yes or no
- Use questions to gently educate. “Thank you for asking this question because it gives me an opportunity to correct…”
- Self-care
- You are NOT responsible for the passing or prevention of this legislation
- Plan to care for yourself and refill your resiliency wells before and after
