I'm reading this as I prepare a story about lawmakers in Tennessee working on a bill to pressure insurance companies outside the state to stop paying for gender-affirming healthcare. The bill, which has a high probability of passing, would bar the Tennessee Medicaid agency from contracting with any insurance company that provides hormone replacement therapy to adults anywhere in the nation.

Tiny Tennessee, of course, doesn't have the financial clout to pressure the nation's biggest insurance companies, but this is a trial balloon, and if it works in Tennessee, other states, including financial powerhouses like Texas and Florida, would likely follow suit. Even the largest insurance companies would not be immune to pressure created by large markets excluding them.

Your story is a powerful testimony to how restrictive HRT access already is. Conservative activists and politicians are working to make adult access to HRT even more restrictive.

But as I mentioned in my last story, the worse things get for queer people, especially trans people, the less our allies seem interested in hearing about it or helping.

We're in for a rough few years, and the need for resistance and unity is greater than ever.