Thanks, Amethysta. In a weird way, it makes sense to me that there would be more anti-trans activity now in Georgia than in the mid-90s.

Ultra-conservatives need an enemy, someone to blame for what they dislike about the world. I suspect that in the mid-1990s racism in Georgia was more acceptable than it is now: You could blame blacks for things you can't now (esp. if you want to get elected to statewide office).

So you need a new enemy, and the reactionaries have picked all things LGBTQ. I can't tell you how often you hear the phrase "the LGBTQ agenda" here in the Deep South (as though there were one agenda that everyone agreed to). It's tragic, and with an election coming up, I'm afraid it will get worse before it gets better. Just as the pols are trying to show who's more pro-Trump, they'll try to show who's more anti-trans. Much appreciate your adding that context from the 1990s to this sad story. We really seem to be going backward on some issues.