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Debi Jackson

@the-debijackson.bsky.social
765 followers 482 following 411 posts

Advocate for trans youth, trans-inclusivity trainer, defender of good, fighter of evil. she/her

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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I wrote about it, and about why we get asked "would you go back?" so often, in my newest Debi Downer essay. If you know someone who's wondering whether leaving is possible, or whether it's worth it, please share it with them. debijackson.substack.com/p/what-would...
debijackson.substack.com
What Would I Mark?
I forgot our three-year anniversary in Spain. That's how I knew we were home.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
But we're all ok. Better than ok. Our days are normal now. Boring, even. And after everything we went through in the US, boring feels like the biggest gift.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Our three-year Spain-iversary came and went and I completely forgot. I had it on the calendar. I was planning a little family celebration. And then a flash flood happened, we lost boxes of books, art, and photos we'd carried across an ocean, and the date slipped right past me.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
No warnings or apologies for the “crude” or “inappropriate” language the viewer is about to hear, as they would announce in other contexts. It’s just said as if it’s completely normal and acceptable. I find that unacceptable.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
“Fatties, tr-nnies, weirdos, and beardos” I don’t think I’ve seen a single news outlet or progressive pundit bleep out or on-screen edit that slur against trans people. In fact, many have read this quote out loud, saying the word themselves.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
...a widely-quoted set of false statements from a cabinet secretary and the president at a White House event, a second "study" linking basic clinical guidance to political violence, and a children's-book-style video recapping it all in rhyme.
debijackson.substack.com
So You Want to Talk About Grooming?
Two "reports," a podium full of lies, and a nursery rhyme — all in fourteen days, all built to make trans folks and their allies the villain.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Over a fourteen-day stretch in August, four things came out of the federal government: a "fraud" report on gender-affirming care written almost entirely by advocacy staff rather than researchers...
debijackson.substack.com
So You Want to Talk About Grooming?
Two "reports," a podium full of lies, and a nursery rhyme — all in fourteen days, all built to make trans folks and their allies the villain.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
debijackson.substack.com/p/the-messag...
debijackson.substack.com
The Messages I Don't Show You
What 'protecting children' actually sounds like, unfiltered
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
This is the real record of the "concern" behind so much anti-trans legislation. I'm done letting that concern go unquestioned.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
It referenced my family and suicide. He has never, not once, asked how my child is doing — and neither has anyone else who's written to me. One message arrived when my child was six.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
My new Substack essay is deeply personal. And it comes with a content warning. A message arrived Saturday from a man who's emailed me monthly for the past year — his own language shows he's actually been at this since 2014.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Whoopsie. 😬🤫
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Goooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaal! At exactly 90 minutes. 😂😂😂😂😂😂 🇪🇸
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
I do believe Spain's game plan is to bore the other team into complacency and then score at the last minute. A lot of people don't even show up for the watch party at Spanish bars until the last 10 minutes of the game. (At least in my neighborhhood)
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The Supreme Court just said they are okay with that. open.substack.com/pub/debijack...
open.substack.com
The Mascot Is a Title IX Violation
What happened to one Colorado school district, what the Supreme Court just blessed, and why blanket bans on trans athletes endanger every athlete — not just the ones they target.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Same logic. Different institution. And when you build gender policing systems, they don't stay neatly aimed at trans kids. They reach cisgender girls who look "too masculine." Cisgender boys with paperwork errors. Boys in a mascot costume.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The government never asked what role they played. It counted. It declared a violation. And when the district asked for a correction, it refused. Then yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled states can ban trans girls from girls' sports with no individualized assessment required.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Earlier in June, a story broke about the federal government spending a year investigating a Colorado school district for having 61 boys on girls' sports rosters. Those boys were the mascots. The managers. The athletic trainers.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
I'm going to leave the legal breakdown of yesterday's Supreme Court ruling on trans athletes to the civil rights attorneys. That's their lane. Mine is connecting the dots between stories. And I want to share one that illustrates the issues with what happened yesterday.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Hallelujah 🙌 that I escaped that part of my brainwashed upbringing. We cannot let that same thinking spread and grow. #TexasEducation
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Even back in the day, one could say it wasn't forced/required participation because students could simply ignore it. But they still had to hear it. The school administration put the full weight of their authority behind promoting one brand of religion. That's not okay.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
So I say with 100% confidence... RELIGION DOES NOT BELONG IN SCHOOLS.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Little-known fun fact: I was the student body Chaplain in my junior and senior years of high school. Yes, that happens (hopefully at this point I can say happenED) in Alabama. I read daily devotionals and lead silent prayer over the intercom every single morning during homeroom.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
open.substack.com/pub/debijack...
open.substack.com
They Left the Kids Out of It. Until Now.
On the weaponization of child protective services against LGBTQ+ families — and why what happened to Pete Buttigieg this week should alarm everyone.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
I wrote about all of it — because none of these stories are isolated, and I'm always thinking about the bigger picture. Link in comments. Please share if it moves you. 💙
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
I kept that folder for years. I kept a copy in the car. Parents of trans kids have been living with this threat for a long time. And now the door is opening to same-sex families again.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
In it: Avery's diagnosis, mental health records, and character reference letters from neighbors, friends, and clergy, ready to hand to an investigator who might show up because someone decided that affirming my child was abuse.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
And then the fury set in. Because this isn't new to me. Fifteen years ago, when Avery was four — the same age as Pete's twins — I was warned to keep a folder by my front door.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
The unthinkable happened — an accusation and a separation. Feeling the overwhelming parental instinct to protect while simultaneously knowing that outside forces are going to prevent you from protecting. I hurt for them.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
When I first heard what Pete Buttigieg and his family experienced this week, I felt sick to my stomach. I'm sure you did, too, especially if you are a parent.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Awwww, I love it!!! It’s in the style of my other tattoos. And it’s probably better than what I’ve thought about — paw prints for the 22 weezies I’ve had.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
The false — Trump said in the Oval Office that six states are taking children and performing gender procedures without parents' knowledge. No states do this. It isn't true. But it's the justification being used for all of the above.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
The scary — A federal judge declined the class action that would have given families nationwide protection from the DOJ's campaign to seize trans kids' medical records. Each subpoena now has to be fought hospital by hospital.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
The infuriating — Cleveland Clinic is now the second major hospital to agree to open a detransition clinic and stop providing gender-affirming care to minors — after settling with the DOJ. The Texas Children's template is spreading.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
The complicated — New York City opened its first trans clinic. It won't serve anyone under 19. Even in New York, the fear of federal funding clawbacks is shaping what care is available to trans youth.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
The past week in trans healthcare: The good — Hawai'i signed a shield law protecting trans patients, parents, and providers from being prosecuted by other states. debijackson.substack.com/p/the-state-...
debijackson.substack.com
The State of Trans Healthcare Right Now
A week in review: one state leading, one city flinching, two hospitals capitulating, one court ruling that leaves families exposed, and a president saying something that isn't true.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I needed this story this week. I think a lot of you might, too. Full essay is in here — please share it if it moves you. 💙
open.substack.com
His Name Is Jonas
And a Mississippi community showed up for him.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
His community filled 1,300 Facebook comments with his chosen name. Advocates showed up. Strangers rallied. And Jonas walked to the podium at graduation and said: "A lot of you know me as Jonas." He closed by telling his whole class to be themselves no matter who tries to stop them.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Jonas Hole is 18 years old, trans, and was his high school's salutatorian. His school tried to erase him — deadnamed him in the announcement, apparently altered his photo, excluded five other trans students from the yearbook entirely.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I earn my name on Substack (Debi Downer) by writing about heavy things — including my kickoff to Pride month. Today I needed to write something joyful. And I found it in Biloxi, Mississippi, of all places. 🏳️‍🌈
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
It's a story I've heard from hundreds of people.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Absolutely, it's a mindset. Think of a closeted kid who can't tell their family who they really are and need to wait until they are in a safe place to come out. That's a form of fighting. It's protecting themself until they are free enough to be who they are.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
I think regrouping and trying a different approach is fighting. Self-care is fighting. Fighting means surviving. Fighting means not letting them win. Fighting means sharing joyful moments with others. All of it is resistance and resistance = fighting to me.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Their goal is to wear us down. The exhaustion is real, but we can always find some joy to keep our momentum going. I have a joyful story as my next essay! I need to wait a couple of days for the algorithms to recognize both...but wait for it. It will make you smile.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
The resistance is real. It is out-financed. It is outgunned. It matters anyway.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
And multiple federal judges blocked DOJ subpoenas for trans kids' records, calling the investigations "motivated only by bad faith."
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
A federal appeals court called the transgender military ban motivated by "the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group" and upheld an injunction — while the Supreme Court's stay keeps the ban in effect anyway.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
The Senate held a hearing titled "Protecting Our Children: Exposing the Dangers of Irreversible Gender Transition Procedures on Minors" — a conclusion dressed as a premise.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
The DOJ issued criminal subpoenas to more than 20 hospitals demanding the medical records and identities of trans youth, and the names of the parents who took them to the doctor.
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Debi Jackson @the-debijackson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Welcome to Pride Month. This is the week we got: A federal "Don't Say Trans" bill passed the House — with eight Democrats voting for it.
open.substack.com
Pride Month. And This.
The first week of June 2026, in review.
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