Post SB-6 Hearing (with some personal happy bits) #stopSB6

So I’m sad (albeit not overly surprised) that the committee on SB6 voted the way it did (7-1 to send to the full senate). Even if this bill doesn’t make forward even having it debated is going to have negative impacts on communities I care about. But I want to focus on things I’m thankful for from yesterday.

The testimony itself got off to a rocky start (thankfully I was in a workshop at the time), but looking at the oppose side in the afternoon/evening/following morning was encouraging. People from all different backgrounds took the time and energy to share their deeply personal stories about the potential impact of the bill, with the hearings lasting until a bit after 4am. It was difficult to listen to much of the testimony without crying but having those stories told (as much as possible in 2 minutes) for the record seems like a good thing. I am happy I had a chance to add my own testimony as well .

Seeing all of the people staying until the wee hours to support their friends was really nice.

The reactions from the Austin Apache Spark Meetup where really wonderful ( https://www.meetup.com/austin-spark-meetup/ ). I gave a talk on debugging, but also included my (now usual) slide explaining that I’m a queer-trans-canadian who considers herself a part of the broader leather community. I also added a slide asking people to oppose SB6 so that I can return to Texas and continue to enjoy their fine BBQ & people were very supportive of this. Before the meetup one of the organizers told me that the group # was his lucky # and good luck. After the meetup one person went down to the capitol building to register their opposition, another told me how they had already contacted their senator. I also had the pleasure of chatting with another person in some of the same communities as me. One attendee offered to come wait with me if I needed a friend while I was waiting to testify or drop off coffee or snacks. Another started crying when I summarized what SB6 would do. As someone who works everyday in the Apache Spark community having these reactions made me feel loved and my existence respected in a way that its importance is difficult to overstate.

The local slack channel keeping the updates about group numbers while I was giving my meetup talk so I wasn’t super stressed about missing my slot (which ended up at 4am).

And while I wasn’t able to get anyone from the IBM diversity workshop I was attending to join, having a chance to and having my employer publicly in the opposition - https://twitter.com/IBMpolicy/status/836992724926615552 makes a difference.

Having both strangers (and friends) be supportive on twitter even when talking about SB6.

Having Bryan Van de Ven meet me on the steps of the capitol building to help me find where to register to speak in time and also calm me down.

The random older British lady who stopped us on our way out to ask if we were there for SB6 and say she was completely with us and SB6 was bloody stupid (paraphrased

Being around other trans & queer folk for listening to much of the testimony.

Having people to run my testimony by, including my wife, my parents, and some local friends so I wasn’t so stressed about saying the “wrong” thing.

Being in the group next to Bryan and getting to wait with him (and take the occasional disco nap on his shoulder) while we waited for our turns to testify at the capitol building.

Having Boo with me to keep me from stressing out too much while I gave my testimony.

All of this good doesn’t erase the bad, but for me it's important to write down the good too since otherwise all I remember is the hate.

Happy International Women's Day y’all & #stopSB6.