The BFFI Ground Truth: the Point of Poor Return

The TWP Research Collective produced the first rating on 2024 candidates’ positions on reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, the (Primary) Bodily Freedom Forever Index (BFFI). So we compiled as much data as we could find to report on each person running in that election and asked them where they stood on the issues. Our data showed us that we had 803 people use this index on the day of the election even though we got it out a little later than we wanted to.

So now onto the General Election! We believe it is critical that voters understand candidates’ positions on these basic, non-negotiable human rights. Expect to have that index in time for the early voting begin for our General Election this October 16th.

Why are we doing this?
Anti-LGBT+ activists are seeking positions on your school committees and town councils to begin to strip away hard-won rights for certain populations. In the past they focused on CRT, race related history, xenophobia… these challenges are not new, just a different population to focus their white supremacy.

As you might have read from us, a number of far right extremists are going from school board to school board demanding that each one in RI abandon the state policy on protections for trans students (read it here). There are sympathetic school board members and community members in these meetings. This poses a very real danger to some of our most vulnerable young people.

TWP staff have been to 27 of the 28 such meetings so far. Sometimes as the only ally. But now that this clear danger to trans students is more recognized, more allies are showing up. In the past two weeks, TWP staff showed up or organized supporters to stand with our LGBTQ+ community at several meetings, meeting 72 fellow advocates in five meetings these last two weeks.

And we have a few stories we want to share.

• In Warwick on 9/11, a wide range of allies stood up to testify, from a trans student’s poignant narrative of life in that school district to parents and members of the clergy taking turns denouncing hate.

• The next night it was on to East Providence and the beautiful new high school where the local community responded to our calls for action with teachers, parents and members of the LGBTQ+ community talking about how they love and support their trans students.  Unfortunately, that was followed by the Moms for Liberty rep’s message of hatred and denial that trans folks exist.

• New Shoreham got the word he was coming on 9/16 and organized a fabulous reception, again supporting trans students and making that carpetbagger know he was unwelcomed on Block Island. He took to social media to complain about it!

• Then it was Johnston’s turn on Tuesday the 17th. In that conservative town, the only supportive voices were a TWP staff member and a trans woman, among 20+ anti-LGBTQ+ activists. After the traveling hater gave his sad anti-trans diatribe, several others, including two teachers, spoke against the trans student protections, relying on hearsay, bad science and conspiracy theories for their arguments. Then the trans woman walked through that audience and gave a heartfelt message of support for trans-students, as she has at other meetings. Unlike in Warwick, East Providence, New Shoreham, and many other towns, no one cheered for her, thanked her, or even recognized her bravery. But we do!

The people in Johnston aren’t any different than the people in your town. Except no one there was willing to face down the hate, for whatever reason.

No matter what you think about your community, these anti-LGBTQ+ forces are organized in RI and looking to begin dismantling safety, crushing hope, and erasing trans people’s identities. That is where they are testing the waters now.

Once started, they will not stop. In towns like East Providence and Warwick, there are anti-trans student allies being ushered into school board and town council seats because they won their primary election.

That is why TWP and allies show up. And that is why we built the Bodily Freedom Forever Index. No matter what happens at the national level, it is the local elections that will most affect your right to bodily freedom. We are watching it in action in Rhode Island right now. And that is why we are doing what we are doing. But we need your help. There are many other towns like Johnston, and we need to show up.

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Join us in securing the right to bodily freedom for all.

Become an anonymous member of the Research Collective
Join us at a school committee meeting.
Donate to help us get out the word the BFFI exists.

Or help us with all of it!

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Because again, what happens in Washington will affect us, but not as much as who gets elected into our towns this year. Join us!