For the communinny

And a pony.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced the launch of a new guaranteed income program for the city’s transgender community on Wednesday.

Why? Why them in particular? Why not people who need it rather than a particular “community”?

The Guaranteed Income for Trans People (GIFT) Program will provide low-income transgender residents with $1,200 each month, up to 18 months to help address financial insecurity within the community.

Why?

The city also said that the new pilot program is the first guaranteed income initiative to focus solely on transgender people and will provide 55 eligible participants with temporary income. Additionally, the city said it will provide the same individuals with “wrap-around” direct services, such as gender-affirming medical and mental health care, case management, specialty care services and financial coaching.

Why? Why them in particular?

“We know that our trans communities experience much higher rates of poverty and discrimination, so this program will target support to lift individuals in this community up. We will keep building on programs like this to provide those in the greatest need with the financial resources and services to help them thrive,” said Mayor London Breed in a statement.

Transgender communities, experience poverty and economic instability at disproportionate rates according to the city.

“The US Transgender Survey, which is the only largescale study of trans people in the United States, in 2015 found that 33% of trans people in California were living in poverty,” said Pau Crego with the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives.

Is that a good reason to give them but not other people living in poverty a guaranteed income?

“We hope that our guaranteed income program will be the beginning of a reparative process to change the inequities experienced by our communities, help them survive in a world that is constantly debating their right to exist, and empower them to engage in healthcare services in a meaningful and life-changing way,” said JM Jaffe, executive director of Lyon-Martin Community Health Services.

Which “communities” though?

That’s the trouble with this robotic stale language: you can’t tell what the hell they’re talking about or what they think they mean by it. It’s just a group of units of goodspeak, which don’t actually tell us anything. Reparative process, inequities experienced, debating their right to exist, empower them, meaningful – the phrases are like a stack of poker chips. Arrange them in pretty combinations and that’s the job done for today.

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