Trans journalist Erin Reed has published a list of Democratic midterm candidates with anti-trans records, and the question she is forcing is one the party would rather not answer: if trans voters keep rewarding Democrats who harm them, what signal does that send? The calculation is real, the stakes are high, and there is no clean answer.
Do people not realize Republicans won in their messaging? Everything related to trans support is MUCH lower than it was before. The best democrats can do is dogwhistle support, because it’s very unpopular right now, which it’s horrible that’s the case but thats not the fault of the politicians who are trying to improve things.
They won in their messaging because no one defended it and instead caved to support it.
Dems have lost in all messaging. They won’t push the quality of living and problems of capitalism, instead they agree to attack trans people.
There are a few exceptions, and they do well in their respective places when they actually push back. But most are cowards.
Short Answer: Baby/Bath water idiom
Long Answer: Dems lose elections because sub groups hate someone they have 98% in common with than someone who likes to bomb children.
If you aren’t voting for AOC, shut up with the bombing of children, most top dems support israel too
I disagree strongly with the Democratic party. I despise a good deal of their platform, and am disgusted with about 90% of those that are elected. To me, they are an insult and an embarrassment.
… and I still voted for them in the last national election. Nobody likes them.
You vote for them because they are more likely to change their tune than a republican.
Plus you do everything to make their life miserable until he changes his mind.
Choosing between the party where every elected official wants to unalive you, vs the party where only a handful want to do the same…
Yeah, that is a tough one. Really difficult decision, there.
In the places where the blue candidate is a transphobe, it’s transphobe vs transphobe
Yes, but if Dems remain in the minority, it’ll still be a Republican majority, giving them more time to dismantle democracy even further.
It’s the bigger picture which is most important. You cannot create lasting local change without removing the autocratic boot from above.
I mean, yes, let’s make these transphobe Dems as uncomfortable as possible. But America needs to roll back the fascism and authoritarianism, first. Without that first step, every other positive action is a house built on sand - it can be blown away from the top with infinite ease. And then it’s 1939 Germany all over again with pink triangles and pogroms aplenty.
And honestly, I see that outcome as the much, much worse one.
Yes, but if Dems remain in the minority, it’ll still be a Republican majority, giving them more time to dismantle democracy even further.
And if the transphobic Dems vote with the Republicans, trans people lose anyway. Democrats don’t do party discipline, so the anti-trans laws get passed anyway under the guise of “concessions”, so heads you’re dead, tails you’re still dead but someone somewhere feels bad about it.
The real problem is that no transphobic dem is capable of saving democracy.
Transphobic democrats are, at their very core, spineless cowards. They hold no real beliefs. There is no core to them. They simply follow the polls and hope to obtain power. They seek power for its own sake, not for what good they hope to do with it.
What the “blue no matter who” crowd forget is that saving democracy is unpopular. To truly save democracy, we’re going to have to pass unpopular laws. We’re going to have to rein in the power of the presidency. We’re going to have to dismantle the post-9/11 security state. We’re going to have to abolish ICE. But each of those things will result in headlines that Republicans will make great political hay out of. Abolish ICE? Some illegal immigrant is going to kill a white girl, and Republicans will be talking about it for years. Dismantling the surveillance state will actually mean we get hit with a few more terrorist attacks than we otherwise would.
Transphobe democracts are not going to save democracy. Saving democracy requires politicians who will look voters in the eye and say, “this is going to kill some Americans. I’m willing to let some Americans die if it means we save American democracy. Democracy is worth dying for.” Can you imagine any of these spineless TERF democrats having that kind of moral conviction?
Democrats who vote against trans rights will also vote against any bill that’s meant to seriously reinforce democracy. You can’t save democracy by voting in transphobes. They lack the moral courage to save it.
I’ll get downvoted to hell for it, but you failed to include a valid third choice: not voting for either if they don’t represent your values.
Behold, the results of the “valid 3rd choice.”
Ah yes.
Choosing nothing over the least bad option when the final decision effects everyone.
What a hero.
choosing not to vote for the dnc is a valid long play, at the cost of risking republican victory in the short term, the length of the time is decided by the democrats.
vote for people who potray your values. people who claim that not voting for someone because they are only 2% off from acceptable vastly misrepresents the sheer % i disagree with the democratic platform based on their actions, and not their lies they tell near voting time
Sure, that’s an option. But all you’re doing is leaving the choice up to everyone else. No amount of abstention is going to shift this system into having more than 2 meaningful political parties.
If you really wanna say that neither candidate will produce a result you would prefer over the other, even if both are distasteful to you - then great, don’t vote. When my only two useful options are between a warm hell and a hot hell, I will be casting my vote for the warm hell - and then using my time before the next election to try to get people to push for a less shitty Dem next time.
Many people will fail to make it, unfortunately. Many of them in this comment section.
The problem is voting strategically does feel good. People would rather have a clear conscience and evil government than an OK government and the feeling of having voted for a schmuck because the other schmuck was also a fascist.
Careful now; America is clear they want to brand anything they deem as “trans activism” as “terrorism”. While also being vague on what they count as “trans activism”.
Vote for them and then get them to have pro-trans rights views. Like we did with Obama and gay marriage.
That’s one way to do it. Sounds like throwing in the towel at first, but if their strategy was to shift the Overton Window, it might not be a bad plan to shift it right back.
I’m so tired of these people touching kids and then fucking with trans folks.
I mean it’s pretty shit, but what are we gonna do, vote in the Republicans? I’m sure that will help trans people even more /s
Sadly, I don’t have a bettet suggestion. This pro-Israel shit with dems is also a problem though. There’s got to be a better way.
I’ve started getting involved with my local Democratic Party. I no longer consider myself a Democrat, but they don’t need to know that, and I figure if I’m able to get more up close and personal, influence people in real time that would be a much better option than just not voting for these anti trans democrats or doing nothing.
This is the best tactic for those who can do it
MLK supported getting less bad segregationists elected during the early stages of the civil rights movement because they were easier to work with, do we still have segregation today? If trans people in sports is the only contention and they agree on everything else, then that’s progress. We can fight on the trans people in sports point next primary. Let’s also not forget that Donald Trump is trying to end Democracy entirely and will oppress more than just trans people.
Enforced by explicit law? No, we don’t have segregation anymore. In schooling, the work force, housing, literally all forms of resource distribution? Pretty much yes.
Or it backfires if enough semi-transphobes get seats in Congress and join forces with the GOP on the issue, and this trans rights will be further set back.
Don’t tolerate the intolerant. If the GOP wins, the anger of the people builds. It should’ve happened years ago, but here we are. Americans have become too distracted and complacent.
Trump and the GOP are merely symptoms of problems within the average American consumeristic voter. And now with the attraction of social media outrage clickbait, Trump and the GOP are leveraging this for even more attention and notoriety.
Fuck off with the “it’s better to elect the GOP so they make people more angry” bullshit logic. That’s just stupid accelerationist thinking.
You probably have the privilege of being cis, so telling someone to fuck off because they’re defending someone who’s vulnerable isn’t very on-brand for a liberal.
Actually, yeah it is. You only care about money and property, like every other American. That supersedes human rights.
Your opportunistic lib candidates will absolutely sell out the queer community to maintain their seat. After all, capitalism is their thing too. They just like to mask it behind platitudes and promises.
You’re not defending anyone. You’re making it easier for the GOP to erase all of our rights, including the rights of trans people.
Maybe cis people should keep their mouths shut and not lecture trans people on how to advance for our own rights. Maybe have the humility to realize people understand their needs better than you do.
You may understand your needs better, but you apparently don’t understand our electoral system. That’s why I’m here to educate you. You are welcome!
And then liberals wonder why people refuse to vote for them, out of no other reason than a rejection of liberal arrogance.
One of the best responses I’ve heard was from the Professional Left:
(Starting around the 26:30 mark)
Boils down to: Democrats can be educated, Republicans will destroy you. Quite possibly in the literal sense.
Ranked choice voting so we stop having to pick terrible Democrats. Gaining prevalence in local elections!
We had that in Washington State but both parties worked to abolish it, saying that we were somehow too stupid to understand it.
I hate them both sooooo much.
They do not want ranked choice voting because that would make them lose power
Democrats can only maintain their position as controlled opposition if they control the party and can override primaries. If the people actually get a choice, then they become the people’s party and stand in opposition to the billionaire class.
We would have class war and eventually develop a strong state, similar to China, where billionaires get life sentences for bribery and can be fined and jailed for trying to undermine the state. China is so strict that it treats corrupt billionaires and government officials like we treat terrorists. There’s no legal maneuvering. They freeze your legal rights to conduct the investigation and trial, so that you cannot continue your corruption. China is a true state where leaders run the government, not businesses, whereas the United States is an oligarchy devolving into a system where private business owners run the government (fascism).
Hell. China has executed sixteen billionaires.
Private business owners have always run the government. From the founding to today
So make them fucking stop. “We’ve always done it this way” is the worst possible excuse for maintaining status quo. Just because things have always been shit doesn’t mean they are cursed to always remain shit. They are, but only unless and until people do something about it.
Voting for them doesn’t make them stop.
Best evidence here to support how important it’s established nationally
Pro corpo Dems run WA state and likely will for a very long time. The latest evidence of corruption and ethics violations that are just swept under the rug and ignored are a really bad sign.
Seems to be getting worse as many Democrats from red states migrate here as they are just happy to vote for anyone with a DNC endorsement. They’ll completely ignore the other dem candidates who want change in this state.
believe it or not, also guillotine.
I just don’t get the obsession with transgender people. What did they ever do other than just wanting to be left alone? Did a bunch of them bomb a bunch orphanages with burning puppies running out of the flaming building?
It’s the classic fascist tactic of scapegoating a minority, as part of fascist strategy. Look up how fascism works, that is a big part of it.
It’s a greatly exaggerated/manufactured culture war topic for the purpose of distracting from the very real class war.
It’s not a coincidence that anti-trans rhetoric started around the same time the war on terror started losing its effectiveness as an excuse and the 1% narrative was starting to take root.
The ignorati believe that transfolk are grooming their little tax breaks. Which of course is wholly untrue. In fact, Christians are the only ones to have the god given right to groom not only their own larvae, but ALL parasites - foreign and domestic for the sole purpose to turn them into mindless and obedient hatemongers, just like their worshipped lord and savior.
Authoritarian personalities agress toward outgroups who violate traditional norms, including socially traditional gender roles. They become a scapegoat during times of capitalistic economic uncertainty.
We’re in part of the cycle where liberal democracy decays and fascism flourishes. A core tenet of fascist ideology is the championing of the in-group with religious fervor and nationalistic pride. This is seen as a populist way to “save the country,” when the real problem is capitalism and the exploitation of workers. This is why fascists demonize socialists, communists and even liberals.
Both the GOP (conservatives) and the far left (tankies) can reflect this personality type.
They’re an easy target because they’re a small minority and it’s easy to convince people who aren’t educated in the subject that they’re doing harm by letting men into women’s spaces and making children change gender
They’re a pawn that bigots like to use to rile their base and distract from other issues. With enough enthusiasm, a concerted effort can make about anything the enemy to rally against. It’s mostly fear mongering, but also has a serious detrimental effect to those being targeted.
Lyndon B. Johnson: “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
Nonwhite, trans, gay, feminist, non-Christian, furry, etc – substitute at will for the latest boogeyman.
Exactly. They’ll take any group and demonize the “other” just to have someone they can point fingers at. It’s all distraction. Sadly, trans people are the “other” of the moment. Historically, this shit doesn’t end well, and when they’re done with trans people they’ll “other” another group.
There is a large contingent of voters that are deeply religious and hate them. They are trying to appeal to those voters. America is still one of the most religious countries in the world.
There is a large contingent of voters that are deeply religious and hate them.
This is what I am asking about. Why? What is the bug up religious people’s asses about transgender people.
Because they’re devil worshipers. A large portion of so-called Christians actually worship Satan. You worship hate, you’re following the Devil, not God. Some people are just evil.
The claim is that transgender people are rejecting the body God gave them. It’s hypocritical though because most of them don’t have an issue with physically disabled people getting medical care to treat their disabilities. My aunt is transphobic, though too incoherent to admit it, and she is also against blood transfusions and IVF on the grounds that they’re against God’s will. She’s a hypocrite and would be dead from cancer without medical treatment.
Their argument usually is that God doesn’t make mistakes and trying to change the gender you’re born with is just flaunting him or something. It’s not a rational argument, their book or their pastor says it’s unnatural and they follow like the little sheep their are.
Divide and conquer
Hey those puppies were Hamas /s
I like how its always a minorities job to vote against their own self interest “for the greater good” and not the job of a Democratic politician to not throw them under the bus. Especially with how seemingly extremely important this one demographic is if a significant portion of said demographic not voting will cause the candidate to lose.
Exactly. I’m frankly sick and fucking tired of cis people telling trans people how they know our needs so much better than we do. The hubris is astounding.
Yeah the constant through line on every one of these kinds of posts from people that minorities of any type are too stupid to understand that Republicans are bad for them or something is kinda gross. Like basically every left-leaning minority person discussing Democrat politicians falling short gets that republican policies are typically worse, the issue is not having a good alternative that’s not still bad, and choosing not to vote for them is based on that, not some notion that they’ll be better off under a republican. The whole point of voting is supposed to be that your vote gives you leverage to influence politicians to take your stance (or more accurately to convince you of that to keep people from doing actions that actually meaningfully affect change).
Saying “vote blue no matter who” or whatever equivalent of you should vote for a democrat no matter what just allows democrats to ignore that supposed leverage and hold voters hostage by using MAGA as a point of leverage to try and force people to vote for them. There’s a reason that Trump never got arrested under Biden, or barred from office, and Democrats kept preaching unity rather than consequences. They directly benefit from MAGA existing.
Trump isn’t even the problem at the end of the day, he’s a symptom of a much deeper problem that won’t be fixed by just electing a Democrat majority for 8 years straight, much less for one election. The entire US was founded on racism, sexism, and classism, and those were written into the foundation of the electoral college, the senate, the house, and everythting else. The democrats have no incentive to fix that though as long as they keep winning roughly 50% of the time and can get their money and help their corporate backers.
Anyway sorry for the rant lol, I’m just also frustrated by the number of cis people in this post saying dismissive or kinda transphobic things and being upvoted for it lol.
Yeah. It’s pure arrogance. What they refuse to admit is that sometimes the only power minorities have, the only way we can actually influence anything, is to be willing to act as a spoiler if we’re betrayed by our leaders.
Of course, the cis mansplainers in this thread don’t want minorities actually exercising independent power. They want our votes, but not our voices.
Not for the greater good - for their own good. Even if you only care about one issue (and justifiably so), and both candidates are on the wrong side of that issue, it is likely that one of them is far worse on that issue than the other. It doesn’t have to feel good to vote for the someone who stands in opposition to your interests, but it is better than letting the person who stands in opposition to your existence win.
My issue isn’t whether voting for a democratic candidate or not is better overall as a trans person, I think basically every trans person in the US knows that policy wise a democrat will, at worst, be the same as the republican they’re running against on trans rights specifically, and at least a bit better on some others. (There is a consistent belief on every one of these posts that somehow trans people don’t understand that as well, which is a different issue lol)
The point is that if a politician doesn’t lose support/votes for taking an anti-trans position, then there’s nothing punishing them for taking that position. That’s the argument being made about how voting for an anti-trans democrat is voting against your own good, not because of their policy specifically, but because by voting for them in spite of it you send a signal that their position on trans issues can be the same as a republicans as long as they’re marginally better than one in other ways.
For what its worth, I’m trans and am planning on voting for all Democrats in the midterms, even though I’m disappointed in a few of them. However, there are a couple candidates mentioned in this article specifically (namely cuellar + kaptur and a few others) where I think not voting for them has a very strong argument I’d consider if I lived in those states.
If a an anti-trans Democrat loses to a more anti-trans Republican, the lesson they learn is they should have been more anti-trans to win.
Not voting assists the rightward ratchet. Nobody can hear your silence.
If a an anti-trans Democrat loses to a more anti-trans Republican, the lesson they learn is they should have been more anti-trans to win.
That’s an insane statement. A Democrat takes a fringe position not generally supported by the party and loses. Therefore, that must mean they should become even more fringe.
That dog don’t hunt.
The ones making bad statements about trans people in sports are running in states/districts with relatively conservative voter bases. These sentiments are not fringe for these areas; in fact, they are tamer than those of the average local voter. If Democrats continue to lose to Republicans there, it’s not “insane” for them to conclude that their constituents prefer the Republicans’ policy positions.
You’re just fucking yourself by letting the greater evil (the one that actually wants you dead) win.
If an anti trans Dem loses to a more anti trans Rep, the lesson they will learn from this is that they should be more anti trans to sway even just a single republican voter. Democrats don’t care about you or your interests they just want money from their overlords, and those overlords love it when the proletariat is mauling itself
That’s piss-poor logic. Democrats have already moved far to the left on Gaza/Palestine, precisely because Kamala lost. They didn’t move further towards Zionism.
If someone said “I want to kill you humanely” and their opponent just said “I want to kill you”, I think the rest of us wouldn’t be chastising you for refusing to vote for either. This is an issue easy for cis people to counsel a cost-benefit analysis on, but it’s deeply personal for the victims.
If these politicians think throwing them under the bus will net them votes that’s on the politician to prove, not for their victims to support.
I’m cis myself, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a very personal stake in this fight. I have yet to hear of a Democrat politician that thinks trans people should die - I wish I could say the same about republican politicians.
They have though. Once you support one policy against trans people based on nothing more than unscientific fear and bigotry, there’s no logical reason you can’t support all of them. Trans women have no advantage in sports; it’s based on nothing but stereotypes. And every place that’s started with sports restrictions have moved on to far more restrictions.
Here’s what I would like to see these transphobe dems suggest. Put your money where your mouth is. Propose compromise legislation that actually does what you say your policies are. Are sports really what you care about? Fine. Pass a national law that says:
- Sports are based on assigned gender at birth.
- No state or federal law can restrict access to trans medical care, for trans people of any age.
- All states and the federal government must protect access to correct IDs.
- Enshrine trans anti-discrimination into federal law.
Is this really about sports? Fine. Fucking act like it. If this really were about sports, I think most trans people would happily trade a ban on sports participation in turn for all of our other rights being firmly protected and enshrined in federal law.
I don’t believe that most politicians of either party actually give a fuck about women’s sports in general - they certainly never have before this issue came up. For cowardly democrats on the anti-trans side of the sports issue, they simply see this as a way to avoid appearing too “woke” to independents and conservative democrats, while only directly affecting the handful of mtf athletes among their constituents.
I fully agree that most trans folk and their loved ones would gladly cede the sports issue in exchange for some real protections - I certainly would.
I’m not saying that these anti-trans democrats are trustworthy; I’m saying they are motivated by poll numbers, not personal animosity. Losing won’t motivate them to do better unless they lose to someone with better values - that’s why we can teach them lessons in the primaries but not in the general election. If they lose in the general, the lesson they will take is that they weren’t conservative enough, so withholding your vote at that point is counter-productive.
The republicans want to pass bills that will make life overtly harder for trans folk, beyond sports and even bathroom use. The priority right now is to take away their majorities in the House and Senate, so that those bills can’t even be brought to the floor for a vote. Beyond that we have to hold them accountable during their term, and we can primary them next time around. There is no situation in which withholding votes from Democrats in the general results in better outcomes for trans people.
Another cis person telling trans people they know better. Mansplaining at its finest.
Doing nothing while bloodthirsty bigots march into power unopposed is still ‘voting against self interest’. The consequences are simply far more immediate and far harder to counter.
Every year I understand more why some old people welcome death. Fuck this place. Humanity is a blight
There’s a concept in psychodynamic psychology referred to as Thanatos, which is a subconscious death wish. Humans often work against their own best interests to accelerate their mortality.
There’s a whole death cult based on that. They’re called MAGA and they want everyone to die so they can be raptured.
