“We’re seeing a war against trans individuals being waged by our federal government, and we, as citizens, need to be willing to step up and say this is not OK,” Kluwe said. “The Democratic Party has taken a very defensive posture on trans issues when that’s the absolute wrong thing to do. You don’t make a bully go away by cowering in the corner and say, I’ll agree with you on these little things. That just encourages the bully.
“We need to be full-throated in the attack, saying these are people who pay taxes, who serve in our military, and who are entitled to the exact same rights that every single other American is entitled to, which includes health care and the opportunity to live a prosperous life. We can’t be afraid of the right-wing fear machine. We have to take it to them, show that we’re willing to fight.”
There is plenty of nuance in the “trans community”, with positions on transphobic dems that run the gamunt from I’ll hold my nose and vote for them to since they obviously decided they don’t need my vote I’ll not vote for them.
I can appreciate that if you don’t know anything about trans people or how the hateful right wing works you might think that there’s some concern about social-only trans women stealing scholarships from cis women due to some inherent hormonal advantage. But this simply does not happen..
It’s a hateful dog-whistle sounded by a group who wants to first ban all trans girls from any sport regardless of age or hormone, and then shut down all girls sports when no parent is willing to subject their daughter to an invasive exam.
And while I don’t mean to suggest that all such Dems are strong transphobes, if they’re not willing to fight when someone is under attack I don’t think they’re fit for the job anyway.
If this is the case, then why fight so hard against Dems that suggest feel differently, either legitimately, or to win a seat?
Honestly, I agree that there’s tons of nuance to the conversation, and neither side makes it about nuance. Which makes it hard to know what either side even wants.
My point is that I’ve heard democrats say things that seem reasonable, and saw the trans community rail against them. They might have fought for trans people in other ways, but now there’s no point.
Because bigotry and hate always get dressed up in ways that feel reasonable. Pick any hateful position of the last hundred years, and we can find both the gentleel start and the naked abuse at its end.
Like what?
The most recent Dem to make a transphobic splash is Josh Turek, nomineee for Senator from Iowa. I’ll grab a paragraph and highlight the offensive part, just in case you don’t see it.
https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/iowa-josh-turek-transgender-ad
Turek made a splash just before this with a clip that talked about Christian love for trans folk. And then he went on to misgender every trans femm athlete, diminish every cis femm athlete, and promise to deny all trans-gender affirming care for any government employee, senior citizen, disabled person, or person living in poverty.
I’ll presume that you don’t think this is “reasonable.”. But way too often people who express mildly transphobic views like “I don’t want social-only trans girls playing sports!” have equally odious prejudice that they’re just hiding.
You might be right while also being wrong that some of these issues are about bigotry and hate.
I would not have used his quote as something that was reasonable. Calling a trans woman a male is an easy way to show you’re a piece of shit.
Is there a practical difference between the Nazi who cheers as you’re put into a death train and the liberal who stands there with a frown?
Or, to have a more reasonable discussion, can you point to who you think expressed a reasonable position trans voters are unreasonably upset at?
I guess because some democrats think trans women shouldn’t play women sports, they’re basically the same as Hitler. lol.
No, they’re the Germans who stood by and did nothing.
And while most transphobic bigots are less terrible than Hitler,.I’m not sure how bad the prejudice had to be before we’re allowed to care.
I know. It’s still a very stupid comparison. “I can’t play on the team that I want to play on, I’m just like the Jewish people in the holocaust!” That’s how this reads.
I don’t disagree that there are a lot of transphobic bigots in this world, and they genuinely want trans people to be miserable. But my entire point is, you will label somebody a transphobic bigot when they are actually incredibly supportive of trans people in most ways, but just have a difference of opinion on very few issues.
Also:
It’s not can’t play on the team I want, it’s can’t play at all and am publicly identified as other.
Objecting to this as trivial is like arguing that forcing gays to wear pink triangles or jews to wear yellow stars of david was reasonable and not a prelude to the extermination camps
You keep saying this and yet have never produced an example.
Which is either because you personally are mildly transphobic, or you went looking and can’t find any candidate who was both accused of transphobia and not confirmed as such on closed inspection.
Citation needed.
Citation needed
No citation needed, because obviously claiming that there’s no point fighting for the rights of people who exercise their right to dissent and express grievances is fucking batshit crazy! 🤦🏻
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/09/coward-democrat-confronted-by-angry-constituents-for-opposing-trans-equality/
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/09/coward-democrat-confronted-by-angry-constituents-for-opposing-trans-equality/
https://www.kqed.org/news/12101538/newsom-signs-new-protections-for-lgbtq-reproductive-rights
https://www.npr.org/2024/07/16/nx-s1-5041437/california-bans-school-rules-requiring-parents-notification-of-childs-pronoun-change
I’m sure there’s others, and I’m sure they’re not good enough for you. Which I argue is the problem.
My point is these people ARE fighting for trans rights. But when they say anything at all that goes against what the community wants, all of a sudden none of that means anything anymore.
Nothing about banning trans people from sports is reasonable…
Nobody is banning trans people from sports. That’s not even a discussion.
Yes they are. Trans athletes are banned from playing on their teams.
That’s a much more specific statement than you’re other one, and you know it. You intentionally misrepresent what is being proposed to make it sound worse.
They’re not being banned from sports. They’re being told which team they’re allowed to join. It’s significantly different.
Yeah, they’re not banned from participating in sports, they’re just banned from participating together with their peers, essentially forcing them to deny their identity to participate. Not much of a choice, that.
And that’s not even going into the fact that trans women statistically are more at risk for sexual assault than any other demographic (yes, even moreso than cis women) and male athletes are amongst the most frequent sex offenders.
So yeah, not so fucking reasonable!