“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.”
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
I don’t even know where this is coming from. Even the people referring to trans women as boys (who are bigots), are not saying trans people can’t play at all. You’re making this up.
And publicly identified as “other”? I’ve never head this. But it sounds made up as well. Certainly not something supported by people on the left.
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.
I’ll take this deflection as an admission that your nazi point was stupid.
Look, I shard articles yesterday from a different comment where people have been very supportive of trans people, but disagree on the issue of sports, and they have been labeled transphobic for it. It’s no worth copying and pasting cause you and I probably disagree on what constitutes a transphobic bigot, so what’s the point?
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!
Adding nuance is great, as it helps identify the actual issues and discussion actual solutions.
But do you see how saying “Trans people are being banned from sports” is an intentionally manipulative way representing the issue? I see stuff like this all the time on here, and it gets tiring.
I’ll be honest, I see manipulative language in your comment as well.
Male/female sports isn’t about “playing with your peers”. Also, there’s a further nuance that NOBODY discusses, and that’s the difference between competitive levels. Schools have varsity vs jv. There’s travel leagues vs Rec leagues. Trans people should have the opportunity to play with their peers, but that doesn’t mean it has to include every level of competition.
"Essentially” is doing some very heavy lifting in this sentence because nothing else about that sentence is true.
Is this bad? Yeah! Should something be done about this? Of course!
But you bring it up to make it sound like this is a result of trans women not being allowed to play women sports. This is incredibly manipulative.
I could go on with other comments I have seen on here.