It has come to my attention that some Democratic lawmakers and talking heads are blaming Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss on transgender people. Or, more specifically, Democrats being too nice to transgender people.
“The Democrats have to stop pandering to the far left,” Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat from New York who won his reelection, told The New York Times. “I don’t want to discriminate against anybody, but I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports.”
Another Democrat, Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, told NYT, “Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face. I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.
You know, saying, “I don’t want to discriminate against anyone, but” just smacks of true sincerity, especially when you follow it up by targeting an extremely small and specific group of marginalized people. And no, Rep. Moulton. It’s not that you’re supposed to be “afraid to say that;” it’s that you should know better. Again, you’re a grown-ass man and you’re blaming Democrats for not viciously demonizing a specific group of kids.
With all due respect to these guys and others who want to blame election loses on trans people: Fuck off.
Anyone who thinks that the Democrats’ best chance of success is to become MORE like Republicans is kidding themselves. Too many people already believe that there’s no difference between the parties because too many people don’t see who sits in the White House as directly impacting their lives. If you’re someone who actually pays attention to politics, you know that on the whole that Republicans and Democrats are actually quite different when you look at their platforms as a whole. But most people don’t pay attention to politics. And that’s something a lot of folks who live and breathe campaigns and elections forget.
On Nov. 12, the Times published an opinion piece by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat leading a state that went for Trump by 30 points. Beshear knows that abandoning our “important values and principles” isn’t a winning strategy.
“As governor, I have vetoed numerous anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice bills, yet I still beat Mr. Trump’s handpicked candidate last fall. That happened because even if some voters might have disagreed with the vetoes, ” he writes, “they knew my focus and effort was on their daily needs and that our gains as a commonwealth would help every single one of our families.”
Beshear continues, “Earning trust and showing people you care about them [requires]…that we are not afraid to share our ‘why.’ For me, my why is my faith, and I share it proudly. I vetoed anti-LGBTQ legislation last year because I believe all children are children of God. And whether people agree with my decision, they know why I’m making it. They know where I am coming from.”
The reasons why Trump won again are many and there’s no simple solution. Anyone who is telling you that treating trans people like fully human beings sunk the Democrats isn’t doing much work to ensure Dems don’t lose again. It’s lazy and unproductive.
Erin Reed, a journalist who writes extensively about LGBTQ+ issues and politics including her own experiences as a transgender woman, published an exceptional piece on her Substack Erin in the Morning on Nov. 6 in which she places this election in historical context and reminds us that even when things are dark, there is some light.
“There’s a famous quote: ‘The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.’ When I look back, I see that the fight for rights is rarely a steady path forward; it’s a journey filled with turbulence, despair and hope appearing in the most unlikely places and times. Today, this truth resonates deeply: this has always been a generational fight — one few of us ever chose but one we’ve been drafted into nonetheless.”
Reed reminds transgender people that their very lives are a testament to forward movement. “The greatest thing you can do is live; continue to exist and continue tending the seeds we’re planting today,” she writes. “They will grow into trees that will shade those who come after us — and with luck, we may get to enjoy some of that shade ourselves.”
And if it takes throwing shade at Democrats who want to throw trans people under the bus, so be it.