Before the election this month As Democratic candidates come under fire for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports Transgender rights activists and their allies have a confident answer: They have. There’s nothing to be afraid of.Because the anti-trans theme is consistent. Loser For the Republican Party The position cannot be maintained after the election. As detailed research shows, this issue is extremely damaging to Kamala Harris and other Democrats. In fact The third most common reason unifies voters and late decision makers. explore What gives Harris an opponent is her. She “focuses on cultural issues like gender issues rather than helping the middle class.” The impression these voters undoubtedly received from the endless ads showing her support for free sex-change surgery for prisoners and detained immigrants
Now, some of the people who pushed Democrats to take these politically toxic positions have taken a new approach: abandoning any element. of the rights conversion agenda is morally unthinkable. “To suggest that we should be a little submissive to you. Trump’s disgusting politics It suggests we should compromise on the rights of transgender people.” new york times Columnist Roxane GayIt would be “shameful and cowardly” when asked whether his party should review its stance on transgender issues. Senator Tim Kaine say“Should Democrats get on the hate train? We won’t do it.” Author Jill Filipovich just argued that Democrats must refuse to “Hunt the median voter if that voter has vile, dangerous, or abhorrent ideas.”
Refusal to accommodate voters is a legitimate choice. When politicians believe they are defending fundamental principles so important that compromise can be lost, in this case the no-compromise position is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the options on the table. Indeed, Democrats are not faced with a choice between supporting transgender rights and abandoning those rights. They can and should continue to protect transgender people from significant moral, legal, and cultural threats. All they had to do to reduce their political exposure was to reject the movement’s intellectually jarring demands.
The main question regarding transgender rights is: Do some people have the opportunity to live happy and fulfilling lives in a gender identity that is different from the gender they were born with? Will some of these people need access to medical services to facilitate the transition? Do they deserve to be treated with respect and addressed by their chosen name and pronouns? They deserve equal protection from discrimination in employment, housing, and Military service? Must society provide them with access to public accommodations so as not to harm their dignity?
I believe the moral answers to all these questions are clear. yes– Evidence also suggests that this is a relatively safe position for politicians to take. Americans broadly support individual choice. And transgender rights fits comfortably within that framework, said Sarah McBride, the incoming first transgender member of Congress. face down face down libel by her new Republican colleagues It’s an example of how Democrats can protect the dignity of transgender people without allowing themselves to be viewed as extremists. The Trump administration is According to the report Plan to expel transgender people from the military It’s a movement that only 30 percent of the public supports, according to February data. YouGov survey– If Trump follows through This fight will give Democrats an opportunity to highlight Republicans’ tough stances.
Most Democrats are in trouble because they support or refuse to condemn some deeply unpopular positions: allowing athletes transitioning from male to female to participate in high-level female sports; where they often gain a clear physical advantage Allowing adolescents and pre-teens to seek medical treatment without an adequate diagnosis and providing state-funded gender reassignment surgery for prisoners and detainees. First two points opinion poll very scary– The final item has not yet been explored. But you can infer a lack of support from the Harris campaign that is insisting on changing this despite facing unrelenting criticism.
I think there’s a strong case for Democrats to justify these first two positions on important grounds. But even if you don’t agree with that. As many activists do. But it was still barely able to attack. politics In the case of reversing the route Why not stick with what I would argue is the clearest and most important case in which transgender rights must be protected? At the same time, it leaves out a number of hard-to-protect edge cases. That hurts Democrats in the polls—yielding policy results that work. Is it damaging to transgender people themselves? The answer is that much of the civil rights activist community and most of its vocal allies believe that all civil rights positions are a single group. You can take it or leave it. That false confidence is at the root of the insistence that compromise is impossible. And the only alternative to unquestioning support is complete surrender.
This maneuver is common in political movements of all stripes. Consider that Israel hawks often describe being “Pro-Israel” routinely claim that they support not only the existence of the Jewish state but also the existence of the Jewish state. But it also suppresses criticism of Israeli military operations or settlement expansion. Once you have set the acceptance of all your projects as a moral test. It would become easy to dismiss all opposition as bigotry—hence the comfort that many Israel hawks routinely take. smear Criticism of Israel has even been measured as anti-Semitic.
Examples of this dynamic are easy to find. Gun rights advocates will denounce even the mildest gun restrictions as gun confiscation and a denial of the Second Amendment. Some climate activists have expanded. term climate deniers From those who deny the science of climate change to anyone who rejects any element of their preferred cure.
Transgender rights activists have widely used this tactic. They often accuse anyone who disagrees with any element. in their own agenda as someone who hates transgender people Suppressing internal dissent is a necessary step in pointing out all dissent as pure extremism. “Many LGBTQ leaders and advocates don’t want to say they have concerns because they worry about dividing their movement.” new york times Jeremy Peters, journalist understand–
Perhaps the nadir of this campaign came last year. When a group of time Contributors and officials have published full of errors note Attack on paper, defendant’s letter time of “following the lead of far-right hate groups” by reporting on discussions among youth and gender care workers about the efficacy of giving children puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones; It sends a powerful message that any questions asked about any position where transgender rights activists exist It will cause reputational damage for everyone working not only in journalism. but also in other industries, especially people in democratic politics and other fields. That’s not conservative. There’s no doubt that the vacation movement has contributed to Democrats’ inability to realistically assess their position on the issue.
A few days after the election, Democrat Senator Seth Moulton tell at time“I have two little daughters. I don’t want them to be run over by a man or a former male athlete on the field of play.” This sparked a strong backlash, said Kyle Davis, a Democrat in Salem. which is Moulton’s hometown Call for Moulton to resign “We are certainly rejecting the narrative that transgender people are to be scapegoated or feared,” he told reporters. Moulton supported Equality Act and Draft Transgender Rights Actneither of which would extend broad anti-discrimination protections to transgender people. He did not explain that he prefers “sports-by-sports evidence-based policies” over the bans favored by Republicans; But Moulton’s general support for transgender rights makes him more of a pariah in women’s sports, not less, threatening to the left.
MSNBC Columnist Caitlin Burns It argues that limiting women’s participation in sports means denying them other rights. of themselves from transgender women “If a transgender girl were really a boy When they play sports … transgender women should be considered men in every context,” she wrote in October That simple equation collapses under a moment’s scrutiny. Women’s sports are one of those rare cases. It is generally correct to allow transgender people to determine the terms of their self-identity. Able to meaningfully impede the rights of others. It can be easily protected. Lea Thomas The right to be seen as a woman and allowed to enter the women’s restroom without encouraging her to join the women’s college swim team
Instead of using careful reasoning Supporters of maximalist positions often resort to expansive moral rhetoric. countless Columns after this month’s elections chastised moderates for “Throwing transgender people under the bus”
Arguing in this spirit new york time Columnist M. Gessen Concerns that transgender people will be “completely abandoned” by the Democratic Party, and insists that Democrats cannot separate transgender rights from other social issues, in part because Republican Seeing them all connected, “On the right side, all fears are connected. Like all dreams Alternative theory lives side by side with fear of Transgender ‘contagion’ and the promise of mass deportation are intertwined with a vision of an America free of immigrants and people who violate the gender binary.”
As they refine their positions Democrats should continue to listen clearly to transgender people about their priorities. However, those priorities are not always the same. And the activist organizations speaking on their behalf aren’t perfectly representative, either. Dr. Erica Anderson, a transgender woman and former president of the American Transgender Health Professions Association criticize Prompt medical treatment of youth with sexual doubts Transgender writer Brianna Wu argue that the movement’s adoption of a more radical stance has hindered its core goals; The strategy of labeling these criticisms as “Anti-trans” is deeply misleading.
in a column calling for Democrats to de-emphasize any element of the delegitimization agenda. time Columnist Philip Elliott confirm“Surrender to the winner As this appears to be the case in fighting the culture wars, it is too easy and considered bad. It’s not the way to dig out of this deep hole.”
But the hole isn’t real. at Deep. Harris lost both the national vote and Pennsylvania, a state with a tipping point of less than two percentage points. Democracy Company meet Trump’s ubiquitous ad showing Harris supporting free gender reassignment surgery for inmates and immigrant prisoners has 2.7 viewers pointed in his direction. And making concessions to winners has long been a valuable means of escaping political vulnerabilities of all sizes. After Mitt Romney was beaten in 2012 over Republicans’ desire to cut Medicare, so Trump repositioned them closer to the center. In 2024, Trump has countered the GOP’s biggest liability. Some of that is abortion. He insisted that he would leave the matter to the state. This allowed him to gain enough pro-abortion votes to eliminate
Gessen argued that “it’s not clear how far Democrats can retreat,” but there is plenty of reasonable room for Democrats to retreat. Whether it is female sports participation Sexual medicine for youth and state-sponsored surgery for prisoners and detainees. You may want to add or remove discontinued items in My List. I cannot claim to have compiled the morally or politically impenetrable account that Democratic politicians are supposed to do. What is unassailable is the principle that compromise without complete surrender is the principle. Indeed, it is possible.
