In the face of ‘eradication’, one trans activist is preparing to fight – and she’s sick of silence and neglect from her supposed allies. Raquel Willis tells Io Dodds why Republican bathroom bans are everybody’s problem
They really haven’t. They tend to take a neutral stance at best, rather than positively affirming trans rights. This was one of the things that killed them in the election. Despite being a decade in to the recent Republican war on trans people, Democrats have never bothered to develop a set of coherent talking points that they can defend trans rights around. When was the last time you heard a centrist Democrat say, “trans women are women, trans men are men. Their healthcare is medically necessary and life-saving. Trans women belong in women’s restrooms and trans men in men’s. Republicans are currently guilty of attempting a genocide.”
That’s the kind of talking points they should be using, a full-throated defense of trans rights that can directly stand up against Republican hate mongering. Instead, if they respond at all, they respond in a pathetic mincing way that tries to “both sides” the issue. Instead of vocally coming down firmly on the side of trans rights, they’ll say things like, “these are complex issues…” or “these issues are a distraction…” You would never see a Democrat say that antisemitism is “a distraction” or that defending abortion rights “are a complex issue.”
With some notable exceptions, Democrats have completely failed to actually have strong support for trans rights. Republicans are anti-trans and pro-trans genocide. Democrats are neutral. And this really hurt them in the election. Republicans supported full trans elimination. And Democrats could only respond with non-committal mealy-mouthed mumbling about the complexity of the issue. Voters saw that they really didn’t stand for anything. Kamala didn’t really believe in anything when it comes to trans rights, and the voters punished her for it. Voters want people who actually believe in something, not an empty suit that is just following polls and focus groups.
The fact of the matter is the majority of America doesn’t treat trans people properly. So to win elections they need the support of people that don’t treat trans people properly.
I hope that support for the trans community will continue to improve over time. But democrats need votes from more than just the trans community and allies to take power back from the GOP.
So to win elections they need the support of people that don’t treat trans people properly.
They don’t though, because they’re never going to get that voter either way.
The Democrats are a coalition party. They need to be able to stand up for all of the members of that coalition. Do you know why Republicans chose to attack trans people? Because it is a wedge issue they can use to cleave off a portion of Democratic votes. If Democrats throw trans people under the bus and sit idly by to genocide, then they will lose the votes of trans people and their friends, relatives, and allies.
When has appeasing genocide ever worked for an opposition party? The problem Democrats have is that they’re embarrassed to be Democrats and try to run as Republican-lite. Then they look up surprised when people vote for the real deal or simply stay home out of disgust. The biggest appeal of Democrats among the electorate is that they’re willing to stand up for marginalized groups. And if one group gets thrown under the bus, every other group knows that they can also be thrown under the bus in the future if the political winds shift. Trans people are on the chopping block now, but after we’re exterminated, what other group will the Democrats willingly sacrifice? All Republicans have to do is run another demonization campaign against another group, and Democrats will again fold like a house of cards.
If Republicans can get Democrats to fruitlessly piss away 5-10% of their core electorate in a doomed attempt to appeal to moderate Republicans, then that is a strategy that Republicans can use again and again to cleave piece after piece off of the Democratic coalition.
Republicans chose trans people as a wedge. They gambled that, when push came to shove, Democrats would be too chicken shit to actually live up to their stated values and truly defend the rights of people that they’re always promising to defend. Democrats proved Republicans right, and that cost them the election. They were defeated by their own cowardice.
The problem democrats have is they are trying to support minority groups like the trans community that are not popular with the majority of voters. So they have to strike a balance between supporting the trans community without losing voters that don’t support the trans community. Because they needs those voters to win.
The GOP knows this and that is why they made the trans community a big part of their campaign. It creates infighting in the Democratic Party which helps the GOP win.
A popular way of doing this these days is to create accounts on social media or forums to inflame conversation and cause that infighting that helps the GOP win.
