States mentioned:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- California
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Nevada
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Texas
- Virginia
- Washington
Now do anti trans Republicans
Electoralists DNI.
things really do look bleak all around. i recently got a flier from a republican candidate for state rep and it was just bulletpointed anti-trans culture war talking points: 1, 2, 3. and that’s not to say that there aren’t democrats in high offices in my state (not listed in the article) that have those negative views of trans folks. What I couldn’t get over is this gem… “Tom Suozzi, U.S. House, 3rd District (incumbent). Blamed transgender people for Harris’s loss…” after she threw us and Palestinians under the bus just to court the “center right”. absolutely wild.
Tom Souzzi can eat my whole ass. All of Long Island is DINOs who campaign on persecuting any minority they can find. Souzzi and Schumer should go fuck off to the fantasyland where the Baileys live and let us actually make some progress.
Yeah, Indiana resident here. My state doesn’t know which side of the Mason-Dixon line we’re on. I need to get the fuck out of here as soon as I finish my degree.
As a former Hoosier… no the state knows exactly which side it’s on. It’s the same reason why a bunch of Hoosiers went to fight for the South in the civil war, and the same reason why nearly a third of all voting men were in the Klan during the early 1900s. Indiana is a racist shithole and it revels in being one. You gotta get out of there as soon as you can.
Aren’t all the primaries over though?
Yes. This is information about the general election. Read the 4 paragraph introduction.
What you do with this information is up to you. Many, myself included, have argued against voting for the worst offenders on this list even where it means a Republican takes the seat. A Republican victory costs the community one seat for one term. A worst-offender victory teaches the party’s consultant class, the Searchlights and Third Ways, that throwing transgender people under the bus is a winning strategy, and that lesson would be applied everywhere until the Democratic Party goes the way of Labour. One seat can be won back. A party cannot.
Well, this is the only post I’ve seen specific to the november election (there have been individual callouts tho) and that’s fine but as must be clear - if the primary is lost, you have the choice to move the party or sandbag the party.
So - like the changing of the seasons, primaries are the time for defeating the democrat that needs to get right. That is the election this map should have been for.
A Republican victory costs the community one seat for one term.
That is very incorrect as the razor-thin party-line votes have shown and will continue to show. I’d point out this was the same advice that got the most anti-trans administration in history to start legislating the insanity they have already.
In 2024 I argued not to do this as it was an immediate and lasting kind of self-defeat but some people disagreed. And here we are.
So - like the changing of the seasons, primaries are the time for defeating the democrat that needs to get right. That is the election this map should have been for.
As a trans person, I have far more to fear from an anti-trans Democrat than I do from a Republican. This is one area where the needs of the trans community simply differ from the needs of the broader left. If an anti-trans Democrat is running against a Republican, I’ll simply not vote in that election. I would rather see a Republican win than an anti-trans Democrat.
I know this makes cis leftists and liberals scream, but this is one area where a minority group knows how to look after its own interests better than the majority does. It’s not the place of cis people to tell trans people how to fight for their interests. Honestly, I don’t think any cis person has any business at all telling a trans person how to vote. The optimal strategy for the left cis population is not the same as the optimal strategy for the trans population. And no cis person should presume they know the needs of the trans community better than the trans community. We’re fundamentally not all in this together, as the stream of anti-trans democrats and other fair-weather allies so vividly demonstrate.
Trans people don’t have the luxury of only looking one election ahead. This is something that affects our entire lives, for the rest of our lives. A Republican winning an election threatens our rights for the next 2-6 years. An anti-trans Democrat threatens our rights for the rest of our lives. If the Democratic party turns anti-trans, and that becomes the norm on both sides? We’re fucked for a generation. And when people see both sides agreeing on something? It becomes common sense and the assumed default. Suddenly advocating for trans rights will be as popular as advocating for the rights of pedophiles. All the liberal cis people telling trans people how to vote today will move with the herd and decide that trans people are the devil. When both parties turn anti-trans, you yourself will move with the herd and be saying things like, “of course it’s just common sense that we should be regulating bathroom use. It’s about women’s rights and safety!” You’ll find ways to convince yourself you’re still progressive, justifying the most extreme forms of persecution from a liberal or leftist lens. If the Soviet Union could find a way to politically justify queer persecution, you’ll have no problem.
Ultimately, the only real power small minority groups ever have is as a political spoiler. Look at the Cubans in Florida. A tiny minority of the US population was able to wield influence for decades well beyond their actual numbers, simply by acting as a credible threat to any candidate of either party that dared threaten their interests. And if your only lever of power is as a spoiler, you have to be willing to actually use that. “Blue no matter who” is not a strategy that’s compatible with the interests of the trans community. Your interests are not our interests. Do not assume they always align. On most things we do align, but on some we do not.
Close elections are precisely those where trans people need to be most willing to act as a spoiler to advance our interests. It’s literally the only way we have of having any real impact at the ballot box. Trans people simply do not have the numbers to force through candidates on our own. We do have the numbers however to make it so any anti-trans Democrat is guaranteed to lose an otherwise close election. This is our one real lever of political power, and we shouldn’t give it up simply because it makes cis liberals uncomfortable.
I imagine this will make most cis people quite uncomfortable. But I’m comfortable with your discomfort. There’s nothing liberals find more uncomfortable than minorities wielding power independently instead of waiting for the enlightened liberals to sweep in and save them. Minority groups are supposed to be vulnerable victims desperately seeking protection, not independent human beings fully capable of acting in their own interests. Minorities taking matters into their own hands make liberals squirm.
But sure, continue to advocate that small minorities abandon their one real lever of power.
I would rather see a Republican win than an anti-trans Democrat.
Well according to some self-identified trans persons on here, that’s what happened in 2024. I disagree with that assessment, but here we are.
I can’t imagine how it could be going worse.
I don’t think that’s a fair interpretation of what people have said. There was no major movement for trans people to not support Kamala over Trump due to trans issues. Instead, trans people have been one of if not the most reliable groups of Democratic voters. And trans people make massively disproportionate contributions to Democratic campaigns and canvassing. Go to any left of center protest or rally, and you will find trans folks there massively disproportionate to our share of the population. We’ve been reliably voting Democrat for years, and we’ve been rewarded for it with fair-weather allies willing to compromise our rights, knowing we’ll “vote blue no matter who” as both sides chip away at our rights and dignity.
And you don’t need to imagine how it could get worse. I already told you how it could get worse. It could get worse if both parties were vehemently anti-trans. Currently there aren’t enough votes in the Senate to pass major anti-trans legislation at the federal level. The moment even 20% of Democratic legislators turn anti-trans, suddenly the New Jim Crow laws being passed in Republican states will be passed at the national level. We’ll have national New Jim Crow laws, not just state-level ones.
You need to appreciate the magnitude of what’s at stake here. 20% of the entire US trans population has been force to flee their homes due to the New Jim Crow laws passed by Republicans at the state level. I myself had to become and internally displaced refugee due to this. I had to flee my home to escape this. The US is currently dealing with its largest internal refugee crisis since the Great Depression, and the largest one based on legal persecution since the Great Migration. At least currently trans people can flee to blue states. If even 20% of federal Democratic legislators become anti-trans, that legislation will be passed at the federal level. That is the real threat. And I’m willing to see Democrats lose a race to prevent that outcome.
There was no major movement for trans people to not support Kamala over Trump due to trans issues.
I don’t know how to define ‘major movement’ but I had several - many, even - interactions with persons who identified themselves as trans who would not be voting Kamala for her supposed transphobic actions as CA AG and other interpreted statements. I do not see a difference here.
It could get worse if both parties were vehemently anti-trans.
Well, true that, and we agree to fight that as much as possible. Trans rights, being human rights, are part of any democratic platform and wherever they are not upheld we have to fix it.
I had to flee my home to escape this.
I’m sorry, that is not okay and no one should have to do that. Defeating this outright fascism is the most important step for all of us.
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Congratulations on your literacy! In future, I recommend doing that minimal amount of reading before posting, instead of asking the most basic possible question that is literally answered in the introduction. Really undermines your credibility.
I trust Erin Reed’s judgment from her years of quality coverage of trans issues.
In future, I recommend doing that minimal amount of reading before posting, instead of asking the most basic possible question that is literally answered in the introduction. Really undermines your credibility.
Mm. You didn’t notice that the question wasn’t answered, then. Well. That happens. Anything to destroy opposition to a literal fascist administration, just like 2024. Midterm verse, same as the first. Kudos.
I’m kind so I wanted to refrain from saying it, but now its unavoidable, you do seem to have significant issues with reading comprehension. It was pretty clear to me reading those paragraphs that the article is about the general election rather than the primary.
Since primaries only chose nominees and don’t assign seats, you should have figured it out when Erin said, “takes the seat.”
There’s a reason I was pointing you towards Erin’s statements rather than making any of my own. I don’t want to argue politics with you. You have nothing of value to say. You’re not discussing trans issues on this trans community, and I’ve had to explain to you how articles work twice now.
Learn how to read the room.
How does a candidate get to the general? If your disdain for certain states is driving a refusal to vote at all, the issue is not with the general. HoW dO iT WoRk?!? IT’S A GODDAMNED FUCKING MYSTERY.
But we agree on this: there is no joy to be had in further discussion. You refuse to understand and I’m sick of trying to engage so- . You have nothing of value to say. You’re not discussing trans issues on this trans community, and I’ve had to explain to you how articles work twice now.
I read and understood the article. You don’t even seem to understand where you are or who you are talking to. I didn’t write the article. I’m only here pointing out your lack of reading. I don’t know why you’re continuing to argue at me.
Perhaps you should try looking up primaries on Wikipedia since you are still confused by the process. They even have a simple English version that sounds right up your alley.
