As Democrats commence with an “autopsy” of their defeat by Donald Trump and his lackeys, over and over it is being said that part of the problem is that Democrats took a position “too far to the left” on the issue of transgender rights. The goals of the Democratic party were not in step with the political middle of America. They should have staked out a position less “extreme.” There is something to be said for the idea that Democrats’ standing up for transgender rights helped Donald Trump win the White House. The most effective ads against Kamala Harris were the ones that targeted her support for a tiny but increasingly important minority.
Having said that, there is no “left” when supporting transgender rights. Either you do or you don’t. Admittedly, Kamala Harris was between a rock and a hard place. Supporting transgender rights may have cost her the election. Not supporting transgender rights would be a betrayal of everything that the Democrats were fighting for in the first place.
If the transgender community were really asking for “extreme” things–a.k.a. incremental progress–I might feel differently. I might say take the fight one step at time and be patient. Changing hearts and minds takes time. But that was not what was at stake in this election cycle. Transgender people are under attack from all sides. People are having to move out of state to get health care. The simple act of having to go to the bathroom is now a contentious issue. Increasingly, transgender people do not feel safe. More importantly, the people in the business of making them feel safe are being criminalized. People fail to connect to the reality of how unsafe any environment, even a home environment, can be for transgender people. This is not a “cultural” issue. It is a bigotry issue.
The reality of it is there is a serious and frightening backlash against the progress transgender people have made over the last generation. If Kamala Harris wanted to campaign on not going back, she could not and should not have ignored the need for people to stand up for transgender rights. People are not supporting bills to roll back transgender rights because they are “more moderate.” They are rolling back transgender rights because a small but vocal minority has been extremely successful at reigniting familiar tropes and stereotypes about transgender people. The mood of the nation is moving backward. The American electorate is regressing. The legislation that has been passed is predicated on ridiculous myths and conspiracy theories. Transgender people are “grooming” children. They are predators in locker rooms. My favorite one was the Trump campaign’s claim that schools were facilitating sex change operations for transgender teens without parental permission or knowledge, something universally regarded as unethical.
This kind of rhetoric is about making transgender people targets of discrimination, exclusion, and hate. Ultimately, there is no right or left to transgender rights. There is forward–and there is backward.
Progressive Without Apology 