Gallup recently published a list of what Americans think are the most important issues when choosing the next president. Unsurprisingly, there is no overlap between Republicans and Democrats in the top five.
Republicans say they are concerned about the economy, immigration, terrorism and national security, crime and taxes.
Democrats are concerned about American democracy, Supreme Court nominations, abortion, health and education.
Transgender rights – for or against – do not appear to be among the top concerns of voters in either party. In fact, of the more than 20 issues pollsters were asked about, transgender rights ranked the most important to voters overall.
So why did former President Trump’s campaign spend tens of millions of dollars on inflammatory ads attacking Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for transgender rights?
Since early August, Trump and other Republicans have reportedly spent more than $65 million on anti-trans ads, concentrated in battleground states — even in deepest blue California, I can’t turn on the television without seeing it.
“Kamala supports taxpayer-funded sex change for prisoners,” says the insolent narrator. “It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Even the liberal media is surprised Kamala supports taxpayer-funded changes to prisons and illegal aliens.
A series of edited images show Harris with transgender people, including Admiral Rachel Levine, the US assistant secretary of health, and a drag performer named Pattie Gonia, and an actor who played a convict on the series “Orange is the New Black.”
“Kamala is for them,” the ad concluded. “President Trump is for you.”
As the Harris campaign and others have pointed out, the ad is misleading. Federal policy, including under the Trump administration, allows incarcerated transgender people to receive gender-affirming medical treatment. Only two federal prisoners have ever received gender-affirming surgery, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and FactCheck.org.
In other words, this is a nonissue.
For months, Trump has been making vague statements about children going to school one gender and coming home another. I initially thought he was awkwardly referring to the debate over whether schools should be forced to tell parents that nonbinary or trans kids are “coming out” in school, or “socially transitioning.” But no, they have repeatedly claimed that schools are actually sending children to undergo gender-affirming surgeries without parental consent. (I can’t believe I have to type that.)
Trump’s fear campaign against transgender people is – because it really is – disgusting, disrespectful and dangerous.
“When I saw the ad, I thought about Trump’s first term,” said Heron Greenesmith, deputy director of policy at the Transgender Law Center. “Enough cruelty. They are mean and mean and they hit.”
So what’s going on here? Is it as simple as destroying a vulnerable group of people to score political points in a close race? Or is there something deeper?
“What Republicans see or feel is that people are worried about the future,” M. Gessen said in a conversation about advertising with the New York Times opinion editor last week.
“They’re worried about the future of the economy,” said Gessen, a non-binary journalist who often writes about LGBTQ+ issues. “They are worried about their social future. And all this can be a worry about their children – that the children will come home from school one day and speak a different language than their parents or use a different name and generally be a stranger.
This explains the moral hysteria about gender treatment of minors that has spread in the red states of the country. At least 22 states have passed bans on such treatment for transgender and non-binary minors; five have even made it a crime. And at least 70 clinics that provide gender-affirming care have closed by 2021, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.
There’s no law against cheating in political ads, but I think Trump’s rant about a school-type change operation is too weird for the ad makers. Voting for imprisoned transgender people and migrants seems like the next best option. But the message is always about fear.
“I mean, fear can do that to certain people,” said Greenesmith, who is non-binary. “It is possible for people who have been primed to look for ‘in’ groups and ‘out’ groups. But the majority of Americans support the right of people to live in gender and have autonomy in health care, and support people who are protected from discrimination in matters that are not can be controlled.
This presidential campaign is coming to an end soon. But the damage Trump has done to transgender people — by fear-mongering, by scapegoating, by “othering” — will live on.
Thread: @rabcarian
