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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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’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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