Summary
Trump and Vance have made anti-transgender attacks a central part of their campaign, using demeaning language and misrepresentations to portray transgender individuals as a threat to national identity.
Harris has largely ignored Trump’s attacks but has pushed back on his characterization of her stances, noting that federal policy allowing transgender military personnel access to gender-affirming medical care was in place during Trump’s presidency.
Advocates like GLAAD’s Sarah Kate Ellis and Charlotte Clymer warn that Trump’s approach fuels hostility, marginalizing vulnerable communities and creating a culture of animosity instead of understanding and empathy.
In NY State, we have a state-wide proposition that extends the anti-discriminatory language in the Constitution, currently just covering “race, color, or creed”, to a whole host of other categories, including national origin, disability, gender expression, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare. They even take the time to replace “his or her” with “their” in the clause. The important bit is supposed to be the pregnancy parts, because it was initially proposed as a way to put abortion access into the State Constitution:
https://elections.ny.gov/2024-statewide-ballot-proposal
The opposition to it has been all over the map. I see signs saying to vote no on the proposition to “protect women’s sports” and “stop funding health care for illegal immigrants”. No signs at all saying to vote no in opposition to abortion: I think even the Republicans here know that is a non-starter. But I think it’s telling that all these signs are asking people to vote “no” on an anti-discrimination amendment because they think these people need to be discriminated against. It’s hate all the way down.