Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has earned praise for her response to a question on trans rights during a town hall hosted by the progressive campus group More Perfect University.
At the organization’s Students vs. Billionaires town hall in Maine on Thursday, a trans student from the University of Southern Maine asked for Ocasio-Cortez’s response to the fact that “a lot of trans people in America feel that we have been abandoned by the Democratic Party, that we are a losing issue, that it’s not worth defending us.”
The woman was referring to the fact that many trans advocates feel some Democrats have missed the mark on trans issues, or in some cases have actively made decisions that hurt the trans community in an attempt to defend themselves against Republican attacks. Since the 2024 election, Democrats have disagreed on the effect of the GOP’s anti-trans ads, with some suggesting the need to throw trans people under the bus in order to win future elections.
Without hesitation, Ocasio-Cortez responded, “They’re wrong.”
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I don’t want them “defending trans rights” though.
I want them enforcing the protection of trans rights through legislative action and enforcement of those laws.
“Defending trans rights” is when Republicans go on the offensive about transgender issues so we have to go from being on the offensive on issues like affordability, healthcare and a strong working class to “defending” trans rights. Look at the pamphlets in Texas, they’re no longer talking about gas and grocery prices in Texas, it’s all about who sent the pamphlets.
I don’t think most democrats have an issue with defending trans rights. The issue is instead of dealing with issues that affect the majority, they only deal with issues that affect the minority. Worry about people not getting killed and abducted to concentration camps at the border. Then maybe we can talk about trans rights.
I was hoping it was going to be a “fuck you”.
I think a reasonable argument for people to use is that they care about trans rights at this point in time because they are under threat, but what they actually care about is everybody’s human rights. Start from empathy, respect, and dignity, then look for what supports that.
People shouldn’t need to grovel for medical care, they should be able to access it. People shouldn’t have to jump through hoops for gender affirming care, cis men with erectile dysfunction should be able to access medical support. People shouldn’t have to prove their mental health is impacted to modify their body, women should be able to get whatever tattoos or piercings they like. It doesn’t matter who you are, you should be able to access reasonable levels of care and support from the society you are a part of.
Right now trans people are the most under threat, but at some point that will be a historical fact and a different group will the current target, at which point they become the focus of defence and support. Ideally being trans would be like getting tattoos, something that is your business, nobody else’s, and something people feel impolite for asking too much about.
…"The focus is strategic… It’s not just about trans girls in sports; it’s about all girls in education,” she said, emphasizing that it’s about attacking Title IX and trying “to get everyone on board with supporting defunding their own civil rights.”
She explained that Title IX is also the mechanism through which women report campus assaults and that while the Trump administration is distracting everyone with anti-trans fearmongering, it “quietly defunded the civil rights division of enforcement in the administration on Title IX.”
If you guys are shocked these Republican morons fall for this shit, look at this https://youtu.be/MrehpxfLNrg
These people are literarily brain dead it’s genuinely insane how stupid they are.
Who else are they going to support though? Two parties have a stranglehold. Your options are between not good enough, horrible, and not participating at all. Not preventing Republicans also disempowers your voice in regard to all other issues and means revoking support for everyone elses issues. So why would those people keep supporting yours as much?
It’s never the wrong time to do the right thing. Fighting a “losing issue” is exactly how you persuade people you’re right about the issue. That’s called “leadership”.
I’d have said ‘get fucked’, but ‘they’re wrong’ is good, too.
I suspect that the majority of voters would prefer a policy of tolerance over the Republican party’s performative cruelty, but “we should treat these harmless eccentrics with basic human dignity” is one thing while transgender participation in sports or permanent procedures done on children are another.
Puberty is permanent, you nasty wad of shoe gum. The wrong puberty causes changes that, at best, have to be repaired with surgery, some changes are irreversible, and the worst result of the wrong puberty is suicidal ideation that some trans kids don’t survive. Puberty blockers are the only non-permanent physical option for trans kids, and the years those kids spend waiting for the adults to let them go through the right puberty they’re never getting back. And there’s social and emotional consequences to delaying puberty. No teenager is just rolling up and getting HRT without an entire care team approving it and regret rates for kids who medically transition is vanishingly low - you’re advocating for 100 trans kids to suffer and possibly die by suicide to protect maybe one cis kid from making a mistake.
Democrats have disagreed on the effect of the GOP’s anti-trans ads
What’s the disagreement? He won the election, that was their ad campaign. Trump catered to his base to get the vote out, it’s all pretty straightforward to me.
I don’t think Trump personally cares, he just took the “easy mode” option for him that won’t cost him any donors or voters.
Some Ds will use this issue to their benefit, some will distance themselves. it all depends on what their “market” is. If polling says drop _____________ to win, they will, ______________ being any issue. Trans is a popular issue in say New York City, not so much in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Democrats will drop trans if their donors say so, just like they abandoned labor. bOtH pArTiEs do what their “donors” want, they don’t have any actual bedrock issues other than “money”.
