Much of the discussion among Democrats trying to make sense of Donald Trump's victory has focused on the party's support for transgender rights.
The argument goes something like this: The majority of Americans do not agree with transgender rights. There are too many. I have gone too far. Thinking that your child will go to school as a girl and come home as a boy, that transgender women are hiding in bathrooms waiting to be attacked, that transgender athletes are dominating women's sports. Some voters feel fear.
That argument is wrong. Democrats do not have to abandon the fight for transgender rights and protections to win elections. In fact, when issues surrounding transgender rights are put on the ballot, transgender people win.
In 2018, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot question supporting nondiscrimination protections for transgender people. almost 68 percent Number of votes on the same ballot received by Republican governor 70 percent.
As was the case with a similar ballot question in New York this year, questions about transgender rights were found to be more popular and garnered more votes than the same politicians in previous years. Suggest now The Democratic Party lost the election because it supported transgender rights.
Why was the 2018 Massachusetts ballot question successful? Proponents appealed to moderate centrist voters while opponents pushed a message of fear against transgender women in bathrooms developed a highly targeted voter assistance approach. The strategy was to listen empathetically to constituent concerns and respond with relevant facts. We did not ignore their fears or condemn their misinformed views. We also didn't obscure what we were aiming for.
Messengers in the ads and doorstep campaigns included public safety officials, such as police chiefs, and, importantly, transgender people themselves who have been personally affected by the issue. I find that it becomes harder to vote against someone's rights after you look them in the eye.
Democratic strongholds like Massachusetts and New York aren't the only states that support transgender rights when voters are given the choice.
Anchorage, Alaska, passed a 2018 ballot question supporting nondiscrimination protections for transgender people. 53 percent And similar ballot questions have been passed by municipalities in red states, including: idaho and arkansas. In fact, voters have a long history of supporting gay, lesbian, and transgender rights at the polls, dating back to the 1980s.
To be clear, voters will not necessarily vote to protect transgender rights. For every victory, there were also defeats. A measure passed in Anchorage was defeated three years earlier in 2015, and voters in Houston rejected a similar effort the same year.
Lessons from the fight for same-sex marriage should teach us that voting setbacks can be overcome.
In 2004, many believed that Democrats lost because they supported marriage equality. And in 2008, California Proposition 8 Barack Obama banned same-sex marriage in the same election that gave Democrats a landslide victory in the United States.
But by the end of his presidential term, same-sex marriage had become the law of the land, with clear majority support. Today, LGBTQ voters overwhelmingly support The Democratic Party is a core component of the party's big tent.
It would be political corruption that would jeopardize that support. If we are to counter Republican attacks, we need to help the LGBTQ community, including transgender people themselves, get their message across, as they did in Massachusetts in 2018. That's how we win.
That didn't happen in this election. The Republican Party’s infamous “Kamala is for them/them” Advertisements were everywhere in the final stages of the campaign. But instead of countering them with their own message explaining why they support the transgender community, Democrats ignored the issue. We failed to explain that schools are not for children who transition, that girls' bathrooms remain safe, and that transgender girls have the right to participate in sports.
This is not an issue for Democrats to lose, but rather an issue that has been ignored, and if we don't talk about it, we can't address concerns, grounded or not.
Democrats must believe that voters will support transgender rights as long as we tell them that first.
Matthew Chiriaku is Former campaign manager and director of Congressman Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and his Serve America PAC. He was also the regional outreach director for the 2018 Yes on 3 campaign for non-discrimination rights for transgender people in Massachusetts.
