COLUMBIA, S.C. — One of South Carolina’s most conservative counties on “first day” of federal funding for schools that are pushing what Donald Trump calls “transgender madness” on children Thousands of people roared when he promised to reduce
“And I can’t believe I have to say it, but it has to be said,” President Trump told an audience this month. “I keep men away from women’s sports.”
The former president repeatedly mocked transgender people during his campaign, using language about gender identity that LGBTQ+ supporters say is wrong and harmful.
Other Republican officials have attacked transgender participation in athletics and proposed a nationwide ban on affirming care for transgender minors.
Transgender-related issues, perhaps even more than abortion rights or same-sex marriage, have become the biggest rallying cry for Christian conservatives.
Advocates of the change have raised concerns about the change, noting that transgender people are already disproportionately prone to stress, depression, and suicidal behavior when forced to live as the gender assigned to them at birth. are doing.
“Republicans may be overplaying their hand as a political issue. As an ethical issue, I think this is terrible,” said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign spokesperson. said Tim Miller, a former Republican political operative who served as the department’s director.
Chase Glenn, executive director of the Alliance for Full Acceptance and a transgender man, said it was “inhumane” to have his existence politicized.
“It’s really disgusting that these politicians think they can use transgender people, and more specifically transgender youth, as a political tool to score points.” he stated.
Many Republicans resent the fact that gender is sometimes discussed as part of a broader backlash against what conservatives see as a liberal trend in the classroom.
Several people interviewed at recent Trump rallies claimed that children are being faced with gender identity issues incorrectly.
“I don’t have to think about it,” said Cheryl Savage, 59, of Conway. “We have to take care of our children all the way through school.”
Republican-controlled state legislatures have recently moved to dictate many aspects of transgender life. At least 22 states have enacted laws restricting or prohibiting gender-affirming medical care for minors.
Legislation regulating the use of school pronouns, sports team membership and bathroom access returned this year, as did efforts to restrict drag performances.
In South Carolina, one of the southern states without such health restrictions, the Republican-led Senate is considering a House-passed bill that would ban gender-affirming care for minors.
Opponents unfurled the light pink, baby blue and white stripes of the transgender flag on the steps of the state Capitol this year in protest of the measure.
Both President Trump and Nikki Haley, his last major rival in South Carolina’s Republican primary this Saturday, lean into anti-transgender rhetoric.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor and President Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the local crowd of “girl dads” that if they had a “biological boy who played in women’s sports,” they would be “strong women.” He frequently emphasizes that it cannot be cultivated. She described the idea of ”biological boys playing in women’s sports” as a “modern women’s issue.”
President Trump said at an event in Iowa in October that transgender athletes are “very demeaning to women.” He went on to pantomime a young weightlifter struggling to lift a heavy barbell as easily as his “transitioned” competitors.
He added that he often repeats this behavior at rallies, and that his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, has sometimes told her that he doesn’t look like a president.
There is a lack of research on the fairness of competitions that include transgender people. Virtually no research exists to determine whether transgender athletes have a clear advantage over cisgender participants.
President Trump has promised to advance a variety of other anti-trans policies if he wins a second term in the White House. The proposals include banning federal funding from all hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to minors and ordering federal agencies to end programs that promote gender and gender reassignment; These include lobbying Congress to ban chemotherapy and surgical interventions for minors.
This is despite major medical organizations such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics supporting the idea that care for transgender youth is safe when done properly.
According to a June 2022 study, transgender people account for 5 in 1,000 adults and 14 in 1,000 youth ages 13 to 17 in the United States. Report from the UCLA Law Think Tank I research public policy regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has banned federally funded universities from adopting “one-size-fits-all” policies that categorically prohibit transgender student-athletes from playing on teams that correspond to their gender identity. It has repeatedly delayed enacting new Title IX rules that would ban the law. Such restrictions are in place in about 20 states.
Data from this year’s Republican elections and interviews with Republican voters show that this issue resonates with many in the Republican Party.
Approximately three-quarters of Iowa Republican caucus attendees said their local public K-8 schools teach “too much” about gender identity and sexual orientation, according to AP VoteCast.
In New Hampshire, seven in 10 Republican primary voters said they were taught “too much” about gender identity in their local elementary and middle schools.
Chad Connelly, a former director of faith engagement at the Republican National Committee who now runs an organization that politically mobilizes evangelical pastors, said many congregations have adopted policies such as bans on gender-affirming care for minors. He said he was motivated by the problem.
“Most pastors I know…are vehemently against it,” he says. “They don’t think it’s medical care to let 8- and 10-year-olds decide whether to permanently change something that shouldn’t be changed.”
Guidelines from leading authorities on gender-affirming medicine state that surgery should generally be reserved for adults, with exceptions for teenagers and older who meet certain criteria.
Other treatments, such as puberty blockers, are not considered irreversible.
Tim Carter, 55, who describes himself as a Christian and runs an addiction recovery business, attended a recent Trump rally in Conway.
They said they agreed with Trump on banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports. This opinion is partly formed by faith.
Followers of Christ “love everyone,” Carter said, but “there are some things you just can’t get away with.”
“When you start bringing that to kids in school, you cross the line,” he said. “We have to raise our own children, not other people’s children.”
Jamie Taylor, a political science professor at the University of Toledo who studies policies related to LGBTQ+ rights, said that after the U.S. Supreme Court approved same-sex marriage, transgender access to sports, bathrooms and health care became a new focus for the religious right. He said that this has become a key issue.
The high court also overturned federally guaranteed abortion rights two years ago, delivering a long-sought victory for conservatives but also opening a wedge that Democrats have since successfully made central to their campaign. became.
Republicans are divided on whether to pursue a national abortion ban, with President Trump refusing to publicly support the idea.
Taylor and colleagues found that from 2015 to 2020, political party identification and religious attendance became more accurate predictors of someone’s opinions on transgender-related issues.
They found that people who frequently attend religious services and identify with the Republican Party were less likely to support inclusive restroom access.
“If you’re a Republican, you don’t want to talk about abortion right now,” Taylor said. “But when it comes to transgender (issues), you can get away with it even more and throw the same people a bone.”
Mas Kono, 60, a political agnostic, said he doesn’t resonate with the Republican Party’s message on transgender issues at all. Although he is reluctantly leaning toward Biden in the presidential race, he remains supportive of Haley, who recently attended a rally on Daniel Island, South Carolina.
Kono’s biggest concerns are the economy, national security, and democracy. While there is a Republican in his state; Trying to restrict medical care for transgender youth When reached, he described the topic as an “anecdotal” issue regarding “bumper sticker sales.”
“It would be better to say, ‘Ban calculus in kindergarten,'” Kono says.
