Here’s why the party shouldn’t be scared to speak up for trans rights.
A sign at the Queer Liberation March on June 25, 2023, in New York City. (Erik McGregor / LightRocket via Getty Images)
Over the past few election cycles, many Democrats have been running scared.
Back in the 2022 midterms, the issue Democrats feared most was crime. As Republican candidates released thousands of ads focusing on violent crime, the Democratic consultant class panicked. According to them, the topic was such a lost cause that the Democrats’ only options were to pander or change the subject.
In the end, many Democrats who stood their ground on criminal justice, like John Fetterman and Brandon Johnson, went on to win their elections.
Now, just in time for critical races this year and next, Republicans have found an equally potent issue: trans kids. Campaigning in North Carolina this summer, Donald Trump explained the appeal: “I talk about transgender, everyone goes crazy. Who would have thought? Five years ago, you didn’t know what the hell it was.”
Across the country, Republican candidates have manufactured a cultural crisis that they claim threatens our children’s schools, sports, and overall safety—all while pushing their own regressive policies that actually harm children. In other words, they’re at war with our kids, in the name of our kids, to devastating political effect.
The underlying hypocrisy of the message is beside the point; it’s all part of a broader strategy. In Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, the man who rode to the governor’s mansion on a similarly manufactured wave of fear about critical race theory in 2021, is at it again. Youngkin is stirring up more panic over trans kids ahead of this year’s elections in the General Assembly, when every seat is up for grabs.
If he helps secure a Republican majority, Youngkin can do more than roll back LGBTQ rights. He’ll erase Virginia’s progressive gains on everything from gun safety to abortion to climate to voting rights—and take his vision (and a possible presidential candidacy) national.
And Youngkin is not alone. Just this year, far-right politicians have introduced hundreds of bills nationwide targeting transgender youth, while extreme MAGA Republicans in the US House have added anti-trans provisions to must-pass funding bills. As trans kids move to center stage, how should Democrats respond?
Some might be tempted to cower. But I’ve got good news: Far from running for cover, the best thing for Democrats to do—both morally and politically—is to lean in, speak out, and support trans kids and their families.
Why?
In an age of political cynicism, let’s start with the most obvious and important reason: It’s the right thing to do. Scientific evidence proves over and over again that gender-affirming care is essential to trans kids. One study found a 14.4 percent decrease in suicide attempts when hormone replacement therapy was started between the ages of 14 and 17. The decrease was largest when therapy began at age 14 or 15. We’re talking about saving our kids’ lives. If those are the terms of a “culture war,” we must win.
As the editors of The Nation, it’s not usually our role to fundraise. Today, however, we’re putting out a special appeal to our readers, because there are only hours left in 2025 and we’re still $20,000 away from our goal of $75,000. We need you to help close this gap.
Your gift to The Nation directly supports the rigorous, confrontational, and truly independent journalism that our country desperately needs in these dark times.
2025 was a terrible year for press freedom in the United States. Trump launched personal attack after personal attack against journalists, newspapers, and broadcasters across the country, including multiple billion-dollar lawsuits. The White House even created a government website to name and shame outlets that report on the administration with anti-Trump bias—an exercise in pure intimidation.
The Nation will never give in to these threats and will never be silenced. In fact, we’re ramping up for a year of even more urgent and powerful dissent.
With the 2026 elections on the horizon, and knowing Trump’s history of false claims of fraud when he loses, we’re going to be working overtime with writers like Elie Mystal, John Nichols, Joan Walsh, Jeet Heer, Kali Holloway, Katha Pollitt, and Chris Lehmann to cut through the right’s spin, lies, and cover-ups as the year develops.
If you donate before midnight, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar by a generous donor. We hope you’ll make our work possible with a donation. Please, don’t wait any longer.
In solidarity,
The Nation Editors
But it is more than the right thing to do. It can also be a path to victory. There’s no reason for Democrats to be afraid and show up on defense. Sixty-four percent of Americans favor protecting trans people from discrimination, according to the Pew Research Center. A survey by Selzer & Co./Grinnell College found that a majority of Americans oppose bans on gender-affirming care for those under 18. Progressive elected officials are showing us that it is possible to go on the offense. In Minnesota, for example, Governor Tim Walz signed an executive order guaranteeing that gender-affirming care will remain available in the state.
Transgender youth, like all youth, have the best chance to thrive when they are supported and can get medically necessary care. No politician should stand in the way of that care.
We will never realize the power of our progressive majority by giving in to an agenda of fear. From abortion rights to trans rights, freedom over our bodies is fundamental to every other freedom, and American voters are fed up as they watch their fundamental rights disappear. In a fight this consequential, Democrats must not only show up but win.
Pamela ShifmanPamela Shifman is president of the Democracy Alliance, a network of progressive donors committed to building a just, multiracial, feminist democracy and strengthening the progressive infrastructure in the United States.