Even in Trans-Friendlier Michigan, Democratic Allies Are Failing Us
How party leaders are ducking for cover on trans rights, choosing political expediency over protecting vulnerable community
It is exhausting trying to keep up with the anti-transgender news, particularly when it's not just coming from the usual suspects. Living in Michigan, we're supposed to be in one of the more welcoming states for transgender residents, yet even our Democratic representatives are finding ways to dodge supporting us when the stakes are high. While the Trump administration drives most of these attacks, recent national developments reveal how the anti-transgender tide is rising everywhere — including right here in Michigan.
A national story grabbing recent headlines centers on the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, which has publicly acquiesced to Trump's executive order, "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," banning trans women from women's sports.
On one hand, their decision isn't surprising. As noted in a press release from the USOPC leadership, “As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations.” Whether that is totally true, it gives the USOPC cover for their transphobic decision.
What is more discouraging, though, is the quiet acquiescence from supposed allies of ours.
Rahm Emanuel, former Obama chief-of-staff, former Chicago mayor and possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, appeared on conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly's show recently.
As reported on The Daily Beast, Kelly asked Emanuel his feelings on various transgender issues.
“Can a man become a woman?” Kelly asked Emanuel.
“Can a man become a woman? No,” the former chief of staff to President Barack Obama replied.
“Thank you,” Kelly said, adding that Emanuel’s answer was “'so easy.'” But it didn't stop there. Kelly pressed him a bit more:
"Why don’t more people in your party say that?” she asked.
“Because we’re — I’m now going to go into a witness protection plan," he joked.
"Do you believe that boys should be able to play in girls’ sports?”
“No,” Emanuel answered immediately.
“Do you believe that kids under the age of 18 should be able to be put on puberty blockers and cross sex hormones?”
“I think that parents have to make that decision themselves,'” he said. “I think that child is too young at 18 to make that decision, it has to be made with a family.”
“Should we be putting men in female prisons? Men claiming they’re women.”
“No,” he said."
Now, this wasn't JD Vance or Stephen Miller making these comments. This is a man who openly called for the legalization of same-sex marriage back in 2011, even before his former boss in the White House supported it. So, what changed?
Simple answer: It isn't politically expedient to support trans rights.
Don't believe for a second that Emanuel's transphobic views make him an outlier in the Democratic party. It was only this past March when Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, another potential Democratic presidential hopeful, stated on his own podcast that he felt trans girls participating in women's sports was, “an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair.”
And don't forget Massachusetts Congressman Seth Mouton's comments after last year’s elections, when he told The New York Times that Democrats had spent “too much time trying not to offend anyone.”
“I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete,” he said. “But as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”
Even here in Michigan, one of the more transgender-friendly states according to Erin Reed’s “Anti-Trans Risk Assessment Map,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin has skirted supporting the concerns of her transgender constituents.
In her appearance on “Meet The Press” in early March, Slotkin was asked by host Kristen Welker for her take on Newsom’s anti-trans women in sports views. Slotkin declined to respond directly to Newsom’s words, and instead offered this advice:
“Let the local community figure this out, right? In Michigan, we have a process in place where if someone who is born a boy wants to play in women’s sports, you have to get a waiver. We’ve had it happen two times in our entire state. So let the local communities, just like everything with schools, handle that issue. For me, though, I think, you know, this issue is being sort of brought up in order to make sparks and see sparks fly.”
Slotkin’s take wasn't just dismissive, it was terrifying. As has been shown, states and local communities have been quite willing to discriminate against trans people via legislation and biased regulations in the absence of federal government involvement. The very same argument was used in the early half of the 20th century to permit Jim Crow laws to proliferate in the southern United States.
Basically, Slotkin would rather avoid dealing with transgender issues and leave our rights to the whims of local communities beneath her purview.
Rest assured that many others in the Democrat party share these views but haven't the nerve to voice them publicly.
Sure, as a group, they will engage in hand-waving support for transgender rights by voting against Republican legislation targeting the trans community. That is something. But as Democrats are in the Congressional minority right now, such inconsequential voting is merely virtue signaling. What actual legislation is being passed to assure our rights?
Democrats, our supposed political allies, are riding the prevailing wave of transphobia. They either make these meaningless gestures of support for us, or in most cases, ignore us completely.
Where is our voice? Who is our voice? It was hoped that Rep. Sarah McBride, the transgender congressperson from Delaware, would be, but she has so far followed the path of least resistance and refrained from speaking out on trans issues.
Which is why it is so important as a community for us to draw together, to speak and act as one. Engagement with our elected officials is definitely a part of this plan, as laws need to be passed to ensure our equal rights.
But we also have to bring our concerns to the general public ourselves. Draw attention to specific issues affecting our community. Marcy Rheintgen's singular act of civil disobedience by using a woman's restroom in Florida in open defiance of that state's anti-transgender ban did exactly that. As of now, 19 states have similar restroom bans. Where are the other Marcy Rheintgen's protesting those anti-trans laws?
As a marginalized, small minority, we are easily overlooked and discriminated against. But together, we can speak with an outsized voice and act with outsized visibility.
Our existence depends upon it.
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