Trump’s anti-trans views make him a bully. Gov. Gavin Newsom hasn’t helped | Opinion
Nothing captures the hate experienced during another term of President Donald Trump more starkly than the victimization of transgender people.
This hatred wasn’t hidden. It was in every commercial that Trump’s team rolled during the 2024 presidential campaign, where they slammed former Vice President Kamala Harris for an interview in which she supported policies that ensure transgender inmates have access to gender transition care in federal prisons and immigration detention facilities.
Trump knew what he was doing by tapping into a pure, ignorant rage and pointing right at a group of people that make up less than 1% of the adult population in America.
Two years ago, I stood in the middle of a protest in Nashville where trans people, angry that they had to fight to exist, stood next to the people who reject their way of life. It was like standing amid a culture war where all I could feel was hate, resentment and hostility.
“We’re all neighbors,” I said to myself as it became clear to me that the biggest victim that day was our sense of humanity and the belief that our society triumphs when empathy and compassion are front and center.
Trump disregards compassion and empathy every day.
All we’ll have left is hate
Days after taking office, Trump signed an executive order targeting federal funding for schools that affirm trans children. The main engine that runs this hate train is trans women playing in sports.
This week, Trump used his social media platform Truth Social to threaten Gov. Gavin Newsom, saying he would withhold federal funding to the entire state of California if any transgender female student athlete is allowed to compete in the upcoming state finals for track and field.
“California, under the leadership of Radical Left Democrat Gavin Newsom, continues to ILLEGALLY allow ‘MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS,’” Trump posted Tuesday morning. “This week, a transitioned Male athlete, at a major event, won ‘everything,’ and is now qualified to compete in the ‘State Finals’ next weekend.”
This is where we are at in America. Our nation’s leader is threatening to withhold valuable resources because one trans girl, only 16, was set to participate in California’s state track meet. Let that sink in.
Newsom and the people who enable
Some Democrats are not blameless in this. Newsom is not going to defend trans athletes the way he should. When he had the chance on his podcast, he agreed with right-wing Trumper Charlie Kirk that it was “deeply unfair” for trans women to compete against cisgender women.
Meanwhile, Colin Allred, a Texas Democrat who ran for U.S. Senate last year, made an ad saying he doesn’t want “boys playing girls’ sports.”
Democrats could do themselves a favor by addressing the ambiguity some people feel about transgender people. Some people can become allies of trans people if given some grace as they transition from opposition to understanding. We can evolve as human beings, such as when former President Barack Obama was comparatively slow to acknowledge marriage equality.
The occupant of the Oval Office notwithstanding, we have evolved as humans. We can stop letting cultural differences from getting in the way of a simple conclusion that the lives of transgender people matter. They do.
Americans need to start really seeing each other and accepting each other. We can accept the identity of our neighbors, our fellow citizens. We can’t afford another presidential election where the key to victory is fear-mongering entire groups of people. Disagreeing on tariffs is one thing, but making one group a scapegoat is bullying. We need to declare an end to the war among ourselves.
The political lines that are drawn, the culture war I witnessed, were fueled by an unwillingness to listen and communicate with one another.
I am not a trans supporter because I was brainwashed by TikTok, a protest or a book. I’ve been around trans people in homeless shelters, and I’ve befriended them. When I see the hatred spread toward this group, I think of the trans people I’ve known and my heart hurts for them, and it makes me want to make this country better again.
May we all get to that place in our hearts.
