Why advocates for transgender rights are so thrilled with election … – Route Fifty

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Its Saturday, Nov. 11, and wed like to welcome you to the weekly State and Local Roundup. There is plenty of news to keep tabs on, but first: Happy Veterans Day! We at Route Fifty would like to thank all past and present service members. It seems fitting that Veterans Day falls so close to Election Day in the U.S., where this week millions of voters across the nation exercised their freedom to vote.

There were a lot of groups happy with how Tuesdays elections unfurled, and one of those is supporters of transgender rights, who emerged victorious in many key races after years of being at the center of conservative-led culture wars.

In Kentucky, Republican gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron repeatedly targeted transgender rights in his unsuccessful bid to unseat Gov. Andy Beshear. The Democratic governor vetoed a measure passed by the Republican-dominated state legislature earlier this year that bans access to gender-affirming care for transgender kids and dictates which bathrooms they must use. The legislature overrode his veto.

During the campaign, Cameron said Beshear protects transgender surgeries for kids and demands that boys play in girls sports, referring to transgender girls. Cameron, the states attorney general, said Beshear was auditioning for a job with Bud Lights marketing team, referring to the beer brands partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Gender was one of the top three issues addressed by Republican ads in the governors race (along with crime and Joe Biden), according to AdImpact, a campaign ad tracking service.

Beshear responded to the barrage of criticism with an ad of his own, saying his faith led him to believe that all children are children of God. The governor also quipped about Camerons focus on the issue, I think if you ask him about climate change, hell say its caused by children and gender reassignment surgeries.

Camerons preoccupation with transgender rights perplexed some political observers, too. Cook Political Report analyst Jessica Taylor told reporters she has not seen evidence yet either in Kentucky or elsewhere that [campaigning to restrict the rights of transgender people] is an effective argument. She noted that Republicans had tried a similar tack with Gov. Laura Kelly in Kansas last year.

Of course, transgender rights played a big role in many races across the country, from school board races in Pennsylvania to legislative elections in Virginia. In fact, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin won election two years ago promising to promote parents rights and imposing new rules on transgender students in schools.

But those efforts failed to gain traction or even backfired. Virginia Del. Danica Roem, a Democrat, won election to the state Senate Tuesday against a Republican incumbent who opposed transgender rights and wanted to ban transgender students from playing high school sports. That makes her the second transgender state senator in the country, along with Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride, who is now running for Congress.

Meanwhile, conservative activists backed by groups like Moms for Liberty and the 1776 Project lost 70% of their school board races nationally, according to the American Federation of Teachers, although the conservative groups dispute that number. Liberal majorities took control of school boards in culture war hotspots such as Loudoun County and Spotsylvania County in Virginia and Central Bucks County school district in Pennsylvania.

Extremist politicians on the Republican side have been really focusing on attacking transgender people, said Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund. They did so cynically, because they thought it was going to get them votes. But what Tuesday nights results really born out was that [attacking transgender rights] only captures votes in the primaries, because it only resonates with the fringes. When you get to the general elections, it really backfires on these anti-trans candidates.

Transgender people make up a small portion of the populationlikely less than 1%so most Americans dont spend much time worrying about them, Heng-Lehtinen said. So making them a huge part of a campaign platform, at a time when Americans are worried about gas prices, school shootings and teacher shortages, makes those candidates look out of touch, he said.

Were at a point where most people do recognize the basic humanity of transgender people, he added. They may understandably have questions about some more intricate policy matters, like school sports or health care, but they can generally recognize that we are people and no one should be subjected to discrimination. So when a candidate for office makes a point to attack us, it makes them look like a bully.

Heng-Lehtinen said that politicians like Youngkin misinterpreted the angst of parents in 2021, the year when the Republican Virginia governor was elected. At the time, the public was tired of school closures, mask mandates and other COVID-19 policies, Heng-Lehtinen said, and parents from across the political spectrum became more involved in politics, particularly when it came to schools.

These culturally conservative organizations tried to leverage that to also put forward anti-LGBT initiatives and anti-diversity in education initiatives, he said. They purposefully tried to seize the momentum around COVID organizing into these other cultural war issues, and they conflated COVID with everything else, when really, everyday parents did feel affected by COVID but most of them didnt feel affected by trans people. I mean, lets be real. Theres not a lot of us out there.

But politically, the momentum swung against transgender rights in Republican strongholds. Conservatives wanted to burnish their credentials with their strongest supporters, and groups like Moms for Liberty formed to pressure school administrators and public officials to curb diversity initiatives and even remove library books about LGBTQ characters or people of color from schools.

In state legislatures, new records were set every year since 2020 in the amount of anti-LGBTQ legislation introduced and in the number of proposals specifically targeting transgender and nonbinary people.

When trans people found that they were being targeted by public officials, though, many of them decided to run for office themselves, Heng-Lehtinen said. Its not a coincidence. There has been a marked increase in trans people running for office, and its only been in the last two years. It is to a meaningful degree in response to these growing legislative attacks on transgender people.

This fall, trans candidates won election to the Minneapolis City Council, to the Nashville Metro council and as the commissioner of finance in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

But the anti-trans rhetoric in the political arena has affected trans people in their everyday lives, particularly for trans youth, Heng-Lehtinen said. They face mental health problems and growing suicidal ideation, along with physical attacks, murders and other hate crimes. We are fighting for our lives in policy, but we are also literally fighting for our lives, he said. So in response, a lot of transgender people and our families who love us are now getting involved.

It's not clear whether candidates will abandon their anti-trans rhetoric in the future, but Heng-Lehtinen said he found one encouraging sign since the Tuesday elections. During the Republican presidential debate on Wednesday, the issue of transgender rights was barely mentioned, even though it was a major flashpoint in previous debates. In the last round of debates, they went after transgender people hard, he said. But now, the day after the election, they rewrote their script.

More Election News

Tuesday was a big night for Democrats. It proved that the party has staying power in state elections: Voters reelected the Democratic governor of Kentucky and rebuffed the Republican legislature in Ohio by approving measures to legalize marijuana and protect abortion rights. Democrats also added to their wins by taking control of the Virginia House from Republicans. It was a historic night of firsts, particularly in local elections. ICYMI, check out Daniel C. Vocks roundup of election results.

Housing and homelessness played a big role in this years elections, both as a candidate issue and on ballot initiatives. Route Fiftys Molly Bolan found that Tuesdays results reflect frustration with the issues and little agreement across communities on which policies are most effective in creating safe, stable and affordable housing for all.

Public transportation was also on the ballot in communities across the country. Voters on Tuesday approved 14 out of 19 measures supporting public transit. This weeks results add to the 15 public transit measures already passed by voters this year, bringing the total to 29 out of 36 wins for public transit in 2023, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

And finally, several tax initiatives were on the ballot Tuesday. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy rounded up its take on the elections results. But a few issues garnered national attention, including Ohios 10% excise tax on legalized marijuana and Texas voters decision to cut property taxes.

Texas voters weighed 14 constitutional amendments on the ballot Tuesday and approved property tax cuts, a raise for retired teachers and billions in investments in infrastructure, research, tech and energy. By far, the ballot measure with the most support was an $18 billion package that lowered school district property taxes for homeowners and businesses. Texans also approved a ballot measure denying the legislature the option to impose a wealth tax.

Meanwhile, a sweeping proposal to overhaul Colorados property tax system was rejected by voters. The plan promised property tax savings but packaged in significant changes to how the state collects, spends and refunds tax money for years to come.

Keep reading as theres more news to use below, and if you dont already and would prefer to get this roundup in your inbox, you can subscribe to this newsletter here. Well see you next week.

News to Use

Trends, Common Challenges, Cool Ideas, FYIs and Notable Events

Picture of the Week

More than 2,600 designs were proposed for the new Minnesota state flag and seal during the public submission period that ended on Oct. 30. Eighty-five percent of the submissions are for the flag, while 15% for the seal, reported the Pioneer Press. The flag designs include classic Minnesota elements such as trees, water, loons, the north star and even the pink ladys slipper. Many of those same components appear on seal submissions. Later this month, the State Emblems Redesign Commission will select five entries each for the new state seal and state flag. The 2023 legislature established the commission to develop and adopt a new design for the state seal and a new design for the state flag by Jan. 1. The states effort follows a wave of flag redesigns across the nation, Ted Kaye, a vexillologist and author of the book on flag design, Good Flag, Bad Flag, told Route Fifty earlier this year. (Flag submissions courtesy of State Emblems Redesign Commission)

Government in Numbers

360

The approximate number of glaciers that have disappeared across the American West since the mid-20th century. The new inventory of glaciers in the American West shows that 52 of the 612 officially named glaciers are no longer glaciers because they are either too small, no longer moving or have disappeared altogether. The effort focuses on named glaciers across the western half of the continental U.S. and has found that since the mid-20th centuryabout the time the U.S. Geological Survey first started mapping the entire countryabout 360 glaciers have either disappeared or become permanent snowfields. Researchers said the disappearance of glaciers shows just how much climate change is impacting the landscape across the American West. For a mass of ice to be considered a glacier, it must be at least 0.01 square kilometers (roughly the size of two side-by-side football fields) and it must be moving.

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Why advocates for transgender rights are so thrilled with election ... - Route Fifty