Resources to fight the use of transphobia in electoral campaigns

This page contains links to resources on the weaponization of transphobia and transphobic legislation for electoral benefit. The emphasis here is on anti-trans attacks in California and nationally, with a curation focus on strategic and messaging material useful to defeat these attacks.

This page is maintained by Bruce Hahne, bruce at maronmedia dot com.

MESSAGING GUIDES

• Winning Against Right-Wing Scapegoating on Race and Trans Youth, ASO Communications.
  Description: How do we hold our ground while the right fearmongers around transgender youth, ‘parental rights,’ and Critical Race Theory? New research by ASO Communications, Lake Research Partners, and Transgender Law Center uses the Race Class Gender Narrative to rebuff these attacks and chart a winning path forward.

• Combating Anti-Transgender Disinformation, Heron Greenesmith, Political Research Associates, Jan. 27, 2023

• Transgender Youth and the Freedom to Be Ourselves, ASO Communications, updated April 2022
  This guide includes a section on "engaging the sports debate".
  Description: Messaging guidance based in the Race Class Narrative for organizers and advocates building a strong, vocal, and durable multiracial coalition championing a trans-inclusive, progressive vision for the country. 

WHITE PAPERS AND REPORTS

• "The Modern Electoral History of Transphobia", Ettingermentum, March 18 2023
  The author argues persuasively, using real-world data, that transphobia is a losing issue at the ballot box for the GOP, and that Democrats who embrace a pro-trans position are strategically better off.  "My ultimate hope is to prove a simple fact beyond any reasonable doubt: that trans people and trans rights are not liabilities to any left-wing movement in any sense of the term"

• "The Continuing Electoral History of Transphobia", Ettingermentum, Aug. 20 2023
  The author updates their March 2023 essay with new data based on recent election results, which continue to strongly indicate that Democrats should embrace a pro-trans position in their campaigning.

• "Anti-LGBTQ Organizing", Heron Greenesmith, Political Research Associates, June 27, 2022
  "This [article] explains the who and the what of modern anti-LGBTQ advocacy."
  
  

ARTICLES

• "How Democrats Can Defeat Republicans' Anti-Trans Bullying", Anat Shenker-Osorio and Jay Marcellus, Rolling Stone, Oct. 20 2024
  "... believing [that] economic policies, sprinkled with some reproductive freedom on top, can best Republicans politics of resentment is demonstrably false. When Republican efforts at fear-mongering go uncontested, they don’t go away."

• "Anti-Trans Platforms Lose Elections", Abby Vesoulis, Mother Jones, Nov. 9 2023
  "...anti-trans platforms failed to deliver positive electoral outcomes in every key race in which they were tested, from the Rust Belt to the South."

• "Moms For Liberty And Anti-Trans Republicans Suffer Massive Election Defeat Nationwide", Erin Reed, Nov. 8 2023
  "After championing a significant anti-trans agenda in 2023 and proposing more legislation against the LGBTQ+ community than the past decade, Republicans running on that platform faced unexpected and widespread defeats."

• "California anti-transgender activists to unveil 3 proposed ballot measures at Capitol", Andrew Sheeler, Sacramento Bee, Aug. 28, 2023

• "It’s Up to the Feds to Protect Trans Rights", Ryan Cooper, The American Prospect, March 23, 2023
  "As I’ve previously written, there has been a significant movement among centrist and liberal journalists over the past few months to enable the transphobic panic with an endless series of duplicitous “just asking questions” articles... Here in the U.S., such center-left party mumbling needs to be nipped in the bud, for the sake of both Democratic electoral victories and the rights of our fellow citizens. Selling out transgender Americans would be bad politically and worse morally."

SPECIAL SECTION: TRANSPHOBIA IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

The New York Times has featured a slew of transphobic news and editorial page content since at least early 2023. The Times is not a reliable source of information or framing on transgender people, their needs, or their lives. 

• "NYT Hypocrisy: Outlet Criticizes Trump's Attacks On Trans People That They Helped Usher In", Erin Reed, Feb. 10, 2025

• "NYT Misses What’s True and Important About an Anti-Trans School Resolution", Julie Hollar, FAIR, May 28, 2024.

• "Seen but not heard: The New York Times failed to quote trans people in two-thirds of stories on anti-trans legislation in a one-year period", Vesper Henry and Ari Drennen, special report by Media Matters, March 26, 2024

• "Both Sidesing Anti-Trans Repression: The NYT Sinks to Absurd New Depths", Assigned Media, Oct. 8, 2023

• "NYT Publishes ‘Greatest Hits’ of Bad Trans Healthcare Coverage", FAIR, Aug. 30 2023

• "NYT’s Anti-Trans Bias—by the Numbers", FAIR, May 11 2023

• "Inside the New York Times Blowup Over Transgender Coverage", Charlotte Klein, Vanity Fair, Feb. 27 2023

• "The New York Times’ Trans Coverage Debacle Was Years in the Making", Corbin Bolies, The Daily Beast, Mar. 7 2023

• "What went wrong at the New York Times?", Jude Ellison S. Doyle, Xtra Magazine, Feb. 27 2023
  "The anti-trans pivot at the Times is sharp. It’s notable. It has been protested in open letters from GLAAD and over 4,000 current and former Times contributors (including me). And—as Kahn reminded colleagues, in a sharply worded memo addressing those open letters—the Times has absolutely no interest in changing course."

• "Nearly 1,000 contributors protest New York Times’ coverage of trans people", Gloria Oladipo, The Guardian, Feb. 18 2023
  "The contributors’ letter notes that the Times’ reporting has been cited in support of anti-trans legislation, including in an amicus brief by Republican attorneys general in support of an anti-trans law in Alabama. "

• "N.Y. Times contributors and LGBTQ advocates send open letters criticizing paper's trans coverage", Jo Yurcaba, NBC News, Feb. 15 2023

• "New York Times' stories on trans youth slammed by writers — including some of its own", Mary Yang, NPR/KQED, Feb. 15 2023

• "180+ Journalists, New York Times contributors call out biased coverage of transgender people in joint letter as 100+ organizations and notables echo call, citing pattern of inaccurate, harmful trans coverage in the New York Times", press release, GLAAD, Feb. 14 2023
  "From the front page to the opinion page, readers are too often getting an inaccurate view of transgender people, with poor reporting that elevates harmful opinions from known anti-trans voices and so-called ‘concerns’ over the fact that every leading medical organization affirms healthcare for trans youth as safe and necessary."