Democrat Rep. Marcy Kaptur Shows She's Just As Anti-Trans As Her Opponent
Stop telling trans people they have to vote for anti-trans Democrats. Stop telling them they'll be responsible for the fall of democracy unless they do.
I've been thinking a lot about something @nome.bsky.social posted to Bluesky on Sept. 15: "I do not understand the folks furious at trans people for responding in anguish when the party that they've been told would protect them treats their existence as negotiable," he wrote. "I do not understand thinking trans folks have political power and responsibility where candidates have none."
In other words, if you're mad and want to yell at someone, channel your anger toward the campaigns of anti-trans Democrats. Tell them democracy depends on them not being anti-trans.
You can start with Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat running for reelection. She recently released a horribly transphobic campaign ad that brags about her voting with Republicans to hurt trans kids. In the 30-second spot, the subject of transgender people gets even more screen time than the war with Iran: 16 seconds versus two.
This ad is a response to an attack ad by her opponent, Republican Derek Merrin. In it, Merrin brags that he "sponsored a bill to protect girls' sports here in Ohio." He then claims that while in Congress, Kaptur "voted to let biological men compete against girls in their sport." He then calls her "way too liberal."
Now, there's a way to respond to this.
Here's one example: "There's a reason that if I'm asked, I always say that I support trans rights because I believe in all rights. I want folks to see their own rights in the plight of a trans person who's being discriminated against."
Here's another: "A government that is told that it's allowed to discriminate against some people and not others will eventually discriminate against any and all people for whatever reasons it chooses. We are all in the fight for an America whose government does not discriminate against any of us."
Both of those quotes are from Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan's Democratic U.S. Senate candidate. I will very proudly be voting for him when I get my November ballot.
Here's how Kaptur responded: "I voted with Republicans to keep transgender ideology out of our schools. Because parents know what's best for their kids. And boys should not play in girls' sports." During that last assertion, the video shows an image of an older white couple watching a swimmer race on TV. No doubt this is to evoke the specter of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, the woman to whom chucklehead Riley Gaines owes her career in right-wing grift.
Kaptur's campaign website says she's "fighting for all Ohioans to have a fair playing field as they seek economic and health security."
All Ohioans, except the transgender ones. She's made that very clear.
So if I lived in, say, Toledo? There's no way I could proudly vote for Kaptur. And I sure as hell wouldn't be lecturing trans people about why they need to set their own humanity aside and take one for the team.
Instead, you should contact Kaptur's campaign and ask her why she's doing this. Why is she throwing transgender people to the wolves and echoing right-wing talking points designed to portray transgender people as a threat to children, especially girls? And why is she so proud of doing so?
Contact Kaptur's campaign via phone at 419-665-3133 or email at [email protected]. You can also use Facebook to express yourself.
Unfortunately, Kaptur isn't the only anti-trans Democrat who is going to be on the November ballot. All of them need to hear from voters that their anti-trans stances are reprehensible. All of them need to hear that they are cowards. All of them need to hear that they are causing real harm to real people. All of them need to hear that trans rights are human rights, damn it, and if they won't stand up for trans people, how can you trust them to stand up for you? (The answer is you can't.)
Republicans have chosen to focus on hurting transgender people because they've got nothing else to run on. They've tanked the economy, they've supported turning major cities into police states where civilians get shot in the street, they've started a war with Iran just for fun, they've hitched themselves to the most unpopular president in recent history, and on and on.
Democrats don't have to turn against transgender people to find something to talk about. And yet, here we are. If you're mad at anyone, it should be the Democratic Party and the anti-trans candidates they support. So let them know it.
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