As midterms approach, numerous anti-trans schemes are being pushed across the country in red and blue states alike. The widespread attack on trans people in this way is a historically concerted effort of coordinated ballot measures.
Washington and Colorado each have measures to enact bans on trans people in sport that will appear on the ballot in November’s midterm election. Washington’s ban is the harshest, with required sex verification testing for all girls wishing to participate in school sports. Colorado would see a general restriction on trans athletes in school sports.
A proposed measure in Nebraska similarly attacks trans athletes. The state already has a ban in effect, but the initiative would codify it in the state constitution. Similarly, Arizona, also already having banned trans youth from sports, would add a measure allowing for private lawsuits to be brought against schools suspected of having a trans athlete on a team.
Republicans in Missouri are pushing an amendment that would constitutionally ban gender affirming surgery for trans youth, which again is already illegal in the state. Quietly bundled into the same amendment is language that would repeal abortion protections enacted in 2024.
Alongside Republicans’ barrage of anti-trans attacks, some Democratic candidates are opting to tack right, renouncing and abandoning support for their transgender constituents. Prominent among those who have walked back support are James Talarico, Sarah Trone Garriott, Rob Sand, and Amy Acton.
Talarico, running for senate against Ken Paxton in Texas, recently walked back his support for trans athletes in women’s sports. Trone Garriott, running against Zach Nunn in Iowa for congressional representative, last month released an ad stating her opposition to trans women in women’s locker rooms. Sand, running for governor against Kim Reynolds in Iowa, has also publicly opposed trans girls in sport, referring to them as “biological boys”. And Amy Acton, running for Governor in Ohio, also has voiced opposition to trans girls in sport, referring to them as “boys”.
Meanwhile, Republicans across the nation are pushing countless anti-trans campaign ads, with Elon Musk’s America PAC alone providing $100 million worth of almost exclusively anti-trans advertising in support of the party.
These ads are appearing in numerous races across the country, attacking democratic nominees for their support of transgender Americans, transgender healthcare, and trans people in sport. Democrats pulling back on trans issues does not seem to have helped the candidates who changed positions, with ads attacking Talarico, Trone Garriott, and Sherrod Brown, who has been openly opposed to trans girls in school sports since 2024, are prioritizing trans Americans over all other issues.
In addition to attacking some candidates for positions they don’t hold, many of these ads also feature apparently AI generated depictions of trans people, often using heavily exaggerated stereotypes of drag queens in their portrayals.
