Senate Democrats Send Trans People Powerful Message: We’re Still Here
But was the defeat of a federal sports ban a real turning point? The Senate Democrats issued no joint statement presaging future support for transgender people.
by Riki Wilchins
Just when everyone seemed to be complaining about the Democratic Party not standing up to anti-trans bigotry, Senate Democrats reminded the country that they still mattered, uniting to filibuster Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s sports ban.
Sports, the issue on which Republicans had the greatest public support, was supposed to be their best opening salvo in pushing forward a news wave of anti-trans measures.
But the vote didn’t turn out that way.
The tally was along party lines, 51 to 45, with only a bare majority supporting it. Sixty were needed to break the filibuster. Four senators didn’t vote: Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV); Cynthia Lummis (R-WY); Elissa Slotkin, D-MI); and Peter Welch (D-VT).
A preview of this outcome came in January when the House voted on the same measure. It also passed along party lines, 218-206, with only three Democrats breaking ranks.
At the time, I noted on social media that was just one percent of the fractious House Democratic Caucus. If Senate Democrats could do likewise, the ban would die by filibuster. But the Democrats actually did even better, with no votes for the Republican bill.
It was a heartening display for a Senate Democratic Caucus that has often been unable to stay united, even when confronted with some of Trump’s obviously unqualified Cabinet appointees.
But was this really a turning point? More than 20 anti-trans bills have been proposed or re-introduced in Congress already this year, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker.
Well, the Senate Democrats issued no joint statement presaging future support for transgender people, and neither did Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office (D-NY).
Instead, individual Democratic senators seemed to have their own messages:
Gary Peters (D-MI) was quoted by NBC saying: “People are going to realize that it’s really been an issue that Republicans have been trying to exploit.”
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), an important bellwether since he has to run for re-election in 2026, was also quoted by NBC: “I saw the [Trump] ads. I think that’s the kind of ad that works once. I don’t think it’ll work again.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) posted on X, “Empty show votes or cruelty on social media aren’t part of a thoughtful, dignified solution.”
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) was quoted by NBC News: “If you’re not known for fighting for people to have a decent living, these outside fringe issues are what is going to bring you down.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the chamber’s sole openly gay member, told Newsweek, “This is a decision for sports leagues to thoughtfully craft policy that actually takes seriously what is best for all players, not blanket mandates that will undoubtedly have unintended consequences for the safety of all students.”
And Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) summarized it well on the Senate floor: “What Republicans are doing today is inventing a problem to stir up a culture war and divide people against each other.” He called the bill “totally irrelevant to 99.9 percent of all people across the country.”
Perhaps the closest to an official statement came from the Democratic whip Sen. Richard (“Dick”) Durbin (D-IL) who noted that cisgender girls were also affected since enforcement would well subject them “to physical inspection by an adult if someone from an opposing team accused them of being transgender.”
Polls by Ipsos in January and Pew last month both found high levels of public support for anti-trans sports restrictions, but they had wide variances in their results.
Large differences in polling results are not unusual: How people answer is highly sensitive to how questions are framed. The Ipsos poll, for example, used loaded language, asking if trans athletes who “currently identify” as female should be allowed to compete.
The fact that polling responses are still so highly variable implies that the big battle is not just over the issue itself, but over who gets to frame it for the American public.
Riki Wilchins writes on trans theory and politics at: www.medium.com\@rikiwilchins. Her two last books are: BAD INK: How the NYTimes SOLD OUT Transgender Teens, and Healing the Broken Places: Transgender People Speak Out About Addiction & Recovery. She can be reached at TransTeensMatter@gmail.com.