Liberals will lie to you and tell you to “just vote in the primary,” but in reality they simply don’t care about trans rights and do not believe there is ever a right time to challenge transphobic Democrats.
First primary: the transphobes hide their colors so you can’t vote against them.
First general election: the snakes reveal their colors, but you can’t vote against the traitors because “blue no matter who.” They tell you to just vote in the next primary.
Second primary: the same people who tell you now “save it for the primary” shift their tune to “we can’t give up an incumbent seat in a purple district!”
Trans people can see through these bad-faith lies. Yet of course, mansplaining trolls will be sure to breathlessly explain “lesser of two evil” math, as if that’s not an argument we haven’t heard a thousand times and already rejected due to its obvious flaws. There’s never a shortage of arrogant cis people who think they know more about trans issues than actual trans people.
Liberals want your votes, not your voices. Be a good little minority and sit down. Shut up. Support the party. You owe the party your support. The party owes you nothing.
EDIT: A few thoughts to address the comment in the thread here:
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You need to get past your team sports approach to politics. I am not advocating voting against Democrats in general. I’m advocating for not voting for the 1% of Democratic candidates that have chosen to become fascist collaborators and adopt Republican positions on trans rights. To trans people, the Democratic party going TERF is a greater danger than the Republican party winning a slim majority in the Senate. The nightmare scenario here is what happened with Labor. Labor has completely fallen to Nazi collaborators. The UK has regressed in trans rights to now be the most transphobic country in Western Europe, and that happened under the rule of a center-left government. The trans people of the UK would have been better off with another term of conservatives than the transphobic labor leaders they elected instead. We don’t need to elect more Fettermans who will turn around and vote against the party the first chance they get. So many people in this thread believe, “you have to vote for the Nazi collaborators, otherwise the Nazis will win!”
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On saving democracy: you are vastly underestimating how difficult that task is. You seem to imagine you can just write a bill that just says, “democracy saved,” and call it a day. Actually saving democracy is going to require stripping powers from the presidency and dismantling the post-9/11 security state. That requires Democratic leaders of moral strength and conviction. It will take leaders willing to look their constituents in the eye and tell them, “I am going to vote for this bill to dismantle ICE. Yes, that means that occasionally an illegal immigrant is going to murder someone. I’m going to vote for this bill to dismantle the NSA’s illegal programs. Yes, that means we may have more terrorist attacks than we would otherwise. It’s worth it to save our Republic.” Saving democracy requires leaders who are literally willing to vote to kill their fellow Americans. Every power you strip away results in a few more people dying. It’s inevitable. And these transphobe Democrats are fundamentally cowards with no inner moral center. They’ll follow any poll or vote for any policy they think will get them power. This kind of person is not capable of saving democracy. You can’t defeat Nazism by voting in Nazi collaborators, and it’s insane to pretend you can.
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Those arguing that trans rights are a minor or insignificant issue? Frankly, if you believe this, you deserve to have your right to vote taken away. If you’re not willing to protect the vulnerable among your community, you deserve whatever evil befalls you. Karma’s a bitch in that way. We can all go to Hell together if that’s the path you choose.
Notice this person is basically telling you to vote republican without saying so
Edit: Obligatory mention that Republicans hold majority in all branches of the US government
My take has been: Vote for what’s right in the primaries. Vote for what’s practical in the general. Rinse & repeat. It’s either that, or give us some sort of ranking option so we can do some semblance of risk mitigation between the two corporate parties.
I voted for candidates in the primary. And for the most part, I’ll sadly be voting against the more-bad candidates in the general to ensure the greatest likelihood of defeat for the more-bad candidates that I can accomplish with my one little vote.
Edit to add: the timing of the article smells weird to me, as if to suppress Democratic turnout in November.
Suppressing turnout is always the point. Telling you the gov’t can’t fix things and that you should check the fuck out is the point. The status quo is what they want*, its the game they have rigged and control. If voting didnt matter they wouldnt put so much effort in keeping people from doing it or convincing you to stay home.
The dems are 99% ass, but the GOP would imprison trans people as groomers for taking a dump in the girls room. Its not even close and I’m tired of people’s suggesting staying at home will get them better choices next time.
Can always count on there being a cis person that thinks they know trans issues better than actual trans people.
Remember, trans people are apparently numerous enough to owe our votes to Democrats, but we’re not numerous enough to have our issues be included as basic litmus tests of party candidate eligibility.
Maybe you should have some humility and stop acting like minorities owe you anything after you betray them.
You don’t represent all of us, slow your role. Jesus Christ can we at least keep the actual real fascists out of office while working on making things better at the same time?
Why didn’t the “working on making things better” start in 2020? We could’ve kept actual fascists out of power, if we’d started then, instead of breathing a sigh of relief and acting like everything was fixed forever.
I don’t know about you but I don’t have a time machine. I’m stuck in the present timeline. If you’ve got a way back to try and fix this mess, believe me when I say try it and don’t worry of it destroys the current timeline.
Even though I recognized the trajectory toward authoritarianism back in 1996 with Pres. Clinton’s Third Way triangulation, and have been saying, guys, we need to start making things better sooner rather than later since then, the past is indeed the past. So, what’s the plan? What are we doing beyond “vote blue” right now to ensure that we don’t have to vote for anti-trans Democrats next time, too?
I love this question, because the answer can be so many things depending on your set, setting, and availability. Engage in local politics and community support.
Show up for meetings and listen. Share your thoughts and opinions as you become informed or find you have questions. Talk to your friends and neighbors. Join a local committee. Run for a local office or go further if that’s your path.
Get acquainted with your local town office, rec center, senior center, etc. Start volunteering. Serve meals, maybe deliver some. Support a food bank - donations, pickup from local business donors. Promote Progressive voices that are supporting workers’ and people’s rights. Support people doing everything described in the previous paragraph.
Gogol Bordello said it first: Think global, act local. Installing a president with true progressive values isn’t a path to success unless there is wider congressional support, so start developing grass roots support or support those that are developing such.
Conservatives have spent 50+ years slowly and steadily doing this and fucking over progressive voices all along the way with exuberant neoliberal support on embracing corporate money and influence. It’s a long road back. We need to stop accelerating towards stupidity and it’s the right wing authoritarian cultists that have their foot stuck on the gas pedal so keeping them out of power would be super neato as far as I’m concerned.
Why are you commenting about things you clearly don’t know anything about?
Well, if it’s so obvious, answer the question.
Because you’re JAQ-ing off in bad faith. The question is bad faith. If you were politically engaged you’d be aware of everything done during the Biden administration to correct republican destruction, but you’re not, because you’re here in bad faith.
I’m not claiming the trans folk owe the dems shit. I am say the least I can do for marginalized groups is hold my nose and vote for the people who currently aren’t executing policy to harm those groups.
Voting for a third party?! Tsk-tsk!
Hol’up…
Where did you get the idea that “trans people are numerous enough”? Numerous in what, exactly? To swing an election?
I’m so confused by all the stuff you’re posting around here. It seems you are VERY misinformed about your position in society as a member of a group, and how that affects US elections at large.
I’m not saying to hold back on your swings or anything, but the crazy vitriol you’re spouting off just seems to say you’re making some wild assumptions that will not play out…
It comes from every time a trans person says they will never support a Democrat that stands against them, BlueMAGA comes out yelling at them saying they’re the reason Harris lost and will be blamed when any other Dem loses.
The entire “Blue MAGA” is literally manufactured russian republican propaganda. It’s not a real thing, it’s a psy-op to convince idiots to let the republicans win. And you are falling for it hard.
No it comes from the toxic positivity of libs telling everyone to support their destructive party over the other destructive party using the same talking points as MAGA, just with a couple words changed.
It’s literally both sides rebranded. It’s a psy op and it’s working on people like you.
If trans people are so minor that we can’t affect elections, why are you complaining about trans people withholding our votes?
First: I’m not “complaining about trans people” in any way. I’m pointing out the flaw in your logic, and attempting to understand what mechanism you believe you are attempting to enact here because it’s no making sense.
Second: trying to contort other people’s comments to turn yourself into a victim over falsehoods is the weakest of weak discourse, and makes you seem like an unserious person. I hope you don’t engage with people in person like that, because it’s a fast track to being ignored.
This is part of a larger conversation.
I am not assuming that trans people are numerous enough to affect elections. I’m simply taking that as a given based on all the responses I’ve received in this and similar threads. People clearly believe that trans people are numerous enough for our votes to matter, but also somehow so small in number that our issues can be ignored.
You’re doing the Democrat version of the old Nazi trope that Jews were both incredibly weak and subhuman, while also a secret conspiracy that controlled the world. The Nazis simultaneously believed that Jews were inferior subhumans, literally less-evolved and less-intelligent than ordinary Germans AND that Jews were powerful and smart enough to secretly run the whole world.
You believe a similar thing about trans people. Our numbers are small enough that our issues can’t be litmus tests for the party. (No one would tell black democrats that they have to support a democrat that is a member of the KKK. Anti-black racism is treated as a red line by the whole party. No one says we have to support klan members because “blue no matter who.” Trans issues aren’t treated with the same seriousness by folks like you.) Our numbers are small enough that our issues can be dismissed as trivial and unimportant. You’ll dismiss the needs of trans people, and then with the very next breath say that we owe our votes to the Democratic party. Us not voting for Democrats risk them losing the election.
You believe in Schrodinger’s trans person: small enough in number to ignore, but not so small that we can’t be blamed for an election loss.
Again…twisting someone’s words into something completely different than what was said to make whatever point you feel you need to make. Unserious.
All I asked was for clarification about HOW you imagine this mechanism of withholding votes in the numbers you’re talking about. It’s math, not attacking your social standing or worth.
Go and read about people who made serious inroads for their social causes like Harvey Milk or Barbara Gittings. That’s how you get to real social change. Hell, look at Sarah McBride. She sees the social systems for what they are, and is working inside them to affect the changes she wants to happen. Doing this argumentative bluster thing that you’re doing and just attacking people, or threatening to abstain from the existing voting system is going to do shit. That’s just the reality of it.
That doesn’t really work unless the candidate is honest in the primary. So you vote for someone thinking they’re one way and they double cross you.
Yes this is also about Fetterman
Bottom line: Everything sucks and will forever. Because people suck and always will.
Vote out of spite.
How’s that working out for you?
i solved it
trans voters abandon democrats at their peril
satisfying
Ranking is a fucking lie. You don’t have a femocracy until you have a representative share instead of a winner takes all. You don’t have a democracy if a vote on one state is worth more than others. You dont have a democracy until you get rid of gerrymandering.
Most of Woody’s posts and comments are trying to discourage people from voting for democrats. I’m not sure which R they work for but they’re definitely helping maga. It’s their whole profile.
Thanks, it was my first encounter. I think I fixed the glitch now.
Edit to add: the timing of the article smells weird to me, as if to suppress Democratic turnout in November.
The timing of comments like this is odd to me. People always start throwing around conspiracies like this just before elections. You must be a Russian bot.
That definitely seems like the most likely answer. Good luck out there!
man if pro pally or trans folks think the dems have abandoned them, they need to fucking check themselves
anti dem propoganda like this is bullshit
Are you either?
are you crazy?
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You can always count on two things when a trans person points out how trans people are being taken for a ride by the democrats:
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There will be a cis person there to haughtily explain “lesser of evil” math, as if you’re just a stupid tr#nny who is too dumb to understand it, rather than someone who is fully aware of the argument and recognizes that it’s complete bullshit.
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There will be a cis person there calling the trans person a foreign agent or Republican plant. Remember, liberals want your vote, not your voice.
Thank you for proving me right.
Lol you are so wildly off base it’s actually hilarious
Edit: I’m trans, ya big ole goofball
Woody’s entire account is just trying to get people not to vote for dems. The trans angle is new to me though.
It’s realpolitiks and it’s nasty but frankly speaking not much can be done within the current political system and the actions that can be done without said system most folks don’t have the taste for and the police state makes it pretty damned hard to enact and get away with it. Personally I wish we could just murder and string up every politically powerful transphobe and transphobe enabler but that’s how you suicide by cop as of right now and would be politically damaging.
It’s a well known issue amongst those of us who are more traditional rednecks, sure you could just shoot the anti-worker pissrag but that by itself is ineffective unless you keep doing it and with modern forensics and surveillance the old ways simply are ineffective.
But I’ll also admit that my baseline reaction to any authoritarians is basically to just want to kill them. Can’t really see past that but in this case I can’t really theorize how to get politicians to just shut the fuck up beyond putting a knife to their throat and asking about their life insurance policy so FUBAR.
So glad the upvote/downvote ratio trends toward rational thought on this one. There is hope for lemmy after all.
this shit was ridiculous
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At this point, I’m still with the vote blue crowd. We’re in serious damage control and voting for our lives. When the option is this vs. Nazi authoritarianism. You vote for this!
In other words, If the chemo sucks, we’ll deal with it to survive the cancer. Because then we can live and fight another day. Give in and opt-out, and you’ve no place to complain that the cancer is killing you.
Vote like lives depend on it- because they do. We can fix this kind of stupid, we CANNOT fix MAGA stupid.
VOTE.
Right right but you can’t stop there. Voting is the easy part. It’s everything else that makes a real difference.
All the people saying you need to fuckin vote aren’t saying that’s all you need to do, they’re saying that’s the absolute least that you should do.
Exactly. It doesn’t even have to be that complex, spending some time educating self and then sharing that education with friends and family can make a huge difference.
I agree, we must at all costs keep doing what we’ve always done. How else are are we ever going to turn this ship around?
… or you could be like this person- and not vote and see how much change happens.
Not voting has led to immense change. You just don’t want to see it.
Look at how much the views of the Democratic party have shifted in the last two years due to Gaza. It took Democrats losing an election for AIPAC democrats to become politically radioactive.
Parties losing elections are the most effective means of forcing change within a party. Hell, that’s how we got neoliberalism in the first place. The old party of the New Deal had its coalition fall apart. Clinton adopted the triangulation strategy as a way of responding to the losses of the Reagan years. I don’t consider that to be change for good, but it’s another example of change.
Major change in parties only usually happens after election losses. Otherwise it’s far too easy to just keep going with the status quo.
Lmao…. You don’t vote, you get trump. Plain and simple. And I’m so fucking done with all the bullshit excuses you people hurl at anyone that disagrees with you.
You helped bring trump. Take a bow.
They won’t, no snowflake ever feels responsible for the avalanche, especially the snowflakes gassing up everybody to roll down the hill because of how awful staying put is.
They don’t want to improve their situation, they want to make everyone else’s worse.
Wow I haven’t read something that stupid for a long time (of a non MAGA or similar)…
So you suggest, we just let climate change and WW3 fuck all things up, so we’re just not able to do any further damage control (at least for the first part that’s at someday true)?
Activism is a better means (even violent) + damage control (i.e. for muricans: primaries + blue-voting)
Trans people might not survive the “chemo” in your example
So, what part of “MIGHT is better than WON’T” are you having trouble understanding?
Same argument as “a little genocide is good” crowd?
Ffs. You people are intolerable. Welcome to the blocklist.
This piece is yet another attempt to break up the Left, which is exactly how the Right keeps winning. Which is much worse, fyi. Kinda obviously at this point.
You’ll never have perfection. Ever. Not ever. Literally never. We never have. We never will. Get over it and look at the bigger picture. Trans people are far worse off under Republican leadership than Democrat.
Their power is unity. Copy it and start winning, or keep this bullshit up and keep losing. Which btw is absolutely worse for trans people. And everyone except the rich…
Unity is when you throw your own base under the bus.
Liberals are not left, they are right wing.
Liberals aren’t really on the left.
You know what. You’re right. Vote red. Pick a Republican. That will teach the Democrats to notice trans people. Or don’t vote, that will surely help.
At the risk of sounding extremely dismissive, because it is, the world is literally on fire and you might not get to win your issue of choice in the next 5 or even 10 elections. Of course every person regardless of majority of minority status deserves to have their basic rights met and to be treated with a modicum of decency and acceptance. Of course. When it comes to elections though, R will come together for any one of no abortion, more guns, less taxes, go church!
The far left doesn’t win in the US, and won’t win, because, son of a bitch, there is not enough fundamental support for Mediterranean furry vegans with one eye who use glow in the dark blowy wheelchairs. And wouldnt you know it, all 900 trans people on Lemmy and their vegan allies cannot storm the palace by themselves no matter how hard you rage post.
Yes it sucks. Conservatives are a bloc. The left is not, and each of the 347 extreme minorities can’t play nice together unless their issue is at the forefront which makes a fundamentally impossible purity test for every candidate. Fuck people who are transphobic and good on people who are good allies, but there just isn’t a competitive counter block because the left isn’t full of group-thinking neanderthals.
I understand that you are mad, but you can’t win shit with 10 people. So do you want the lesser evil or would you rather deal with the obviously worse door number two?
Your last paragraph is functionally right. You can make your own choice and it sucks no matter what you do. Nobody is winning here. That’s how it is. Fuck.
The right is full of brainwashable morons and the left is all full of vibrant and unique non-teaming, purity testing assholes with stupid long Linux socks.
I love pancakes
Oh so you hate waffles?
I understand that you are mad, but you can’t win shit with 10 people. So do you want the lesser evil or would you rather deal with the obviously worse door number two?
If our numbers are small enough for our issues to not matter, then stop vote-scolding us for how we chose to vote. With one breath you say our numbers are too small to make our issues a purity test for the party. With the next you say it’s our duty to support the party.
Liberals tell minorities our issues are too minor to worry about and then blame us when we take them at their word and say, “well, I guess you don’t need our votes anyway.”
The vote-scolding is almost never towards trans people, it’s towards people who say the dems aren’t doing enough and don’t vote, and let literal fascism win instead. The message is towards the people who aren’t viscerally affected who still didn’t vote or voted 3rd party, and their vote DID matter in this super close election to prevent literal fascism.
I’m not talking about you at all when it comes to voting. I have said vote how you want. You need my vote and that’s the whole point of this post isnt it? Let’s all hold Dems accountable? By all means let’s do hold Dems to account, but I intend to see it happen at every primary all the way down the ballot, grass roots style not by spitting on the least worst option. Hell, you can run yourself!
But when push comes to shove, I know hundreds of people who get fucked by the country headed right and I know 4 trans people who get hurt either way and it sucks. Considering that picture, vote for fucking Yoda who gives a shit? The fate of the world is not hinging on the angry trans vote, but it might hinge on people who would like to buy 10 years to install some candidates that don’t suck.
I’m in for “whatever is the best possible thing we can get right now”, but if you threaten to take your ball and go home where your dad beats you, then ok, cool power move.
You don’t speak for trans people. You speak for you (and for republicans it sure seems like). Stay in your lane. I’m also trans and everyone, including trans people, that don’t work to keep republicans out of power next month are not allies and may as well be MAGA. Right now you’re putting yourself on that list.
I speak for most of the trans people and allies I know in real life. The general consensus is that it’s perfectly fine to not vote for transphobic democrats. The point is not to vote against Democrats in general, but just the tiny minority that reject trans rights. Nuance matters, which the troll is this comment thread can’t seem to understand.
If that’s what you wanna tell yourself but the truth is a protest vote is a vote for the winner.
“You have to vote for the Nazi collaborators, otherwise the Nazis will win!”
So much for nuance mattering huh? That didn’t take much poking either. Nice to see your true colors shining through woody.
You are an awful person and I hope you experience half of the pain we do, you bootlicking piece of human trash.
There is a trans genocide happening in the US, telling us to suck it up while we die, while we are killed is so fucking awful.
It’s really amazing how you expect absolutely nothing from the democratic party, how you paint basic support for the rights of trans people as “far left” and how you then expect us to still support you.
You don’t have to support anybody. Do what you want.
Trump and the right are burning everything down right here, right now, not just you. Im not picking them or not voting to teach dems a lesson. Let’s be really clear: I hate what is happening to trans people, and people of color, and gay people, and Muslims, and Jews who are not aligned with the state of Israel. Not a single one of those hills is one I would die on if it meant more trump.
So call me what you want, sir/madam/xer, but weighing any group against wholesale collapse, I’m choosing the lesser evil. I will campaign and vote in the primaries to go as far left as we can get, but I’m not forsaking the only non far right party for any single group that is smaller than literally everyone. The math doesn’t make any sense.
Nah. I choose collapse. We can all go to Hell together if you’re willing to throw us under the bus.
Throw trans people under the bus (reality: support trans people but not enough) or literal fascism are your 2 choices. Since option #1 is never acceptable ever we will just go with fascism forever always as they do state-sponsored anti trans propaganda I suppose. Enjoy being sent to camps under fascism and not receiving gender affirming care instead of not being able to play in sports for the same gender. Both sides ig. Most mainstream democrats have stated explicit support for trans people, it’s just not enough apparently.
As a trans person from Europe that has to deal with the consequences of you electing the orange turd
Go fuck yourself. Other people don’t deserve to suffer for your stupidity.
Nah, throwing you under the bus would be voting republican.
But you do you. Surely you care about the suffering of others, hopefully that care is about reducing it, but I doubt it.
Your option kills all the trans people. Congratulations.
You’re the one telling people to vote for Nazi collaborators.
And you’re telling people how to get the nazis elected.
There is no difference between a Nazi and a Nazi collaborator.
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sir/madam/xer
and that fucking “stupid socks” comment clearly show you have no fucking idea whats going on and there is no reason for me to engage with you.
They could put us in camps and you’d be like “welp, at least the inflation is under control! Thank you DNC!”
Good. Don’t. You can’t seem to do it maturely anyway.
Actually, the only way to engage maturely is when you disregard several genocides to epically own drumpf.
So, what’s your plan then?
Moderatecide
How much of Gaza, pray tell, did the people heroically save by not voting for a genocidal Democrat in 2024?
If someone is going to poke you in the eye, your best bet is obviously to let them break your fingers too.
Definitely stay home and put your balls/nipples in a mousetrap in november, that will save everyone.
There is a trans genocide happening in the US, telling us to suck it up while we die, while we are killed is so fucking awful.
Clearly we should let the republicans take power, that will definitely help out the trans people suffering, right? Because that’s your only other outcome. But if you’re cool with that, by all means, send that message straight into your own foot.
You are an awful person and I hope you experience half of the pain we do, you bootlicking piece of human trash.
Says the person implicitly pushing for an outcome that by definition makes the problem worse.
I fear for my trans partners and friends because of short-sighted people like you who are so focused on the cut the Democrats give you that you’re willing to sever an artery to show them how much you hate them.
I wish the best for you, even while you advocate for more pain for yourself and those like you.
With FPTP, a candidate from one of the two major parties will win. You’re voting against the greater evil. Primaries are where you vote your conscience and hopefully get the candidate you want on the ballot.
Thats how it works in practical terms. When you protest vote against the lesser of two evils, you are throwing support to the greater evil.
rather not vote if i dont get what i want too bad biden and kamela 🤮 i regret nothing not my problem nation got what they deserved. both times biden and trump until both parties 2 party system uniparty dies.
As I keep pointing out, the problem with this argument is that it presumes that the United States is a law of nature, eternal and unshakable, simply the backdrop for our political battles. It is not. That much should be obvious with how much the fascists have managed to dismantle in such a short time.
Yes, FPTP means that a candidate from one of the two major parties will win. But also, every time a candidate from one of the two major parties wins, we get closer to authoritarianism (slowly with Team Blue, directly with Team Red), and the destruction of the United States. Both things can be true. There’s not always a solution to our problems, or a correct course of action.
We have to do something other than FPTP with the two, current major parties. Well, no, actually, we don’t have to. It’s only if we want to save the United States (and protect vulnerable minorities) that we do.
Either you work with the current ‘legal’ democratic system, and vote for the lesser of two evils, and then work within the system to push for what you want with media, lobbying and peaceful protests; or you go with some sort of violent illegal acts - which will probably just get you in jail. If you don’t vote for the better candidate who can win, and just sit on your arse complaining, you won’t get much respect.
Yes, those are the options. I chose to advocate for peaceful-as-possible legal reforms of the current system, e.g. the big cities should ‘secede’ from state control, while remaining part of the Union, not unlike the free imperial cities of the Holy Roman Empire. The point here is that voting in the “respectable” way for the lesser-evil party has not, and will not, save us from eventual authoritarianism, any more than the right configuration of deck chairs will keep the ship from foundering. (Well,a better analogy is that one party wants to rip the hull open more, while the other wants to run the pumps even if they can’t keep up with the flooding, and repairing the hole isn’t an option under the regulations.)
Maybe it won’t save us, but voting the lesser of two evils will reduce the immediate damage. Better to have someone adjusting the deck chairs than stabbing people and throwing them into the water.
And we can push in other angles of reform at the same time.When is this pushing other angles of reform ever gonna start? If it didn’t in 2020, I have to wonder. I’m just not satisfied with “everybody gets stabbed, but a few years later” as the best possible outcome.
Not sure. What have you done to start it?
Been telling anybody who’d listen that we’re on the path to authoritarianism with the two major parties since '96, donating to and promoting media organizations that spread the message, voting, contracting my representatives, and trying to influence local government.
Thank you for proving me right.
Go buy some lottery tickets. You’re bad at math.
You’re not right. Read fhe room.
“I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage” - Barack Obama, 2008
The same Barack Obama that helped achieve the following during his time as President of the United States:
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act adding perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability to the existing hate crime law.
Lifted the ban on travel to the United States by those infected with HIV
Signed into law the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010
Under his presidency, the Pentagon ended the policy that barred transgender people from serving openly in the military.
I was certainly disappointed when I heard him say what he said, but I also could read between the lines. I was disappointed it took him so long to finally become a vocal advocate of marriage equality (thank you Joe Biden for opening your big mouth, I mean this sincerely), but I none-the-less voted for him and in the end I am so glad he was in that office instead of McCain or Romney.
Can we please not fall for the bait. Look at not only their actions but also the situation they are in. Yes, Bill Clinton signed DOMA into law, but it also passed with veto-proof majorities, making a vote against it only performative. Yes, Clinton instituted Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, but this was a time when homophobia was absolutely ingrained throughout the US. My own parents said some pretty horrible things about queer people, and now they are (mostly) accepting of the multiple queer people we have in our family.
If you’re going to be upset at anyone, be upset at your family, friends and neighbors not doing shit (even I could be doing more). Supporting trans rights arguably is less risk to us than someone vying for political office who could end up extending protections for trans people. It took a wave of challenging conversations within families as well as increased positive visibility in the media (and arguably the passing on of a generation) to get to a situation where politicians could openly support any kind of queer family without facing immense backlash.
What good politicians do is say something that appeals to the masses, while dogwhistling support for the thing their constituency wants. I think generally dems have been doing this, but somehow “I think trans people absolutely need medically necessary care” is not clear enough, when almost every state has included gender affirming care as medically necessary.
“chat gippidy, tell me how to read between the lines.”
Gotta love the schordinger leftist, simultaneously responsible for the Dems loosing and not significant enough for Dems to pander to.
Just what the world needs. Attacks on the left wing to help justify Republicans again…
It’s bullshit posts like this which is why Trump won the last election.
Left wingers made such a huge deal about a single issue, that they didn’t vote, and allowed a convicted sex offender to win, who has LITERALLY now personally authorised direct war crimes
There’s a billion fucking reasons to vote for Dems regardless. I’m in Australia, but visited America recently, and I realised, many American’s don’t even realise half of the shit thats happening caused by Trump in and outside their country.
Trump is attacking Trans people on a daily basis, whereas, democrats aren’t. There is a huge difference, even for trans people. The idea that every single person in the party, needs to support EVERY single request by select communities to approve of them is crazy.
Its one reason also why compulsory voting (and preferential voting) works so well here in Australia. Because it forces people to pick the BEST candidate and it also allows them to pick the one they want (because, your preferences get prioritised)
right around election season
odd timing <.<
Absolutely.
It’s like writing articles "Hitlers opposition sucks because they blocked the building of 3 synagogues. Never mind the other 150 they approved, its those 3 that are important…
Oh, but they’re still better than the others, so vote for them, but complain about it until the election, which totally won’t discourage them in a country where voting isn’t mandatory
Also, just remember, the personal opinion of 2 senators is what matters.
It’s like writing articles "Hitlers opposition sucks because they blocked the building of 3 synagogues. Never mind the other 150 they approved, its those 3 that are important…
More like, “99% of Hitler’s opposition doesn’t oppose synagogues. But it’s your duty to vote for any synagogue-burner as long as they also oppose Hitler.”
No. I and others hold these views constantly. You just only pay attention to politics during politics season.
Or maybe you’re just a Republican bot account. After all, I see comments accusing leftists of being Republicans, but only near election season. What odd timing that is!
fuck off
i’ve been watching you act deranged in the comments, i wasn’t going to block you but i can tell you’re another energy vampire
And see what happens right now. I detest you muricans for that false pride (“they’re also bad”), that led to Trump even winning the popular vote. It has global implications!
An election is (almost) always damage control, it’s lunatic to think a party/person will do everything that you stand for… I have never voted for a party because I like them, or I support all their positions in europe…
You can get active politically through whatever means, but at the same time you need to avoid the worst.
OP didn’t even read the article they posted before providing commentary as if they did…
What’s the point of including an article if you didn’t even read it???
Why do you think any commentary has to directly mirror the points of the article? I did read it and then posted the thoughts it inspired in me. I did read it. You just have a poor understanding of literacy.
Clearly
Seriously, I am getting a rash of crap for not following the rules. Apparently this is how you post what you want and not follow the rules.
Perfection is unachievable, but go ahead and either don’t vote, vote independent or even vote for the open hatred party. It’s your foot your shooting.
Being a decent human isn’t perfection, it’s the bare minimum.
Your definition of decent is likely not the same as someone else’s. The worst person you can think of thinks they’re a good person.
And yet the worse person I can think of has no shame when they are shown how little decency they actually have.
Such a small minority (1% of 1%) stokes such overwhelming fear.
Even if you can’t be an empathetic human who accepts that everyone should be safe and allowed to exist as who and what they are, you can still be selfish and recognize that attacking transgender rights is also attacking YOUR rights.
ya know, i’ve been an ally for a long fucking time
but simply pointing out it sure looks like this is the exact same playbook that put trump in office again and sparked this nightmare leads to downvote brigade
this is the fucking stupid ass shit that causes divide and leads to bad people gaining power, that’s all i’m trying to fucking say in here
I would argue that it is your attitude that leads to people like Trump winning.
There’s a strain of toxic positivity among liberals. You can’t speak ill of the party, definitely not near election time! The idea is that if we simply agree to never discuss the negatives of the party near election time, if we “speak no evil” hard enough, that we can manifest our way to an election victory. It’s been tried again and again, and it fails every time.
It wasn’t Republicans that cost Kamala her election. Republican troll accounts didn’t invent lies about her Gaza policies and then spread them using bot accounts. Kamala threw her own base under the bus, and as a direct result of her own choices, lost the election.
She didn’t lose because of the evil machinations of Republican divide-and-conquer tactics. She lost because she betrayed her core voters.
I absolutely despise the liberal impulse to smear any criticism as Republican or Russian meddling. If anything, it causes people to reject Democrats even more. No one likes being told that certain topics are forbidden or beyond discussion. And while you can vote scold people until the cows come home, no one is actually going to be shamed into voting for candidates that betray them.
If you are referring to the commenter, I think their point is that the fear is irrational in large part because it’s such a small group of people.
I would add to that, there’s no evidence that being trans itself has caused anyone any harm. Even studies of gender affirming treatment shows that an overwhelming number of people treated see an increased quality of life afterwards (98% or more, with the reduce quality being attributed mainly to increased transphobia from others, not regret of the treatment itself).
Yes.
And my point is that even with it being a small group- positively tiny in the scheme of things- it’s still important to protect their human rights.
Because if we erode their right to be who they are, we erode our own right to be who we are- that includes the right to be women who are good at sports, or men who suck at sports.
That includes being a male nurse or so woman firefighter.
Or whatever they’re telling us is appropriate/innapropeiate for what ever one has going on.
They’re using transphobia, fear and hate to attack everyone. Trans persons are vulnerable and need protection, not just because they need and deserve being safe… but also because what happens to the most vulnerable of us will eventually happen to all of us.
I don’t think anyone in this thread would disagree with the principle that the legitimacy of a human right isn’t dependent on the size of a group.
And you are correct that what happens to one group can happen to all. I would take it a step further and say that this is already happening with transphobic laws. Cisgender people are becoming victims of them too. https://www.advocate.com/news/lesbian-mistaken-transgender-arizona-walmart
Then don’t bitch when we chose not to vote to support your bigoted candidates.
You don’t owe them shit and are free to abandon them, though given the situation in the USA right now, it will be at your peril.
That’s what got the Republicans put in place. There are some political stances that need to be put on the shelf in order to save the country or at least get it to a gliding crash.
No. What got Republicans in place was Democrats abandoning core parts of their base in order to pander to imaginary Republican defectors. That’s what cost Kamala the election. Because vote scolding doesn’t actually get people to vote. Explaining lesser evil theory like a broken record doesn’t get people to vote. People are simply tired of voting for politicians that betray them. I’m sorry, but you aren’t owed anyone’s vote. If you’re willing to sacrifice minority groups to fascists, you deserve whatever the fascists will do to you in turn.
2024: “If you accept that the Democrats are fucking over Palestinians and vote for them anyway, then are you going to follow the same logic when they fuck over trans people?”
2026: “If you accept that the Democrats are fucking over trans people and vote for them anyway, then are you going to follow the same logic when they fuck over gay people?”
2028: “If you accept that the Democrats are fucking over gay people and vote for them anyway, then are you going to follow the same logic when they fuck over PoC?”
2030…
This is exactly why you take a stand and nip that shit in the bud. “We will hang together, or we will all hang separately.” The moderate fascists want to chip us away, piece-by-piece, dividing and conquering so that our defeat is inevitable.
We have to draw a fucking line and hold that line, come hell or high water. Why would I stand behind someone who will sell me down the river at the drop of a hat, the moment it’s politically expedient?
Some people will just never understand this. But they can at least understand that it is what we believe, and that we will not abandon and sell out our comrades simply in the “lesser evil.” Whether we face a greater or lesser evil, we must face it united, or all hope is lost. Solidarity is non-negotiable.
if they revoke the allegence to the epstein class and jail them then that is enough for me to vote for them. i do not care which party it is jail the epstein class no matter the cost. the world will be at peace you can fight your culture wars after the main threat is gone and we can move on with our lives your gas lighting us with culture wars is their epstein agenda as always.
