Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has earned praise for her response to a question on trans rights during a town hall hosted by the progressive campus group More Perfect University.
At the organization’s Students vs. Billionaires town hall in Maine on Thursday, a trans student from the University of Southern Maine asked for Ocasio-Cortez’s response to the fact that “a lot of trans people in America feel that we have been abandoned by the Democratic Party, that we are a losing issue, that it’s not worth defending us.”
The woman was referring to the fact that many trans advocates feel some Democrats have missed the mark on trans issues, or in some cases have actively made decisions that hurt the trans community in an attempt to defend themselves against Republican attacks. Since the 2024 election, Democrats have disagreed on the effect of the GOP’s anti-trans ads, with some suggesting the need to throw trans people under the bus in order to win future elections.
Without hesitation, Ocasio-Cortez responded, “They’re wrong.”
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It’s not a losing issue if you trace it back to the fundamental principle of individual freedom.
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What they’re really saying is they’re being outspent and the propaganda against trans is winning with low-info voters and they don’t know what to do.
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There is a difference between politics that’s aimed at getting elected and politics aimed at improving things. You can absolutely throw trans people under the bus (so to speak) before the elections and then after winning the elections use your power to improve their position.
You don’t have to be blatant about it. You don’t have to say “fuck them”, just answer those questions quickly and shift focus to the things people care about.
Don’t be weird.
If you guys are shocked these Republican morons fall for this shit, look at this https://youtu.be/MrehpxfLNrg
These people are literarily brain dead it’s genuinely insane how stupid they are.
Who else are they going to support though? Two parties have a stranglehold. Your options are between not good enough, horrible, and not participating at all. Not preventing Republicans also disempowers your voice in regard to all other issues and means revoking support for everyone elses issues. So why would those people keep supporting yours as much?
So where does it end? If you compromise on somebody’s rights with the justification that you need to protect everybody else, where’s the line you don’t cross? There’s no principle built in to that approach. Theoretically, you can justify throwing all people of color under the bus in order to protect white women, with that logic.
If Democrats abandon trans people now, the fascists won’t be satisfied. Who’s next?
If you compromise on somebody’s rights with the justification that you need to protect everybody else, where’s the line you don’t cross?
Voting is mere harm reduction. Voting for a candidate doesn’t mean I agree with them or that I’m compromising on anyone’s rights – I’m just ticking the box that will cause the least near-term harm.
The real decision whether to compromise or not happens in real life. In the streets, at your work or school, in your home.
Well said.
Yes, there is no good option. Everything is a risk. But everything is also at risk. We can’t trust people will help after? Can one endure a disproportionate amount of sacrifice to fight for the entire progressive movement? This entire situation is not about any specific issue, its about the entire framework of law and governance. All rights. All of it.
If someone can’t see anything beyond their own grievances, were they ever a progressive? Or were progressives the only option for trans? Are trans rights somehow more important than brown rights? Or immigrant rights? Women’s? Everybody’s rights?
This is not business as usual. This is potentially the end of democracy in America and if someone won’t help because they’re not getting enough attention, they an asshole. That is a level of selfishness that is cruelty, to anyone that was once called an ally. The safest spaces in American for trans are still the progressive side. So not supporting the best available option is wise?
There are no good options, so refuse to pick the best one? Insane to me. Massive strategic error. It ends wherever the left is capable of ending it and right now, nobody knows where that is but it isn’t where it is now. You don’t think the left is trying just because they haven’t succeeded? Maybe more participation is what halts the Nazis marching as soon a possible. But disengage instead…that will help you…
Not sure how to parse this comment. The point here is that, as a practical matter, no one’s rights are safe unless everybody’s rights are safe, and AOC is correct that Democrats are wrong to disengage on trans rights, because it’s ultimately abandoning everybody’s rights, which is the end of democracy.
I disagree with that stance. Some rights are more safe than others and some are more costly to maintain. The only thing one can say is a ruler who doesn’t respect some rights, may not respect others. Tons of rights have been abandoned, those of the poor vs the rich for instance, and it didn’t erase all rights.
Not all at once, of course. But, reading the news, it sure looks to me like the erasure is proceeding apace.
But at a pace, over time, in steps. Failing to stop the first step doesn’t mean failing to stop all of them. This is a battle, not a polite discourse. They are rounding up immigrants and putting them in camps, revoking their rights. The first step wasn’t even trans and all rights are not gone because of it.
As you point out, the fascists are rounding up immigrants into concentration camps. We keep losing rights by the week. And it didn’t start with trans people? Then why did it get as far as them? So far, we have failed to stop any step in the process. It’s understandable, because when anybody’s rights are contingent rather than inalienable, we can always rationalize why it’s okay to abandon the next group.
Every day more nazi things are happening. everyday.
I feel like im going insane. 20 years ago, if you said “the Tvs and phones are all listening to us” youd be thrown in the grippy sock hotel. But today, it is truth, and each day, our low trust society grows.
I cant even leave the house without eyeing some people up wondering if theyre a fucking nazi or not. I cant trust a man who dont have a beard. I see young, clean shaven, buzz cut men with crosses around thier neck… and I just, worry. Yesterday I saw a latino man with that nazi looking eagle on his sweater.
Im glad for sane, smart voices. But, its so real out here. I live by a small airport, and the back hawks and shinooks normally run drills 3 days outta a month. Theyve been running drills everyday, all day, for over a week now. I feel paranoid. Just saw an article they fired a woman for supporting trans healthcare in the military :(
Im just a dumb dumb, but this is seriously some frog boiling in the pot of water shit. It is so terrifying to see.
Now imagine if you were black and were seeing this.
The one blackish friend I had (immigrant at 14 from Trinidad) believes in evangelical christianty and is a maga supporter.
I tried to talk to them, but they hate trans people and anyone not from thier specific carribean island.
I live near a lot of folks from puerto rico. I befriended a few over the the last few years, who I was chill with until politics came up. 3/3 maga supporters. Fucking makes me very sad. Its the same, they hate trans people and anyone not from thier island.
…"The focus is strategic… It’s not just about trans girls in sports; it’s about all girls in education,” she said, emphasizing that it’s about attacking Title IX and trying “to get everyone on board with supporting defunding their own civil rights.”
She explained that Title IX is also the mechanism through which women report campus assaults and that while the Trump administration is distracting everyone with anti-trans fearmongering, it “quietly defunded the civil rights division of enforcement in the administration on Title IX.”
yep, exactly. they say they’re protecting women as a screen to harm women.
Because as soon as they ban trans women from something, ‘transvestigations’ and genital inspections will be happening the very next day.
Any woman who doesn’t perfectly conform to their idea of what a woman should be will become a target.
I think they would do “genital inspections”, as an excuse to violate women. For fun.
And children, of course.
I don’t think most democrats have an issue with defending trans rights. The issue is instead of dealing with issues that affect the majority, they only deal with issues that affect the minority. Worry about people not getting killed and abducted to concentration camps at the border. Then maybe we can talk about trans rights.
nobody told you to fuck off in 10 hours so i’m a bit disappointed, and also
fuck offThank you for your service.
I don’t want them “defending trans rights” though.
I want them enforcing the protection of trans rights through legislative action and enforcement of those laws.
“Defending trans rights” is when Republicans go on the offensive about transgender issues so we have to go from being on the offensive on issues like affordability, healthcare and a strong working class to “defending” trans rights. Look at the pamphlets in Texas, they’re no longer talking about gas and grocery prices in Texas, it’s all about who sent the pamphlets.
I don’t want to discount trans issues but also I feel like engaging the republicans with anything more than a “why are you talking about this when people can’t afford anything you stupid fucks?” is a waste of time. Even if every trans person was as evil as they say they are there are far bigger problems to focus on. Like why do we need fucking legislation to dictate how trans people are medically treated or if they can play sports? Leave that to the doctors and sports organizations to determine. There should be protections against discrimination and if they’re not already included in those they should be, but other than that I can’t really think of anything that requires legislation. It pisses me off so much every time I hear one of those ads from these idiots.
I’d have said ‘get fucked’, but ‘they’re wrong’ is good, too.
“They’re wrong” is three words though. Only partly why I like “get fucked” better.
It’s never the wrong time to do the right thing. Fighting a “losing issue” is exactly how you persuade people you’re right about the issue. That’s called “leadership”.
This is exactly it. It’s what politics is supposed to be about. AOC gets it. For clear moral issues like this, you can’t back down.
It’s a big reason why Democrats are so weak. Most, especially those in leadership, have given up trying to persuade people by doing the right thing. We need to persuade especially on issues that are inspiring violence and hate on the other side. Taking the other side’s stance, particularly when it’s so clearly on the wrong side of morality/history/humanity, never made sense as a strategy to me. It’s disgusting.
