By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Republicans are attacking the vice president for something Trump’s own administration provided to incarcerated trans people.
While the American people are worried about their daily lives, former President Donald Trump has launched yet another attack against Vice President Kamala Harris using one of the most vulnerable groups in America — transgender people. On Sunday, Trump posted a new ad on X (formerly Twitter), using inflammatory and misleading claims about Harris’s support for health care access for trans prisoners.
Related: Donald Trump’s latest anti-transgender attack on Kamala Harris ‘reeks of desperation,’ advocates say
The ad begins with a narrator making an incendiary claim: “He murdered a father of three; sentenced to life in prison. Kamala Harris pushed to use tax dollars to pay for his sex change.” As the ad continues, video clips of Harris speaking are merged to emphasize her compassion for incarcerated transgender individuals. “I made sure that they changed the policy so that every transgender inmate would have access,” the ad features Harris saying, followed by the narrator’s comment, “It sounds insane because it is insane.”
But the ad does not stop there. It further distorts Harris’s words by playing another clip of her saying, “The power that I had, I used it in a way that was about pushing for the movement, frankly; and the agenda,” as the narrator ominously declares, “Kamala’s agenda is they/them, not you.”
The ad splices together two separate moments from a 2019 interview with Mara Keisling, then executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund, where Harris discussed her commitment to transgender rights and access to health care for incarcerated individuals. In the full context of her remarks, Harris explained that, as California attorney general, she worked behind the scenes to ensure that transgender inmates received the medical care they needed, including gender-affirming care.
“I have a long-standing commitment to fighting for the rights of transgender people, for the dignity of transgender people,” Harris said in the interview. “When I was attorney general, I learned that the California Department of Corrections was standing in the way of surgery for prisoners. And when I learned about the case, I worked behind the scenes to not only make sure that that transgender woman got the services she was deserving, but also that the policy was changed so that every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access to the medical care that they desired and need.”
Related: Donald Trump unleashes torrent of transphobic ads in last leg of 2024 election
The case the ad refers to involved Shiloh Heavenly Quine, a transgender woman who became the first inmate in the United States to receive state-financed gender-affirming surgery following a legal battle. The ad misgenders Quine and distorts the facts surrounding her case to paint Harris as radically out of step with mainstream views. In reality, Harris’s efforts were part of a broader push to ensure transgender inmates received constitutionally mandated medical care — a fundamental right for all incarcerated individuals.
A 2018 Trump administration Bureau of Prisons Transgender Offender Manual outlines the rights and care that transgender inmates must be provided, ensuring proper identification, tracking, and individualized treatment based on medical necessity. This included not only mental health support and hormone therapy but, where medically “necessary,” gender-affirming surgeries. These measures are backed by major medical associations, such as the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, which affirm that gender-affirming care is evidence-based and medically necessary.
“Former President Trump’s latest ad follows his familiar playbook of inciting division and fear. It’s a selfish tactic that does a disservice to the American people,” Ash Orr, press relations manager for Advocates for Trans Equality, told The Advocate.
Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf told The Advocate that Trump’s strategy of meanness is a thud. “The MAGA agenda is one of division, chaos, and hate. Trump pits neighbors against one another and tries to divide our communities because he doesn’t have a vision for lifting people up or bringing the nation together,” Wolf said. “But Americans see through it.”
Orr countered Trump’s exaggerated portrayal of the care inmates can access. “Trump’s claims that gender-affirming surgeries are widespread among trans inmates are misleading; in reality, such procedures are extremely rare due to numerous barriers,” Orr said in a statement. “However, these surgeries, though uncommon, are medically necessary for some trans people and should be accessible to all who need them. Health care is a fundamental human right, and the Constitution requires that incarcerated individuals receive adequate, standard-of-care treatment.”
While Trump continues to sensationalize transgender health care, he has repeatedly failed to mention that the Constitution requires prisons to provide necessary medical care to all inmates. Gender-affirming care falls under this category, as supported by medical experts and courts. Orr emphasized, “It is both irresponsible and misleading for anti-trans politicians, such as former President Trump, to claim that providing lawful and dignified healthcare is somehow wrong.”
Trump’s Department of Justice submitted a 2019 budget memo for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, showing that about 345 inmates identified as transgender at the time, and the number was expected to grow, along with the demand for necessary resources. The budget outlines how transgender inmates face unique challenges, including higher rates of victimization and mental health issues, which can be exacerbated by political attacks that further stigmatize their identity. The report highlights the bureau’s responsibility to provide appropriate medical care as mandated by law, noting that transgender inmates may require hormone therapy, counseling, and, in some cases, surgery to align with their gender identity.
In addition to the medical challenges, transgender inmates are often housed based on their gender identity, as per the bureau’s manual, to ensure their safety. Failure to provide such protections could result in serious harm, including violence and discrimination from both staff and other inmates. These realities, starkly different from the inflammatory claims in Trump’s ad, are part of a broader struggle faced by transgender individuals both within and outside of the prison system.
Trump’s misleading attack is part of a broader strategy seen in the Republican playbook: using transgender rights as a wedge issue. Yet this strategy has failed to gain traction in several key races. A GLAAD voter poll earlier this year showed that campaigning on anti-trans issues is increasingly a losing strategy. According to the survey, 53 percent of registered voters say they would oppose candidates who frequently focus on restricting access to health care and sports participation for transgender youth. Additionally, 81 percent of voters, including 73 percent of Trump voters, believe that parents, not politicians, should make health care decisions for transgender youth.
Wolf pointed to recent elections where similar tactics failed. “MAGA bullies tried these anti-trans ad campaigns against North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and failed. They tried them against Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and failed. They tried them against [Arizona] Sen. Mark Kelly and failed. They tried them in Virginia and Ohio and failed time and again,” Wolf said. “The American people have been clear from the start: They want leaders with solutions to problems and a vision for our country where everyone has the chance to thrive.”
