Originally published by The 19th. Your trusted source for contextualizing the news. Sign up for our daily newsletter.
In a historic first, approximately 1,000 transgender people logged into Zoom Tuesday night in a show of support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for the presidency.
The call came on the heels of new data from Advocates for Trans Equality, the nation’s largest trans rights org, showing that 75 percent of transgender people eligible to vote did so in the last presidential election.
“A lot of times, elected officials have not really taken our issues seriously, in part because they think that we're too small of a community to matter,” said Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, executive director of Advocates for Trans Equality. “Now we've been able to prove that that is not true at all.”
The event marks the first time that transgender leaders have mobilized for a presidential candidate. The meeting hosted transgender leaders including Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride and activist Charlotte Clymer.
It also comes after four years of agonizing defeats in state legislatures for transgender Americans. More anti-transgender bills have been introduced into statehouses — targeting trans health care, bathroom access, sports participation, accurate IDs and even gender presentation — than at any time in history.
Lawmakers have put forward 1,197 anti-trans bills in just the last two years, and 129 have become law. The upcoming presidential election has caused many people to update their passports so they can flee the U.S., fearing that a Trump victory would leave them vulnerable to violence, while others are stockpiling hormones over worries they will lose access to gender-affirming health care.
On Tuesday’s call, to highlight gains made by the community in spite of legislative attacks, Clymer rattled off a list of transgender elected officials — from McBride, who is poised to become the first transgender person in Congress, to Kim Coco Iwanoto, who just became Hawaii’s first openly trans lawmaker.
“We have so much power,” Clymer said. “We have way more power than they think, that's for damn sure. And when we use that power, when we organize together and have each other's backs, we can do great things.”
While 1,000 people joined the initial call Tuesday, an additional 2,600 have since screened the fundraiser, organizers told The 19th. As of Wednesday morning, organizers were still waiting to confirm totals on how much money they had raised.
The event signals a substantial nod of confidence in Harris from a critical part of the LGBTQ+ community that has historically eyed her with hesitancy. Four years ago, her selection as President Joe Biden’s running mate raised eyebrows among more progressive queer voters who worried that her past as a prosecutor, including overseeing an office that denied gender-affirming health care to a trans detainee, forecasted a lack of support for trans rights.
But her time with the Biden administration, as well as the GOP’s increasingly hostile stance against transgender people, have warmed the community to Harris. Her pick of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been hailed as a deeply pro-LGBTQ+ move, in part because he made Minnesota a “refuge” for trans people.
Last week, former President Donald Trump tried to use that support against Walz, criticizing him as “very heavy into transgender.”
In an interview with Fox and Friends, Trump said, "Anything transgender he thinks is great, and he’s not where the country is on anything.”
Attendees on Tuesday night disagreed. While four years ago, some expressed worry that Harris would not step up to support Black trans women who face increased rates of policing and incarceration, speakers on the call said the choice between Trump and Harris was clear.
“It's a step forward to ensure that trans people, especially Black and Brown trans women, have the representation and the resources they need to live with dignity and pride,” said Zahara Bassett, CEO of Chicago-based trans advocacy organization Life is Work. “We need to make sure that our future is one of equity, justice and liberation for us all.”
