A new policy paper delivered by the Center for American Progress (CAP), the influential Democratic think tank, has advice for Democratic Party candidates ahead of the midterm elections: leave the issue of transgender participation in school sports to local schools and sports groups.
The policy advice, titled “Ending the Backlash on LGBTQI+ Issues,” comes as Republicans are revisiting their 2024 playbook attacking Democrats over trans rights and LGBTQ+ identity more broadly.
Related
The paper, co-authored by Caleb Smith, the trans Director of LGBTQI+ Policy at CAP, says Dems should maintain their vocal support for transgender people in three key areas: troops excluded from the military under Donald Trump’s trans military ban; discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people, which would be advanced with passage of the Equality Act in Congress; and advocacy for trans minors seeking gender-affirming care, a decision CAP describes as best left to doctors and families.
When it comes to trans student-athletes, however, Smith and co-author Winnie Stachelberg, a senior fellow at the Center, say Dems should cede the decision on their participation in girls’ school sports to the schools they attend and the sports bodies that govern their rules.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
“This is where these decisions appropriately lie,” the authors write, “with sports’ governing bodies or schools themselves rather than with politicians. While local bodies and associations should minimize unnecessary exclusion, restrictions may be appropriate under some circumstances.”
The advice on trans athletes follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June upholding state bans on trans athletes participating in girls’ sports.
“We hope that this lowers the temperature and lets us come out of this really scary moment for folks,” Smith told the Washington Post of CAP’s recommendations.
The Court’s ruling was no doubt a gift to some Democrats who hoped to evade the issue and can now describe it as settled law while they try to keep their campaigns focused on “affordability” and corruption in Trump’s second term.
But Republicans continue to hammer Democrats on transgender support, and to the dismay of supporters, some are taking the bait.
One such Democrat is Ohio candidate for governor, Amy Acton, who inexplicably adopted MAGA language to describe her position on trans student-athletes following the Supreme Court’s June 30 decision.
“I do not support boys playing in girls’ sports,” Acton told the Toledo Blade.
“This is already settled law in Ohio, and as governor, I will uphold and enforce the law,” she said, sounding more like her MAGA Republican opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy, than the civil rights champion most Democrats are looking for.
The “triangulation” cited by one Ohio Democratic critic backfired for many Democratic faithful.
“There are no boys in girls’ sports,” the Ohio Democratic Party’s Pride Caucus said in a July 2 Facebook post. “Trans girls are girls.”
The Ohio Democrats Progressive Caucus blasted Acton for the comment and said it would cost her support from the party’s base.
“Any one of us could have warned her of that natural consequence if any one of us had been in the room with her,” they said in a now-deleted post to socials.
“I think the effects of her words are extremely damaging to the trans girls out there who are wanting to just be themselves,” said trans activist NV Gay, who wrote an editorial for the Buckeye Flame criticizing Acton for employing the MAGA language.
“Once again,” she told Signal, “We’re in this fight where we don’t have a politician who is truly on our side.”
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.