A new NORC poll shows support for protecting transgender access to medical care and finds that 77% of people in the United States think politicians use trans people as a distraction.
Dave Williams, Chairman of the Colorado GOP has called for PRIDE flags to be burned in a diatribe against PRIDE month in Colorado. It's a direct call for arson, conspiracy to commit arson and criminal trespass. He must be prosecuted for this.
That's the danger, yeah, the indifference. We have to get people to be woke enough, to see this as a major issue, it's marginal in numbers to some people, well, even one trans or nonbinary life is worth preserving to me. And a tiny percentage of a huge number is still a big number. Trans identity is proven science, we must move forward, and it requires people to open their minds to it.
Thanks Erin - very timely and important article. It has long seemed that politicians use trans issues as a distraction - but they do it because it’s throwing red meat to their base and getting them votes. It’s really a form of social contagion - once the first states (generally southern ones) started passing anti-trans laws, nearby GOP-controlled states said, sure let’s do the same thing, and so on. And of course the role of right wing think tanks in such legislation cannot be ignored. That is why anti-GAC legislation tends to read the same across the different states. As everyone knows, there is HUGE amount at stake in the national elections in November - and unfortunately, a lot of voters vote mainly on economic issues even if they also express support for LGBT rights. So sadly, we cannot count on people’s support if inflation remains high and people cannot afford their groceries, and they want to vote against whoever the incumbents are.
I know in my state that gerrymandering contributed to the laws having enough votes to pass. I can't be certain they wouldn't have passed without it, but we'd have more democratic districts and therefore less votes. If they had been forced to make these draconian laws a ballot initiative I don't believe they would have received enough votes to pass. Because the urban areas don't support these laws and we outnumber the population in the rest of the state by quite a bit. Also you can get more people to the polls for ballot initiatives so that our government more accurately reflects the will of the people. Unfortunately it's not easy to get enough people to vote in state legislature races and because of the layout of the districts you have to get a lot more engagement than just the urban areas. It's frankly bullshit. The fact that such a small portion of our population gets to choose for all of us is maddening. And the voter apathy is maddening.
You must live in Ohio (I do too). We’re waiting until after the electio in November to decide where we’ll be moving. We’d thought about Colorado, but it looks like the hate is creeping back in courtesy of the GOP leader.
No I'm in Louisville,Kentucky, we have a great governor but the legislature is bonkers AF. But you guys aren't far behind and closing fast with the hate bills. My stepsister is from Hate City (Mason) and she graduated from Miami of Conservative Hate with a major in social work and a minor in irony I guess. Haven't talked to her since 2016 and I'm not missing her.
I think it's just because the map is not factoring in the lack of access of healthcare for minors? Maybe? Because the kids have been taking the brunt of the legislation so far here. But I can save that at least in Louisville the public school system isn't enforcing any of the bathroom bans, they're just being a lot quieter about it. But the state legislature is trying to take over JCPS. They passed a law allowing them control over school districts of a certain size. And wouldn't you know it? Only Louisville’s is that large. Our mayor is a Democrat but he is a neoliberal gentrification asshole. But he's not a psycho evangelical, just a Zionist police lover. Lots of questionable allies for decent folks these days. Like, these are our only options?
I mean, it's nice that a significant number of people are finally catching on to the Republicans' little culture war game and dismissing it for the nothingburger it is... but I think I'd be a little more hopeful if more of these polls indicated stronger support for more legal protections, rather than amounting to a collective shrug aimed in our general direction.
It is 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 that Fox News couldn't manage to skew the results of their own poll enough to support their own talking points, though! Always a good time when those twits banana-peel themselves.
I gotta say, it's REALLY disturbing that we even have people in government that are obsessed with the genitalia of kids.
I'm glad people are pushing back against it, and voting against politicians who are running on heavy anti-trans platforms, but the fact that 23% of people support them is worrisome.
The Republican legislators don't answer to voters. They take direction for far right Christian Nationalists groups and the most radical minority in the party. They seek to fully reestablish white male patriarchal control. The voters be damned
Yes, this. They're rigging the game and they are doing it intentionally. But they wouldn't be able to do it so blatantly if more people were engaged with the political process and paying attention.
See, this is why I don't play with statistics. People who do worry me. They say very little, and all one has to do is change a word and they'll get different results.
When it comes to us, I think the numbers (for or against us) would be vastly different if they had any education at all about who we are. Trans 101 would even suffice and I believe the numbers would change. Mainstream media is making a grave mistake by allowing the GOP to control our narratives.
1) I find this kind of data fascinating, but before I let it depress me, I also have to remember how public opinion always lags behind social change, typically due to lack of basic understanding / education about the subject at hand.
2) I find it maddening how no one seems to even bother explaining acronyms anymore...I guess we are all expected to either already know or not care. For those who weren't familiar, as I was not, with NORC...it stands for "National Opinion Research Center", an independent social research organization in the US that began in 1941 by polling Americans on the prospect of our potential involvement in World War II. (And that definition for NORC had to be googled...5 minutes of searching *on their own website* turned up NOTHING. Ugh.)
Yeah and polls show 70 to 80% support for abortion choice and yet here we are. I just don't put much stock in polls They are conducted very unscientifically.
By the way Erin, the Washington post is restructuring it's staffing and may be heading more towards the right. A big editor just quit. Your heroic stand for clear fact based news is appreciated now more than ever.
I don't know the answer to the issues at hand. It appears that the GOP has grown to be a party of hateful antagonists who do horrible things. When I was at the end of high school in 1971 I remember we all were assembled in the auditorium to hear two people speak about Vietnam. When they came out a small group of idiots lined up and shouted offensive profanities at them as they left. A few actually threw eggs at them. By this time a large part of the country had been opposed to the war. I did not really know my position. I was friends with some of those idiots. If the people protesting the war did not take that action, we might have stayed longer. The people in my class missed the draft for the most part, because the US decided to wind down their involvement. So those guys missed the draft as well. There were heavy loss in that war. Some of these people I graduated with would have gone to Vietnam and died. Peaceful protest is the right way to go.
I think that for most of us, this is just a verification of what we've suspected. Let's hope these folks are riled up enough about it to give it ample consideration at the pole.
Dave Williams, Chairman of the Colorado GOP has called for PRIDE flags to be burned in a diatribe against PRIDE month in Colorado. It's a direct call for arson, conspiracy to commit arson and criminal trespass. He must be prosecuted for this.
A good chunk of the same people who think that we are being used as a distraction still will not vote for equality. Ergo, many of them don’t care..
That's the danger, yeah, the indifference. We have to get people to be woke enough, to see this as a major issue, it's marginal in numbers to some people, well, even one trans or nonbinary life is worth preserving to me. And a tiny percentage of a huge number is still a big number. Trans identity is proven science, we must move forward, and it requires people to open their minds to it.
Thanks Erin - very timely and important article. It has long seemed that politicians use trans issues as a distraction - but they do it because it’s throwing red meat to their base and getting them votes. It’s really a form of social contagion - once the first states (generally southern ones) started passing anti-trans laws, nearby GOP-controlled states said, sure let’s do the same thing, and so on. And of course the role of right wing think tanks in such legislation cannot be ignored. That is why anti-GAC legislation tends to read the same across the different states. As everyone knows, there is HUGE amount at stake in the national elections in November - and unfortunately, a lot of voters vote mainly on economic issues even if they also express support for LGBT rights. So sadly, we cannot count on people’s support if inflation remains high and people cannot afford their groceries, and they want to vote against whoever the incumbents are.
I know in my state that gerrymandering contributed to the laws having enough votes to pass. I can't be certain they wouldn't have passed without it, but we'd have more democratic districts and therefore less votes. If they had been forced to make these draconian laws a ballot initiative I don't believe they would have received enough votes to pass. Because the urban areas don't support these laws and we outnumber the population in the rest of the state by quite a bit. Also you can get more people to the polls for ballot initiatives so that our government more accurately reflects the will of the people. Unfortunately it's not easy to get enough people to vote in state legislature races and because of the layout of the districts you have to get a lot more engagement than just the urban areas. It's frankly bullshit. The fact that such a small portion of our population gets to choose for all of us is maddening. And the voter apathy is maddening.
You must live in Ohio (I do too). We’re waiting until after the electio in November to decide where we’ll be moving. We’d thought about Colorado, but it looks like the hate is creeping back in courtesy of the GOP leader.
No I'm in Louisville,Kentucky, we have a great governor but the legislature is bonkers AF. But you guys aren't far behind and closing fast with the hate bills. My stepsister is from Hate City (Mason) and she graduated from Miami of Conservative Hate with a major in social work and a minor in irony I guess. Haven't talked to her since 2016 and I'm not missing her.
Ouch…sorry! It’s interesting that on the latest trans map that Kentucky rates ‘better’ than Ohio (light vs dark red).
I think it's just because the map is not factoring in the lack of access of healthcare for minors? Maybe? Because the kids have been taking the brunt of the legislation so far here. But I can save that at least in Louisville the public school system isn't enforcing any of the bathroom bans, they're just being a lot quieter about it. But the state legislature is trying to take over JCPS. They passed a law allowing them control over school districts of a certain size. And wouldn't you know it? Only Louisville’s is that large. Our mayor is a Democrat but he is a neoliberal gentrification asshole. But he's not a psycho evangelical, just a Zionist police lover. Lots of questionable allies for decent folks these days. Like, these are our only options?
I mean, it's nice that a significant number of people are finally catching on to the Republicans' little culture war game and dismissing it for the nothingburger it is... but I think I'd be a little more hopeful if more of these polls indicated stronger support for more legal protections, rather than amounting to a collective shrug aimed in our general direction.
It is 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 that Fox News couldn't manage to skew the results of their own poll enough to support their own talking points, though! Always a good time when those twits banana-peel themselves.
I gotta say, it's REALLY disturbing that we even have people in government that are obsessed with the genitalia of kids.
I'm glad people are pushing back against it, and voting against politicians who are running on heavy anti-trans platforms, but the fact that 23% of people support them is worrisome.
The Republican legislators don't answer to voters. They take direction for far right Christian Nationalists groups and the most radical minority in the party. They seek to fully reestablish white male patriarchal control. The voters be damned
Yes, this. They're rigging the game and they are doing it intentionally. But they wouldn't be able to do it so blatantly if more people were engaged with the political process and paying attention.
so yeah my life and my livelihood... it's a distraction for politicians. yeah that feels great.
See, this is why I don't play with statistics. People who do worry me. They say very little, and all one has to do is change a word and they'll get different results.
When it comes to us, I think the numbers (for or against us) would be vastly different if they had any education at all about who we are. Trans 101 would even suffice and I believe the numbers would change. Mainstream media is making a grave mistake by allowing the GOP to control our narratives.
Two comments:
1) I find this kind of data fascinating, but before I let it depress me, I also have to remember how public opinion always lags behind social change, typically due to lack of basic understanding / education about the subject at hand.
2) I find it maddening how no one seems to even bother explaining acronyms anymore...I guess we are all expected to either already know or not care. For those who weren't familiar, as I was not, with NORC...it stands for "National Opinion Research Center", an independent social research organization in the US that began in 1941 by polling Americans on the prospect of our potential involvement in World War II. (And that definition for NORC had to be googled...5 minutes of searching *on their own website* turned up NOTHING. Ugh.)
Yeah and polls show 70 to 80% support for abortion choice and yet here we are. I just don't put much stock in polls They are conducted very unscientifically.
By the way Erin, the Washington post is restructuring it's staffing and may be heading more towards the right. A big editor just quit. Your heroic stand for clear fact based news is appreciated now more than ever.
I don't know the answer to the issues at hand. It appears that the GOP has grown to be a party of hateful antagonists who do horrible things. When I was at the end of high school in 1971 I remember we all were assembled in the auditorium to hear two people speak about Vietnam. When they came out a small group of idiots lined up and shouted offensive profanities at them as they left. A few actually threw eggs at them. By this time a large part of the country had been opposed to the war. I did not really know my position. I was friends with some of those idiots. If the people protesting the war did not take that action, we might have stayed longer. The people in my class missed the draft for the most part, because the US decided to wind down their involvement. So those guys missed the draft as well. There were heavy loss in that war. Some of these people I graduated with would have gone to Vietnam and died. Peaceful protest is the right way to go.
The poll includes Catholics and protestant, but did not include, Jews, Muslims, Budhists, or Hindus. I want a recount. hahaha
I think that for most of us, this is just a verification of what we've suspected. Let's hope these folks are riled up enough about it to give it ample consideration at the pole.