She’s by senator, and I just left a phone message urging her to withdraw support and expressed my resentment that she’s allowed herself to be gaslighted.
Is it just me or do they seem like they still expect trans people to vote for them despite this harm they’re causing us?
Some days I’m closer to changing my registration to independent than I am to voting for another sellout dem
These dems will lose almost all trans voters while gaining virtually no voters to replace us. Rightwingers aren’t exactly gonna pile up to support Newsom and Warren just bc they harmed trans people
This, bluntly, is SOP, par for the course, choose your cliche, but in any case long-standing policy for the institutional Democratic Party. It's not just trans rights, it's a range of issues where they figure that as long as they can be or at least present themselves as any degree to the left of the GOPpers, it's "Hey, whadda you gonna do? Vote for that crowd? It's us or nuthin'." They see no downside to taking the left flank of voters for granted.
And if you dare to mutter phrases like "won't vote" or worse yet "third party," you'll be treated as a child to be scolded and shamed rather than an adult to be engaged.
Try me, dems. Mistreatment has caused me to walk out on much better jobs than being a democrat. I’ll not only not vote for them, but I won’t donate or campaign for them and will actively campaign *against them* if they keep this up. I’ll surely make a bigger splash than just my measly vote. It just shows how little they realize how closely their treatment of us sometimes resembles how the right treats us
They not only expect us to vote Dem, they openly joke about how "we have no choice". But we do. I'm no longer voting for any Dem who isn't proactively an ally, and Warren doesn't make that cut. KOSS was a misguided idea in 2024, it's putting a sawed off shotgun in a toddler's chubby little fist a bad idea now in 2026.
If she doesn't think Project 2025...62% complete according to Russell Vought... isn't operationalized and weaponized to the specific goal of our eradication and extermination, then she is suffering from severe epistemic and possibly organic based cognitive dissonance and needs to resign and seek appropriate diagnosis and treatment.
Exactly! It’s almost like they want to let us get imperiled by pjs 2025 and 2026 just so they can come back later and “save” us. They can’t actually be this clueless to how dire the rightwing threat is to our community rn.
All while completely striking out on actually protecting children. Again!
I oppose the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) in the strongest possible terms. This bill is not child protection—it is government-backed censorship, and it squarely violates the First Amendment.
KOSA empowers politicians and state attorneys general to pressure platforms into suppressing lawful speech based on vague, subjective claims of “harm.” The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled this unconstitutional. In Reno v. ACLU, the Court made clear that the government cannot restrict online speech to “protect minors” when the result is broad suppression of lawful expression. In Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, the Court rejected exactly this kind of moral panic–driven censorship.
KOSA will do exactly what the First Amendment forbids: chill speech, coerce private actors into censorship, and allow ideological enforcement—especially against LGBTQ+ content, reproductive health information, and mental health resources. Platforms will not debate this; they will over-censor to avoid liability. That is the point.
A “duty of care” label does not change the constitutional reality. Government coercion of speech is still censorship, and indirect censorship is still censorship (Bantam Books v. Sullivan).
Any lawmaker supporting KOSA is knowingly endorsing a First Amendment violation and handing future administrations a weapon to silence disfavored speech. That is indefensible.
That will not help. As long as we have voting at all (which is far from guaranteed), one *must* follow the effective rules that the system sets up, and third-party candidates have next to zero chance of winning state and national elections. (Bernie Sanders and a few other "independents" effectively take the place of Democrats in their respective positions.)
Work to primary Warren and others who behave badly. But in the final election, you have to vote for the better (or least-worst) candidate, or you harm yourself.
It might not help, but it won't hurt. If my vote were really that important, Democrats would actually work to secure it rather than take it for granted. That's how elections work. Like another commentator said, if an individual Democrat's trans record is unimpeachable, I might make an exception. But no more hand-outs. Votes are "work-first" entitlements lol
Unfortunately it does hurt. The 2026 election is very likely to involve active fraud from the regime, not to mention the quasi-legal actions like making mail-in voting hard, redistricting, etc. They won't take more chances than they think necessary, however, and so small margins still count. Every vote that doesn't go to the Democrat on the ballot is a half-vote FOR the Republican. The Democrat may be awful, but the Republican, for the foreseeable future, will be an outright fascist.
To say one has the option of simply not voting and waiting for better candidates is to not recognize the already-authoritarian rule of the Republican party today and the promises of every single leading voice in it. Anyone who thinks this is feasible should look closely at the situation of Hungary. (You have no doubt seen the opinions of members of the International Association of Genocide Scholars that the US is in the early stages of such action against its entire transgender population.)
Wow. That is really shortsighted, since the majority of Democratic officeholders fully support equal rights for ALL including trans people, and are the only party capable of stopping or slowing down the Republican massacre and obliteration of all trans rights. If Kamala Harris was elected President (and could have happened is voter turnout was greater instead of voters staying home because they did not agree with 100% of everything she said: 1) trans people would still be proudly serving in the US military 2) trans children would still have access to gender affirming care at highly reputable facilities like Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, 3) trans people would still be represented at our cultural landmarks like the Stonewall Memorial and the Smithsonian, and on US Government websites, and the list just goes on and on. I can understand not voting for specific Democratic candidates in specific elections that do not align with our values. But a blanket ban of not voting democratic…that just voting for the complete erasure of trans people in the public life of America.
I did not call you shortsighted, as I don’t believe I even know you. I called your viewpoint to never vote for Democrats shortsighted, as - in my view - that will only lead to more and greater life challenges for trans people. Erin’s wife is an elected Democrat. Should we not vote for her. My apologies for offending you.
That is not accurate. At the state level, look at life for trans people in Blue states (Democratic) versus Red states (Republican. If you’re trans, would you rather live in California or Tennessee…New York or Iowa (where Republicans voted to remove trans people for their anti discrimination laws in 2025). Unfortunately, Republicans control the White House, and both Houses of Congress. Also Republican appointees make up 6 of the 9 Supreme Court Justices. The only was to stop the current bloodbath at the Federal level is for Democrats to take back the US House of Representatives in November 2026, or the bloodbath will continue. We need to vote for Democrats like our lives depend on it, because they do!
I agree at a state level. But even California is losing most gender affirming care for trans youth. Even sanctuary states are having people kidnapped off the streets and out of their homes. The system is broken. I'm not saying don't vote. At all. But I also can't vote for someone sponsoring a bill that will directly harm my children.
I agree with you Meg. It’s tragic that we are losing gender affirming care for children at respected medical institutions in California. But this is not due to California’s lawmakers. It happened because Trump threatened to cut off all Medicare and Medicaid funding to California hospitals who continue providing gender affirming care to children. Trump’s actions are reprehensible and unforgivable.
And if a Democrat does not support gender affirming care for children, that Democrat does not deserve our vote.
I think this falls under "can't keep their people in line," and I strongly sympathize with the pretty constant feeling of betrayal. Worse I think because there's not really clear pushback or consequences for actions like this. Whether it's supporting bills that can be weaponized against minorities, or whether it's more explicitly voting on anti-trans bills like a handful of southern Democratic representatives have consistently done.
If the Democratic party doesn't have a cohesive platform that they're willing to go to bat for, then I think it makes sense to seek alternatives.
all that being said. i'll vote against any republican. but now i get to do the extra work of trying to make sure a number of democrats get primaried by better candidates.
I totally support the "primary" [verb] theme. We should not be afraid of advocacy leading up to the general election. But we do have an effective two-party system, like it or not. (I wish we could have the choices that the parliamentary system offers, though it hasn't helped the British much it seems. But in Germany it has, and keeps the right-wing extremists from filtering into the conservative party and doing serious harm.
My 2 Dem senators are also cosponsors of KOSA and what I can do right now is call them. What else i can do is support actual progressive Dem candidates and work with others to make my local Dem committee aware of what's going on. We have a 2 party system so we can't ignore Dems.
Not even a Mamdani-type? Not even a Ron-Wyden-type who *authored* §230?
There's a reason why I'm a registered democrat in New York State even though I vote Working Families Party in the general: So I can get the best candidates on a major party line while I vote for a party that's actually progressive.*
Perfect is the enemy of the good. We are in an existential crisis politically and need to do everything in our power to get the Dems...flawed as they are...back in power. Withholding votes is exactly how we got T back in office with 90M registered folks (if I have my numbers right) sitting out the 2024 election because they didn't like either candidate. We are headed toward a hitlerian situation if things keep going the way they are. We need coalitions to push back hard against this authoritarian consolidation which is in acceleration mode, and without political power we have little leverage against the incoming militarization tsunami. I say all this as a 73 year old white cis woman who has been a lifelong moderate Dem, and have been very angry at their fecklessness for a long time, but no way am I going to sit out any election. I have been activated by the trans issue in particular to push hard on my reps as frequently as I can, which is more effective than my sign waving at street protests.
It’s time for alliances. Immigrant rights, women’s and trans rights are all related and should be viewed as such. It’s time for mutual aid, join a protest, make yourself seen and heard. We’re going to lose rights it’s inevitable, let’s at least fight for the future of the country.
Totally agree...this is the time for coalitions to be nurtured...without political power we have no leverage to protect vulnerable people. It is because 7 million people protested on No Kings Day that the Dems got a bit of a spine to shut the gov down in defense of health care funding. We need to do more, more often, to get them to be the Opposition Party with us at their back. I don't think the partisans who resisted Nazi Germany asked for viewpoint credentials before joining forces.
Thank you, Evan, for this excellent opinion piece, even if it is disheartening to hear that Warren is backing this bill. I will urge my friends in MA to let Warren know how disappointed they are in her support for this bill.
There is no doubt KOSA will be so misused. It needs to be re-written to require a due process jury finding that actual CSA material is involved on a per case basis and other than due care taken to prevent the access of minors to it.
I feel like I'm perpetually naive about these Dem - "progressive" stalwarts. I will call Warren's office and let them know I will back a *truly* progressive candidate next election.
She's my senator. I am going to rally a group of people to call, write, and complain. Thanks for letting up know what is going on. Et Tu, Elizabeth? Is she going the way of Newsome and Moulton?
I wish I could say that I'm surprised. I'm angered, and I feel betrayed, but I'm not surprised. We all freely acknowledge the bigotry of the majority of Republican legislators. What we have been slow to recognize is that Democrat legislators only side with us when it's convenient (politically). We keep trying to tell ourselves that we must have somehow not heard the message correctly, or that there has to be some sort of deeper strategic plan at work. Why else would someone who has danced with us, now throw us over? The unfortunate reality is that neither major political party sees us as being anything other than a commodity. One side uses us as the boogey man to incite their base, and the other smiles and hugs us while planning to throw us to the sharks if there is political advantage to be had. Here we are, a mere 1% of the population, but nearly 80% of the focus of all politicians. Using us makes THEM headlines. If they're in the news, they see themselves as relevant. Sorry to sound so cynical, but current events make me so.
When supposed progressive votes for government censorship you know they’re no longer leading or even using critical thinking. They’re using the same scare tactics that placed parental advisories on record labels in the 80s. Warren did good with the CFPB, time now for her to retire.
Maybe I'm confused but it seems the issue isn't the protection of children from porn but rather what is considered porn. I think truly educational and informational material seldom falls into that category but by leaving it open ended you can allow room to censor anything those in power wish to designate a certain way. As with many things in the realm of politics it's a mess.
This is gutting. Elizabeth Warren is such an intelligent person, which makes the betrayal all the worse - there's no way she isn't aware of the harm this will cause and how it will be weaponized against our queer & trans community.
Trans youth are under the kind of threat that makes this giving up on our basic goals, we need representation in government that stands for something so essential as liberty and decency, I won't stop fighting for truth.
She’s by senator, and I just left a phone message urging her to withdraw support and expressed my resentment that she’s allowed herself to be gaslighted.
Is she being gaslighted? Or is she more gaslighting us?
Is it just me or do they seem like they still expect trans people to vote for them despite this harm they’re causing us?
Some days I’m closer to changing my registration to independent than I am to voting for another sellout dem
These dems will lose almost all trans voters while gaining virtually no voters to replace us. Rightwingers aren’t exactly gonna pile up to support Newsom and Warren just bc they harmed trans people
The answer to your question is yes.
This, bluntly, is SOP, par for the course, choose your cliche, but in any case long-standing policy for the institutional Democratic Party. It's not just trans rights, it's a range of issues where they figure that as long as they can be or at least present themselves as any degree to the left of the GOPpers, it's "Hey, whadda you gonna do? Vote for that crowd? It's us or nuthin'." They see no downside to taking the left flank of voters for granted.
And if you dare to mutter phrases like "won't vote" or worse yet "third party," you'll be treated as a child to be scolded and shamed rather than an adult to be engaged.
Try me, dems. Mistreatment has caused me to walk out on much better jobs than being a democrat. I’ll not only not vote for them, but I won’t donate or campaign for them and will actively campaign *against them* if they keep this up. I’ll surely make a bigger splash than just my measly vote. It just shows how little they realize how closely their treatment of us sometimes resembles how the right treats us
They not only expect us to vote Dem, they openly joke about how "we have no choice". But we do. I'm no longer voting for any Dem who isn't proactively an ally, and Warren doesn't make that cut. KOSS was a misguided idea in 2024, it's putting a sawed off shotgun in a toddler's chubby little fist a bad idea now in 2026.
If she doesn't think Project 2025...62% complete according to Russell Vought... isn't operationalized and weaponized to the specific goal of our eradication and extermination, then she is suffering from severe epistemic and possibly organic based cognitive dissonance and needs to resign and seek appropriate diagnosis and treatment.
Exactly! It’s almost like they want to let us get imperiled by pjs 2025 and 2026 just so they can come back later and “save” us. They can’t actually be this clueless to how dire the rightwing threat is to our community rn.
All while completely striking out on actually protecting children. Again!
I will be sending the letter shown below:
I oppose the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) in the strongest possible terms. This bill is not child protection—it is government-backed censorship, and it squarely violates the First Amendment.
KOSA empowers politicians and state attorneys general to pressure platforms into suppressing lawful speech based on vague, subjective claims of “harm.” The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled this unconstitutional. In Reno v. ACLU, the Court made clear that the government cannot restrict online speech to “protect minors” when the result is broad suppression of lawful expression. In Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, the Court rejected exactly this kind of moral panic–driven censorship.
KOSA will do exactly what the First Amendment forbids: chill speech, coerce private actors into censorship, and allow ideological enforcement—especially against LGBTQ+ content, reproductive health information, and mental health resources. Platforms will not debate this; they will over-censor to avoid liability. That is the point.
A “duty of care” label does not change the constitutional reality. Government coercion of speech is still censorship, and indirect censorship is still censorship (Bantam Books v. Sullivan).
Any lawmaker supporting KOSA is knowingly endorsing a First Amendment violation and handing future administrations a weapon to silence disfavored speech. That is indefensible.
Oppose KOSA. Kill it outright.
Exactly why I'm not voting for Democrats again. At best, they can't keep their people in line. At worst, this IS their line.
That will not help. As long as we have voting at all (which is far from guaranteed), one *must* follow the effective rules that the system sets up, and third-party candidates have next to zero chance of winning state and national elections. (Bernie Sanders and a few other "independents" effectively take the place of Democrats in their respective positions.)
Work to primary Warren and others who behave badly. But in the final election, you have to vote for the better (or least-worst) candidate, or you harm yourself.
It might not help, but it won't hurt. If my vote were really that important, Democrats would actually work to secure it rather than take it for granted. That's how elections work. Like another commentator said, if an individual Democrat's trans record is unimpeachable, I might make an exception. But no more hand-outs. Votes are "work-first" entitlements lol
Unfortunately it does hurt. The 2026 election is very likely to involve active fraud from the regime, not to mention the quasi-legal actions like making mail-in voting hard, redistricting, etc. They won't take more chances than they think necessary, however, and so small margins still count. Every vote that doesn't go to the Democrat on the ballot is a half-vote FOR the Republican. The Democrat may be awful, but the Republican, for the foreseeable future, will be an outright fascist.
To say one has the option of simply not voting and waiting for better candidates is to not recognize the already-authoritarian rule of the Republican party today and the promises of every single leading voice in it. Anyone who thinks this is feasible should look closely at the situation of Hungary. (You have no doubt seen the opinions of members of the International Association of Genocide Scholars that the US is in the early stages of such action against its entire transgender population.)
Again, if my vote is so important, the party would try to earn it.
Wow. That is really shortsighted, since the majority of Democratic officeholders fully support equal rights for ALL including trans people, and are the only party capable of stopping or slowing down the Republican massacre and obliteration of all trans rights. If Kamala Harris was elected President (and could have happened is voter turnout was greater instead of voters staying home because they did not agree with 100% of everything she said: 1) trans people would still be proudly serving in the US military 2) trans children would still have access to gender affirming care at highly reputable facilities like Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, 3) trans people would still be represented at our cultural landmarks like the Stonewall Memorial and the Smithsonian, and on US Government websites, and the list just goes on and on. I can understand not voting for specific Democratic candidates in specific elections that do not align with our values. But a blanket ban of not voting democratic…that just voting for the complete erasure of trans people in the public life of America.
I don't appreciate being called shortsighted, Mr. Boomer. If my vote were actually important, Democrats would do what it takes to secure it.
I did not call you shortsighted, as I don’t believe I even know you. I called your viewpoint to never vote for Democrats shortsighted, as - in my view - that will only lead to more and greater life challenges for trans people. Erin’s wife is an elected Democrat. Should we not vote for her. My apologies for offending you.
Democrats are doing nothing to stop what's happening against trans people now. How is it going to be worse to not vote for them?
That is not accurate. At the state level, look at life for trans people in Blue states (Democratic) versus Red states (Republican. If you’re trans, would you rather live in California or Tennessee…New York or Iowa (where Republicans voted to remove trans people for their anti discrimination laws in 2025). Unfortunately, Republicans control the White House, and both Houses of Congress. Also Republican appointees make up 6 of the 9 Supreme Court Justices. The only was to stop the current bloodbath at the Federal level is for Democrats to take back the US House of Representatives in November 2026, or the bloodbath will continue. We need to vote for Democrats like our lives depend on it, because they do!
I agree at a state level. But even California is losing most gender affirming care for trans youth. Even sanctuary states are having people kidnapped off the streets and out of their homes. The system is broken. I'm not saying don't vote. At all. But I also can't vote for someone sponsoring a bill that will directly harm my children.
I agree with you Meg. It’s tragic that we are losing gender affirming care for children at respected medical institutions in California. But this is not due to California’s lawmakers. It happened because Trump threatened to cut off all Medicare and Medicaid funding to California hospitals who continue providing gender affirming care to children. Trump’s actions are reprehensible and unforgivable.
And if a Democrat does not support gender affirming care for children, that Democrat does not deserve our vote.
That's a little more broad a decision than I think the behavior of individual Democrat politicians calls for.
I think this falls under "can't keep their people in line," and I strongly sympathize with the pretty constant feeling of betrayal. Worse I think because there's not really clear pushback or consequences for actions like this. Whether it's supporting bills that can be weaponized against minorities, or whether it's more explicitly voting on anti-trans bills like a handful of southern Democratic representatives have consistently done.
If the Democratic party doesn't have a cohesive platform that they're willing to go to bat for, then I think it makes sense to seek alternatives.
all that being said. i'll vote against any republican. but now i get to do the extra work of trying to make sure a number of democrats get primaried by better candidates.
hooray for civic duty. yay.
I totally support the "primary" [verb] theme. We should not be afraid of advocacy leading up to the general election. But we do have an effective two-party system, like it or not. (I wish we could have the choices that the parliamentary system offers, though it hasn't helped the British much it seems. But in Germany it has, and keeps the right-wing extremists from filtering into the conservative party and doing serious harm.
as unfortunate as it is i agree, and i'll try pragmatically to just not make people's lives terrible.
but i still hope to goodness that i can get some of these democrats out of office regardless.
My 2 Dem senators are also cosponsors of KOSA and what I can do right now is call them. What else i can do is support actual progressive Dem candidates and work with others to make my local Dem committee aware of what's going on. We have a 2 party system so we can't ignore Dems.
> Exactly why I'm not voting for Democrats again.
Not even a Mamdani-type? Not even a Ron-Wyden-type who *authored* §230?
There's a reason why I'm a registered democrat in New York State even though I vote Working Families Party in the general: So I can get the best candidates on a major party line while I vote for a party that's actually progressive.*
*fusion voting systems only
Perfect is the enemy of the good. We are in an existential crisis politically and need to do everything in our power to get the Dems...flawed as they are...back in power. Withholding votes is exactly how we got T back in office with 90M registered folks (if I have my numbers right) sitting out the 2024 election because they didn't like either candidate. We are headed toward a hitlerian situation if things keep going the way they are. We need coalitions to push back hard against this authoritarian consolidation which is in acceleration mode, and without political power we have little leverage against the incoming militarization tsunami. I say all this as a 73 year old white cis woman who has been a lifelong moderate Dem, and have been very angry at their fecklessness for a long time, but no way am I going to sit out any election. I have been activated by the trans issue in particular to push hard on my reps as frequently as I can, which is more effective than my sign waving at street protests.
It’s time for alliances. Immigrant rights, women’s and trans rights are all related and should be viewed as such. It’s time for mutual aid, join a protest, make yourself seen and heard. We’re going to lose rights it’s inevitable, let’s at least fight for the future of the country.
Totally agree...this is the time for coalitions to be nurtured...without political power we have no leverage to protect vulnerable people. It is because 7 million people protested on No Kings Day that the Dems got a bit of a spine to shut the gov down in defense of health care funding. We need to do more, more often, to get them to be the Opposition Party with us at their back. I don't think the partisans who resisted Nazi Germany asked for viewpoint credentials before joining forces.
Perfectly said Judith
The Democrats are not going to save us...
Not unless we push them hard to do the right thing.
I've heard similar things said in NYC…but Mamdani then came along.
Thank you, Evan, for this excellent opinion piece, even if it is disheartening to hear that Warren is backing this bill. I will urge my friends in MA to let Warren know how disappointed they are in her support for this bill.
Grounds for primarying her if possible?
There is no doubt KOSA will be so misused. It needs to be re-written to require a due process jury finding that actual CSA material is involved on a per case basis and other than due care taken to prevent the access of minors to it.
I am so disappointed in Warren! I thought she was above this. It's really hard for me to understand why someone I respected flipped.
I feel like I'm perpetually naive about these Dem - "progressive" stalwarts. I will call Warren's office and let them know I will back a *truly* progressive candidate next election.
She's my senator. I am going to rally a group of people to call, write, and complain. Thanks for letting up know what is going on. Et Tu, Elizabeth? Is she going the way of Newsome and Moulton?
I wish I could say that I'm surprised. I'm angered, and I feel betrayed, but I'm not surprised. We all freely acknowledge the bigotry of the majority of Republican legislators. What we have been slow to recognize is that Democrat legislators only side with us when it's convenient (politically). We keep trying to tell ourselves that we must have somehow not heard the message correctly, or that there has to be some sort of deeper strategic plan at work. Why else would someone who has danced with us, now throw us over? The unfortunate reality is that neither major political party sees us as being anything other than a commodity. One side uses us as the boogey man to incite their base, and the other smiles and hugs us while planning to throw us to the sharks if there is political advantage to be had. Here we are, a mere 1% of the population, but nearly 80% of the focus of all politicians. Using us makes THEM headlines. If they're in the news, they see themselves as relevant. Sorry to sound so cynical, but current events make me so.
When supposed progressive votes for government censorship you know they’re no longer leading or even using critical thinking. They’re using the same scare tactics that placed parental advisories on record labels in the 80s. Warren did good with the CFPB, time now for her to retire.
Maybe I'm confused but it seems the issue isn't the protection of children from porn but rather what is considered porn. I think truly educational and informational material seldom falls into that category but by leaving it open ended you can allow room to censor anything those in power wish to designate a certain way. As with many things in the realm of politics it's a mess.
This is gutting. Elizabeth Warren is such an intelligent person, which makes the betrayal all the worse - there's no way she isn't aware of the harm this will cause and how it will be weaponized against our queer & trans community.
Trans youth are under the kind of threat that makes this giving up on our basic goals, we need representation in government that stands for something so essential as liberty and decency, I won't stop fighting for truth.