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!
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Got to stop them while they're young so they don't turn into "gasp" a trans person. It's sickening. I'm in Texas but I have an "never the less site persisted" shirt. I'm going to write her to tell her how disappointed I am. Bummed.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Democrats are not going to save us...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This will hurt more than just trans youth. I wonder why youth are specified so much in these topics?
Got to stop them while they're young so they don't turn into "gasp" a trans person. It's sickening. I'm in Texas but I have an "never the less site persisted" shirt. I'm going to write her to tell her how disappointed I am. Bummed.