54 Comments
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Miriam's avatar

Casually mentioning your beau 😄

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Robin Elise's avatar

Clever girl! 🙌🏼

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Diana Thomas's avatar

Uh ... shouldn't that be "belle"?? … :) x

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Cynbel Terreus's avatar

"In Montana, Democrats picked up nine House seats"

Wait holy shit that's amazing, I believe that means GOP no longer has a super majority in the House there then?

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Erin Reed's avatar

Yup, shattered the supermajority.

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TransFormAndFunction's avatar

It’s so wild that, in the face of blatant fascism, we have some Dems trying to appeal to Nazis. We need to stop thinking about electoral politics and acknowledge that this is a fight for our survival. Dems need to remember what it was that removed Nazis from power the first time. It wasn’t capitulation. It wasn’t appealing to Nazi youth. It wasn’t playing both sides.

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Tara Chouinard's avatar

Indeed, nothing but cowardice or apathy. Harris’s lukewarm embrace of LGBTQ issues in general, was appalling. We didn’t have a voice in this election!

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Gillian Rosheuvel's avatar

The Democratic Party has spent the last 30+ years steadily moving away from minorities, working class people, LGBTQ people - basically anyone who's not a billionaire or a corporation. They used to pay lip service to improving working people's lives. Now, they don't even do that. This helped lay the path for full-throated fascism to emerge. It's disgraceful.

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Essie's avatar

When you don't push back or say ANYTHING on the topic (e.g., trans people) you let the other side (the ghouls) control the narrative. The Dems backing away from us is what they should be looking at, because their support was barely even a whisper, so the Republicans sold a batch of BS that was left wholly unchecked. If you stand with us, then STAND with us. Everything about your position becomes stronger when you make that stand. And if they don't stand with us... Well, that's just more votes they'll be losing, so good luck with that, I guess.

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David Roberts's avatar

Representative-elect McBride is correct. We must support all groups targeted by MAGA hate and fear mongering. I don't know how effective those ads were, but I do know they were loathsome.

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Char's avatar

the ad saying "Kamala is for they/them, Trump is for you" was specifically cited as one of the most effective in the whole campaign. Nazi scum.

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Jason G.'s avatar

The NYT sucks so much. I made the mistake of reading their Gail Collins / Bret Stephens opinion from yesterday, and Stephens was just writing straight-up, unfiltered transphobia. I tried to post a comment to that effect and nothing. I get my subscription from the school where I teach (or else I'd cancel it) but probably won't be needing it again.

I am so thankful that McBride cut right through all of this and pointed out that, in fact, trying to take away people's rights is what constitutes cultural warfare, not trying to guarantee those people dignity and basic protections.

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rc4797's avatar

If Democrats want to get back on track they need to get in peoples' faces about stuff and stop chasing after a small number of "moderate" and anti-Trump Republicans while throwing their own voters and base under the bus. Low information and working class voters supported Trump because of the "strong horse" vibe - even though, of course, it was all bullshit.

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Jendi's avatar

I'm so tired of the mainstream media and politicians framing trans rights as an "elite" culture war issue, when being LGB and especially T is a risk factor for poverty due to discrimination and homelessness.

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Grey Area's avatar

When I learned about Representative Elect McBride's I was wondering how quickly she'd become a lightning rod for the MAGA hate storm (and especially the abuse she'll suffer personally from Republicans in office). I also found myself wondering about all the ways her voice will not be loud enough to carry the hopes of American trans people at federal level, and the anger and disappointment that will ensue should that happen. I hadn't thought about sniping from other directions. Her job is even worse than I thought it would be. I hope she is resilient enough to stand it.

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Nadia Yvette Chambers's avatar

The Dems have clearly turned on trans people & are proudly proclaiming themselves to be hyper-aggressive & zealous collaborators in the impending mass imprisonment or worse against trans people to be begun shortly if it's not already been. Colour me disgusted. I can't flee the country fast enough.

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Sarah F's avatar

Wait a moment! Probably 99.8% of Dems are our steadfast allies. It's not fair to knock the whole party because of the few Dems who have turned on us. They aren't really even Dems, and they'll be primaried just like Shawn Thierry was.

That said, I don't disagree with your thoughts about fleeing the country. I'm doing it too. :-(

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Tara Chouinard's avatar

When the DNC and the democratic presidential candidate can’t muster an inclusive modest pro-human rights platform it does represent the entire party and the DNC has been what’s wrong with this party since the Reagan administration!

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Sarah F's avatar

Well, in my purple state, Democrats went to the mat to pass all sorts of LGBTQIA++ civil rights legislation. They worked side-by-side with us activists, and together, we got it all to pass. It was a monumental achievement. The ONLY Democrat who didn't support us on quite everything was a religious zealot/pastor who probably shouldn't be in the Democratic Party anyway. He might be to our state legislature like Joe Manchin is to Congress.

I think you will find that if/when Democrats have the opportunity (in numbers) to pass legislation that benefits us, they absolutely will - almost to the lawmaker. We just have to be diligent about pulling the weeds (like Moulton) from the garden.

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Tara Chouinard's avatar

They had a chance in the 117th congress with an inclusive human rights bill that included lgbtq protections and it didn’t even make it out of committee.

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Sarah F's avatar

There wasn't a Senate Democratic supermajority available to pass it. They didn't even have a simple majority, because Joe Manchin (Republican in Democrat's clothing) didn't support it. So, what would you have the Democrats do that they didn't do already?

Please note that there is NO Republican support for the Equality act. And although SOME legislation can get passed without a Senate supermajority, that's only certain Senate confirmations and bills passed under budget reconciliation (which have to be budget-related).

The failure is OURS, not THEIRS. We didn't elect enough Democrats. If we can get 60 Democrats into the Senate and win a simple majority in the House - AND if we have a Democratic president to sign bills) - then the Equality Act will definitely pass. Absolutely zero question of it.

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Tara Chouinard's avatar

Highly unlikely! Actions speak louder than words and right now the party is losing influence on trans issues across the political spectrum. The congressional stunts this week are just the tip of the iceberg and few democrats have even been vocal about it!

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mcvresearch's avatar

The few like Moulton were already assholes nothing changed

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Anne's avatar

I had no idea you were married to Zooey Zephyr! what an awesome couple you are!

And no, we will not let the haters succeed in getting the Democrats to back off on trans rights. We would not be the party we know if we don't support them.

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Aurelia's avatar

You should see the video where Zooey proposed to Erin (IIRC - it may be the other way around). It'll warm your heart something fierce.

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Anne & those cats…'s avatar

Awesome quote from Zooey!

Can we get that a little louder, please?

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Tony D's avatar

Thank you for this article Erin.

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Joan the Dork's avatar

Our first real voice in the Federal government comes out swinging!

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Jackie Batterson's avatar

When you mentioned traditional congressional dress codes I was wondering if those were still in effect, certainly some of the republicans do not adhere to those. Example, Jim Jordan? Also some of the clothing worn by the GOP women do not follow traditional fashion. Honestly I don’t care. But to expect one group too adhere and the other not, well that’s the difference between the GOP and Dems.

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Jacqui Taylor (she/her) ✨'s avatar

Thank you. McBride is impressive.

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