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[–] 7 points 1 week ago (40 children)

This year is my first time voting for a republican. I feel disgusted. I hope I never have to do that again.

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  • [–] 26 points 1 week ago (23 children)

    Don’t worry, they will eat your face too.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 week ago (22 children)

    It will be much more difficult if transphobia is not bipartisan. Sometimes you have to vote for the lesser evil.

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  • [–] 24 points 1 week ago (12 children)

    And what republican has ever been the lesser evil in the past 40 years?

    It sucks that we can't get actual good candidates, but one party wants to throw people like us into camps and the other will ban us from playing sports so they can try and win a few more votes. Yes, both sides are bad, but one is infinitely worse.

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  • Did you read the article? Normally, I'd agree that the Democrats are the lesser evil, but these candidates are all as bad or worse than Republicans for trans people based on their own voting record and stated plans/policies.

    The Iowa senate race has a Democrat who wants to remove all federal healthcare funding for trans people. From the article "The policy is more extreme than even some Republican policies in red states". Do you know how many trans people are only able to afford HRT because of Medicaid and the ACA? Do you know how many hospitals and clinics will start refusing to see trans people if that happens?

    If these bigots win, it signals to party leadership and their "consultants" who dictate their policy that running on an anti-trans platform wins, and so then we'll have 2 parties whose official platforms are explicitly anti-trans.

    I am lucky enough to not be in any of the places where these assholes are running, but if I were, I don't know if I'd be able to vote for a candidate who actively wants to harm me. I would still go vote for every other Democrat running, but I don't think I'd be able to vote for the blue Republican over the red Republican. Who would you vote to be thrown into a cage with, the hungry lion or the hungry tiger?

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  • [–] 8 points 1 week ago (10 children)

    This year. Have you read the policy positions in the linked article? A democrat is literally campaigning on getting rid of our healthcare. Several have broken with the party to vote against out healthcare this last session. The republicans are struggling to get all of their anti trans agenda through because of opposition.

    Transohobic democrats like the ones listed in the article, and the one on my ballot are threatening to undermine that opposition. If these traitors get into office, and turn the party against us, there will be no opposition. Transphobia will be bipartisan. There will be no one to stop the republicans building the camps. That is the worst possible outcome. Far worse than a handful of seats.

    Transphobic democrats need to be stopped regardless of the cost.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    This year. Have you read the policy positions in the linked article? A democrat is literally campaigning on getting rid of our healthcare

    And how does that candidate compare to the Republican opponent?

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  • [–] 7 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    Democrat will take your healthcare. Republican will take your life.

    "It's such a hard choice this year!"

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  • [–] 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Do you not get that for us, our healthcare is literally our lives? If people are forced to detransition do you know that the suicide rate will go even higher among us than it is now?

    Moving to a different state costs a lot of money, and that is something that people on public health plans like Medicaid lack. So, taking away a trans persons access to gender affirming care under these plans is literally erasing and killing us.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    Do you really imagine that voting Republican will give you healthcare while they try to kill you?

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago

    I did not vote Republican because that wasn't a choice that I had to make from where I am.

    I am just trying to explain that there is a lot more to losing healthcare for us and it is fucking tone deaf to act like losing access to healthcare is no big deal and we should suck it up and keep voting for shitheads just because they have a fucking letter D next to their names.

    Voting R is a protest vote in this case and every American is allowed to vote their mind and has reasons for doing so. This thread is full of people acting like they are admonishing us for making choices at the ballot box that line up with how we feel about those choices. And honestly the whole thing fucking sucks.

    Fuck sakes.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    I can't think of a good phrasing for the question (this is like version 6 or so as I type), so apologies for that. I don't envy your position at all, but I was just curious as I was trying to think through scenarios. I'm lucky that my democratic candidate (the most progressive one in the primary that thankfully won it) considers (correctly in my opinion) that trans rights are human rights. I don't think they'll win (heavily-gerrymandered rural district), but I hope that they do.

    Do you worry that, were you to vote republican, it would make other groups in the future less likely to support a candidate in favor of trans rights over one that more directly helps them? Put another way, if your vote causes peoples' rights to backslide, will they help or forgive you for what they might perceive as holding everyone hostage? I would worry that people, especially those whom are not traditionally as marginalized and not having strong opinions on trans rights to begin with, might be less supportive as a whole in that environment.

    Again, I don't envy you, and feel free not to answer; I'm just trying to understand thoughts and strategies.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    My voting choices are based on the specifics of the candidates on my ballot. In an effort to not dox myself I will not be naming names, but I will explain the concerns as best I can. The overwhelming majority of democrats are better than republicans on trans rights. There are exceptions, and one of them is on my ballot, so the safest course of action is to make them lose, and a vote for the opposition is the only effective way under first past the post.

    Only in one race, only in this year, hopefully never again.

    I am worried about things getting worse because things are already getting worse. Democrats are testing the waters of hatred. Candidates in the article are proposing more extreme and harmful legislation than the worst republicans, while others have started breaking with the party to vote against us. These things are real and already happening. My vote didn't cause this. To blame myself would be to think I have much power over the situation at all.

    The US system of government is disfunctional by design. There are many ways for minority parties to block or stop legislation from getting through. The federal legislature is rarely able to pass legislation without bipartisan support. As long as one of the parties supports us, that disfunction and gridlock is to our advantage. Hateful transphobic legislation is hard to pass.

    But these hateful transphobic democrats are an existential treat to that balance. The past few years have been bad for us. Despite being the minority, the legislative harm from the federal government has been limited because of democratic opposition. If these transphobic democrats see success, and they cause the party to abandon us, there will be nothing to limit the harm. Transphobia will become bipartisan. Legislation will go through unopposed. That is the worst possible scenario.

    The candidate on my ballot is one of those who has been starting to break with the party to vote against us. In the past session they voted to ban trans women from sports, and to deny healthcare to trans people. This incumbent has a proven voting record of undermining the very resistance that has preserved what little safety I had these past two years. The only reasonable action is to try and get them out of office. The republican is also a threat, but a much lesser one in context.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 week ago (5 children)

    You've sent the message that you desire fascism more than imperfection.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 week ago (4 children)

    I don't see a difference between being murdered by fascists and being murdered by their collaborators.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago* (3 children)

    "This phone I want to buy doesn't have a feature I want. I guess I'll just get one from Temu that also lacks that feature."

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  • [–] 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    What is wrong with you? These people are literally trying to kill us. Trans healthcare is life saving care and they are trying to eliminate it. This isn't a game. Politics isn't a hobby for us. Your likening this to buying a phone shows a callous disregard for this community and the people in it.

    If you love your phone so much use it to look up the Wikipedia page for empathy.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 week ago* (4 children)

    That is a rough spot to be in and my heart goes out to you. I’m not going to engage with any of these mouth breathers responding to you but I see you and want you to feel supported.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    agreed. if you're someone who can't see which way the wind is blowing and know that it's bad i don't know how to help you. many democrats already adopted a more conservative-aligned stance on immigration effectively selling out immigrants and now 70% of americans are "concerned about border security". if you're okay with dems chasing the overton window all the way to the right you're not going to like where things go next.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 week ago

    I don't think that's a great example. They have always been that way on immigration as far back as I can remember. Monstrous boarder policy has been the bipartisan consensus as long as I have been alive and probably longer.

    The 2016 election was most demonstrative of this, being a race between "build that wall," and "comprehensive boarder security with physical barriers if nescecary" which isn't a difference in policy, but enthusiasm.

    Immigration is great and we should try and negotiate a Schengen area style agreement with our neighbors. I have no representation.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Who is it you are voting for?

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  • [–] 4 points 1 week ago* (1 child)

    I will not reveal my district. I am voting for a largely unknown new candidate and against an incumbent who voted against trans healthcare in the previous legislative session.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 week ago* (4 children)

    Then you've fallen for the play. You deserve whatever you get next. The next R vote you cast, may be the last vote you get to cast.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    It sounds like a bad play. Does the DNC have any competent strategists?

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  • [–] 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Jesus... Why the fuck would you protest vote right now of all times?!?

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    so what exactly is a "protest vote"? i hate this framing. if someone votes against or refuses to vote for a candidate because that candidate is actively doing or saying things that go against their (or anyone else's) human rights, how is vote shaming supposed to help?

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