Transgender Americans are more excited about the November presidential election now that President Biden, who last month announced he will not run for a second term, is no longer the expected Democratic candidate.
Enthusiasm for the election soared among transgender adults after Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Vice President Harris, according to a survey published Thursday by FOLX Health, a digital LGBTQ health service.
Thirty-two percent of more than 1,200 trans adults surveyed by the group in mid-July said Biden’s announcement made them more excited about the November election, compared with just 8 percent who said they felt excited during their election. candidacy. More than half of those surveyed — 53 percent — said they were hopeful about the election following Biden’s decision to drop out, compared with 14 percent who said they were optimistic about the election outcome while he was still running.
This increase partly reflects optimism that Harris, who has now secured the Democratic presidential nomination, will better protect and promote transgender rights, although that is not the only explanation, said Haley Everett, vice president of marketing at FOLX.
She said it also reflects that respondents think Harris has a better chance of defeating former President Trump than Biden.
“The deep fear is mostly about Trump winning, and there is a feeling that Trump is more likely not to win after Biden drops out and Harris takes over,” she said. “That’s what comes to people’s minds, I would say, more than kind of Biden’s or Harris’ personal background, although people generally see her as being more supportive of LGBTQ policies. [than Biden].”
Biden, who often calls his administration the most pro-LGBTQ in history, expanded federal anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ Americans and condemned attacks against the transgender community while in office. In 2022, he signed legislation safeguarding marriage equality.
The president, however, has faced some criticism from the transgender community for not doing enough to protect access to gender-affirming health care, and the White House, in a controversial statement last month, said it does not support transition surgeries. for minors, angering some of his LGBTQ allies. The White House later clarified that while it believes surgical procedures should be reserved for adults, it does not support laws or policies that prohibit them.
Harris, a longtime advocate for LGBTQ rights, has also faced some backlash for her past actions regarding transgender rights. As California’s attorney general in 2015, Harris worked to prevent a transgender woman in a state prison from receiving gender-affirming surgery, although she later apologized for her role in that case.
Eighty-three percent of respondents in Thursday’s poll said Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has not “at all” addressed the community’s concerns, and 89 percent said they were “extremely concerned” about a second term in office. Trump.
“I fear for another Trump presidency. I feel like my life and other people’s lives are at stake,” said one respondent from California. “I ask myself daily if I need to run or hide.”
Trump has promised to enact at least a dozen policies targeting members of the LGBTQ community if he is reelected in November, including nationwide bans on gender-affirming health care for minors and transgender student-athletes. His running mate, Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio), has sponsored bills in Congress to make providing gender-affirming medical care to trans minors a crime, punishable by more than a decade in prison, and ban the use of gender “X”. markers on US passports.
The majority of respondents in Thursday’s poll — 92 percent — said they were anxious about the upcoming election, unchanged from when Biden was still in the race. Interest in the race nearly doubled, however, after Biden’s departure.
“The stakes seem very high,” Everett said. “The feeling that very quickly things can go from challenging to impossible to downright scary is really present in our community.”
The majority of respondents said they believe the outcome of this year’s presidential election will have a significant impact on LGBTQ Americans’ access to health care; 43 percent of transgender voters ages 18 to 34 said LGBTQ issues, including access to gender-affirming care, are their top voting issue. Sixty-three percent of trans adults over 35 said the same.
Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they have taken, or are planning to take, at least one action to protect their access to gender-affirming health care — including speeding up or postponing doctor appointments and stockpiling medications — due to concerns about the election and changes future policies that may restrict care.
Although gender-affirming health care for transgender minors is not prohibited at the federal level, half of states as of 2021 have enacted laws prohibiting treatment for people under age 18. adults. The Supreme Court will determine during its next term whether bans on gender-affirming health care, which are endorsed by major medical organizations, are constitutional.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
