Our transgender community are not political props or a convenient scapegoats

This election season, candidates and outside groups poured money into ads that cast transgender people as a threat. Elon Musk’s America PAC alone was reported to have spent as much as $100 million on them. On November 3, voters delivered a rebuke. Candidates targeted by anti-trans ads won in Ohio, Texas, Michigan and Alabama. Georgia and Wisconsin elected their first trans or nonbinary state lawmakers. 

The night wasn’t a clean sweep. Nebraska voters approved a measure barring trans girls from girls’ school sports, and Arizona voters approved one restricting which school bathrooms and locker rooms trans students can use. Similar sports bans are leading in Colorado and Washington, where ballots are still being counted, along with a Colorado measure banning certain gender-affirming surgeries for people under 18. 

“They spent $100 million trying to make trans people the bogeyman,” said Aydian Dowling, co-founder and Chief Advancement Officer for Point of Pride. “Voters didn’t buy it. That money bought a lot of airtime, then lost most of the Senate races it targeted. This election was a rebuke to every politician who thought stripping away people’s rights was a shortcut to power.”

Point of Pride is a national organization whose mission is to help trans youth and adults access life-saving, medically necessary health care.

But some of the same voters who turned those candidates away also voted to keep trans girls off their school teams. Sadly, fear still works when it’s aimed at kids. 

“We are not political props or convenient scapegoats for problems politicians refuse to solve. We’re people building families, pursuing careers, contributing to our communities and shaping our own futures. We’ve been doing that long before this election, and we’ll be doing it long after.

“At Point of Pride, we’re investing in those futures. Every grant we provide toward gender-affirming care helps someone take another step toward the life they envision for themselves. That’s where our attention belongs. On people, not political theater. Some politicians won. Some lost. But our lives were never theirs to gamble with in the first place.”

Point of Pride’s mission is to help trans youth and adults access necessary, life-saving health and wellness services. To date, Point of Pride has awarded $6,378,000 in financial aid and provided gender-affirming support to 30,000 people in all 50 states and around the world. Learn more at https://www.pointofpride.org/

The Gayly online. 11/12/26 @ 6:20 p.m. CST.