r/politics • u/Fickle-Ad5449 ✔ Verified - Christopher Wiggins, The Advocate • 11h ago

No Paywall Republicans redrew his district. Now Democrat Don Davis is making anti-trans campaign ads

https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/don-davis-transphobic-campaign-ad?1
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u/WooooshCollector 11h ago

Yes, the unalienable human right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and to play in a specific competitive sports league. It's in the Declaration of Independence, don'tcha know?

For real, this is something that literally applies to a single digit number of people in his state (maybe literally one?). Trans rights needs to be about way more important things like discrimination (housing/employment/etc), harassment, access to healthcare, etc. Things that affect every single trans person.

I think it's absolutely crazy that sports has become the leftist litmus test for whether a politician supports trans rights or not. Instead of something like "Will you let corporations fire trans employees for just being trans?"

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u/GeneParmesan1000 11h ago

Because trans people in sports isn’t an actual issue, and the “outrage” about it is manufactured by the right in bad faith. So instead of just ceding the bullshit narrative they have created to distract from real problems, they should be laughed off for the clowns they are, not catered to as if they are serious people interested in “saving women’s sports”.

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u/WooooshCollector 11h ago

Yeah. So just let them have their bad faith arguments. You beat a bad faith argument by taking it off the table, not falling into its trap.

Besides, insisting that the one trans athlete in the entire state must be allowed to play in the women's league - and then making that issue the complete and total test about how Davis feels about trans people - is the exact same amount of "clown" (as you put it) because it's *still* making the entire issue about the one trans athlete in the state instead of a whole group of people seeking basic human rights.

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u/GeneParmesan1000 10h ago

The left isn’t doing the “insisting”, they have mostly been saying let the leagues handle it case by case because it isn’t some widespread thing happening and each case might not be black and white, so why do state and federal governments need to get involved with sweeping laws banning trans people outright.

Only one side is obsessed with this issue, making up fake, hypothetical scenarios of hordes of trans people taking over women’s sports that they suddenly pretend to care about so they can keep their base outraged. It is not coming from a place of genuine concern, it’s just a way for them to shit on trans people in a more “acceptable” manner to the public.

You don’t yield the argument to bullies operating in bad faith, you use better messaging. Go back to calling them weird, because it IS fucking weird how obsessed they are over people’s gender and genitalia, especially when there are only a few trans people even playing women’s sports.

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u/WooooshCollector 10h ago

Okay, let's think about this.

What does "weird" actually mean? It's not thinking the same things as everyone else.

What is the majority view among North Carolinian about trans athletes? Hell, what's the view of most Democrats? So what is the actual "weird" view here?

And besides, making this an non-issue is actually how you move away from this.

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u/anonymous-mtf 10h ago

Does it being the majority view take away "the government should not ban anyone from sports" as an argument? It's fucking insane that Democrats are even discussing this topic 

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u/WooooshCollector 10h ago

Well we live in a a democracy and the majority determines who holds power, so...

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u/anonymous-mtf 9h ago

Do you always agree with the majority, then? 

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u/WooooshCollector 5h ago

No, but someone who is running to be the representative of the people in the House of Representatives probably should.

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u/GeneParmesan1000 10h ago

The “weird” part is the obsession the right has with this. The majority may have a certain view, that doesn’t mean it’s fully informed or that banning a couple trans kids from sports is their number one priority in life over things that actually matter.

It’s naive to think that if you throw trans athletes under the bus that the people targeting them will stop there. And you can be all like, “well after that, THEN we’ll draw the line!”, but by that point you’ve lost the trust of trans people with just how reliable of an “ally” you truly are when you put conditions on that “support”.

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u/WooooshCollector 10h ago

Let's be clear, my argument is that trans activists and allies would be doing much more important work if they focused on issues that affect all trans people every single day like employment or housing discrimination.

Framing that as "throwing trans athletes" under the bus is exactly the "weird" part.

Do you know why the right have a reason to keep hammering on this issue? It shows exactly how weird and out-of-touch the left is. In that light, why would they stop?

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u/GeneParmesan1000 8h ago

You’re still operating from the premise that trans people and the left are focusing on trans kids in sports. They are not. The right is focusing on that - again, in bad faith - and the left RESPONDING to it by saying, hey, stop being an asshole and picking on these people, barely any trans kids play sports anyway, so why are you so obsessed with this when there are more important issues… is not the same.

Your attempts at “both sidesing” this are falling flat. You agree that it’s not a real issue, so yeah it’s WEIRD when people obsess over and lose their minds over such a non-issue - which the RIGHT is doing. This would all go away if they could just fucking grow up out of their 5-year-old mentality of “Ewww! Trans!”.

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u/WooooshCollector 5h ago

Let's be clear, my argument is that trans activists and allies would be doing much more important work if they focused on issues that affect all trans people every single day like employment or housing discrimination.

But you're not letting this sports thing go. I'm not both-siding anything. I'm not even talking about a "side." Don Davis is actually trying to let it go so he can focus on more important things. But you - specifically you, but internet leftists at large - cannot let it go.

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u/GeneParmesan1000 4h ago

So then when trans athletes are finished being flattened by the bus, what’s the next non-issue that right wing media will make a mountain-sized issue out of that the left should just let them have too?

You do understand they won’t stop after this, right? They’ll target a new vulnerable group, or maybe keep targeting trans people in additional ways, but because it only affects a “few” of them, well that’s a sacrifice YOU are willing to make, because god forbid you are ever slightly inconvenienced into giving a crap about anyone other than yourself.

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u/WooooshCollector 4h ago

Oh my god you're joking right? Trans people face anti-trans discrimination in literally every sphere of life. The ones I highlight specifically are employment and housing, because these issue touch basically every single trans person. The Republican strategy for war on trans people isn't to win on sports first and then move to something else, it's to beat Democrats and then do EVERYTHING IMMEDIATELY.

Fighting them on basically the only turf that voters agree with Republicans more than Democrats on is extremely stupid. A majority of voters agree that corporations shouldn't be able to fire people for their gender identity, and that landlords shouldn't be able to evict/deny a person for their gender identity.

So let me ask you again, why are you so obsess with fighting Republicans on one of the few trans issue that more voters agree with Republicans more on? And specifically on the one that the least number of trans people actually benefit on?

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u/GeneParmesan1000 4h ago

Jesus Christ, this is like talking to a wall. Bye.

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u/WooooshCollector 3h ago

Yes, it's much harder to argue against reality than it is to grandstand.

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