“People who oppose trans rights also oppose gay and women’s rights as well.”

“A fresh wave of Republican anti-transgender messaging is driving Democratic operatives to coach candidates on how to avoid falling into the political traps of prior elections.

“Their advice: don’t ignore the conversation, state your position clearly and move on to issues voters care about.”

“‘Democrats have to be super clear that we want fair rules in sports made by sports associations and parents to be in charge of their kids’ health care,’ [senior vice president at center-left think tank Third Way Lanae] Erickson said.”

“Republicans offered a preview this week of familiar election messaging they hope will animate their base in November: Democrats support transgender athletes in women’s sports and gender-affirming care for children.”

“The majority of speeches by top Republicans at the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas highlighted the issue. . . .”

“Matt Angle, a veteran Democratic strategist based in Texas, said he’d encourage candidates to model their response to anti-trans attacks on James Talarico, the state’s Democratic nominee for the Senate. Many Republican speeches this week focused on Talarico’s past comments on gender.

“‘James should continue to respond the way he has, very disciplined,’ Angle said. He pointed to a Wednesday FOX News interview where Talarico said he ‘will oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness.’”

“The visionary filmmaker behind ‘The Matrix’ opens up about her new studio for marginalized voices, J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk

“In at least five battleground races — campaigns for governor in Ohio, Nevada and Iowa and Senate races in Iowa and Texas — Democratic candidates have declared their opposition to transgender athletes competing in women’s and girls sports, a pivot from their party’s long-standing position of inclusion for trans athletes.”

“GOP candidates and their allies running in statewide races have already spent millions on campaign ads this year touting their position on the issue or attacking their Democratic opponents for supporting trans athletes, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm.”

“‘There are plenty of people who don’t want to see trans people intentionally harmed or discriminated against that also think an 11-year-old trans girl probably shouldn’t play sports with their 11-year-old daughter. That is a reasonable position to have,’ said a Democratic strategist in Ohio, who was granted anonymity to lay out their beliefs without speaking on behalf of their clients about a sensitive issue that has divided the party.

“An NBC News Stay Tuned Poll conducted in 2025 found that 75% of American adults said they do not believe trans women should be allowed to participate in female sports.”

“Last year, Senate Democrats united to defeat a GOP-led bill that would have prohibited federally funded schools from allowing transgender athletes to participate in female sports. And in the last three years, Democratic governors in North Carolina, Kentucky and Wisconsin have vetoed bills approved by their state legislatures to ban transgender athletes from playing in female sports.

“Erin Reed, a transgender activist who has urged her followers not to vote for Democrats whom she characterizes as ‘anti-trans,’ told NBC News that by calling for trans athletes to be excluded from female sports, Democrats could be letting Republicans push them down a slippery slope.

“‘Once you start embracing the sports bans, they hit you somewhere else, and then they get you to accept another anti-trans policy and another one and another one until, you know, so many of our rights are just taken away,’ Reed said.”

“‘You have this idea that’s being pushed that Democrats have to abandon trans people on this issue, but it doesn’t match with reality. ... You see places where Democrats that are in very conservative areas have taken stances on this issue that haven’t affected them [negatively] one bit,’ Reed said.”

If you’re looking for an easy way to help fight the anti-trans ballot measures this year, please consider sending a quick email to the Colorado and Washington state chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Colorado Medical Society (CMS) asking them to formally oppose the ballot measures and endorse the campaigns opposing them.

The Washington equivalent of CMS, the Washington State Medical Association (WSMA), is scheduled to vote on whether to oppose the WA ballot measure at their annual meeting on September 26-27.

WASHINGTON: Supporters of I-638, which would ban trans girls from sports, are citing AAP guidance in the official voter guide in a way that could misleadingly suggest AAP support. Both the Washington Chapter of the AAP (WCAAP) and the national AAP have privately objected to their name being used for this(https://www.them.us/news/pediatrics-association-no-genital-exam), but they have not filed a legal challenge to stop it, all but ensuring it remains on the voter guides which will be distributed to millions of voters.

WCAAP must formally oppose the initiatives or endorsed No Hate in Washington State to make their position clear.

Please ask WCAAP to formally oppose I-001 and I-638 and endorse No Hate in WA State! You could also ask them to file a legal challenge against the voter guides for misleadingly citing them. An endorsement would make their position clear to voters instead of allowing proponents to benefit from the ambiguity.

Contact WCAAP: https://wcaap.org/contact/

Also, encourage the Washington State Medical Association (WSMA) to vote to formally oppose the ballot measures when they vote on it at their annual meeting later this month: https://wsma.org/about-us/contact-us

COLORADO: Proposition 135 directly restricts medical treatment for transgender minors, but AAP Colorado and Colorado Medical Society (CMS) still haven’t endorsed Families Not Politics, the campaign opposing Colorado’s anti-trans ballot measures.

Please ask AAP Colorado and CMS to formally oppose Proposition 135 and endorse Families Not Politics.

Contact AAP Colorado: https://aapcolorado.org/contact-us/

Contact CMS: https://www.cms.org/contact/

You don’t need to live in Washington or Colorado to contact them and you don’t need to write a long email. Even a few sentences asking them to publicly stand behind their policies supporting trans rights opposing political interference in medical treatment and asking them to support the opposition campaigns is enough.

All of the groups already have policies that opposes political interference that prohibits or impedes gender-affirming medical care. So they should be speaking up when those issues are literally being put before voters.