22
Kamala Harris discusses trans athletes & why she wouldn’t ‘turn on transgender people’
(www.advocate.com)
this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2025
22 points (89.3% liked)
QueerDefenseFront
581 readers
11 users here now
LGBTQ+ rights are under attack across the world.
This a Community dedicated to the discussion of how to protect, advocate for, and restore LGBTQ rights!
With the rampant increase of Anti LGBTQ+ hate crimes, speech and laws internationally, the LGBTQ community globally no longer feels safe.
We refuse to stand by while injustice against our community reigns.
Here we will organize, and discuss ways to make our voices heard!
Link to QDL Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Queerdefensefront/s/s1JGAmJK9d
Link to QDL Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/ng7DZqP6pf
Community Rules:
- No Hate Speech
No Hate Speech allowed whatsoever. This is a O tolerance policy. This goes for any form of hate and/or bigotry regarding race, religion, or LGBTQ+ identities.
While we will have discussions on political issues dealing with hate and bigotry AGAINST the LGBTQ+ community, please keep your comments respectful of ail parties.
Be better than how your enemies treat you.
- Respect the trans community
Respect the people who belong here. If you're confused what that means, here's a minor primer:
No asking to date trans people or otherwise meet up with them. No treating being transgender as a mental illness or as being lesser in any way. No arguing with trans people about their identity. No arguing with trans people about their vulnerabilities, including anything related to sports, laws, etc. This includes anything else that the mod team deems disrespectful.
- Stay on topic!
Posts should be related to the defense, advocacy, and restoration of LGBTQ+ rights.
This Community is for news regarding, as well as the discussion of, anti LGBTQ+ laws, hate crimes, and propaganda.
- Bunnies are above the law
This isn't a rule but it shows you're paying attention to the rules. good for you!
Similar Communities:
c/Gaymers: !gaymers@lemmy.blahaj.zone
c/trans_guns: !trans_guns@Lemmy.blahaj.zone
founded 7 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
We had two choices.
Ideological purity tests played their role in one of them getting elected, and it sure as shit wasn't the better option.
So now I'm spending another day coordinating with a friend to figure out how to get her out of the country because the transfer option didnt work out, and there is less than a year before she'd need to renew.
But hey, purity tests more important amirite?
I'm not saying she should be absolved of any and all wrongdoing. But acting like its the crime of the fucking century is ridiculous, and frankly abhorrent behavior. Its this type of crap that got us into this mess.
Every single far right pos will take every little gain they can. And then we have the left - and honestly, while I'm more into the stateless approach, I really wouldn't care if we went to democratic socialism, some form of communism, whatever - where if there is one thing, no matter how accurate and right it is to be against it, it becomes the only thing that matters, despite the other option being a walking atrocity kaiju version of the same thing.
False binary? It was literally the election we just had. You don't even need to leave Lemmy to see the constant doom and gloom around the very idea of Harris winning.
Knowing what she did and accepting that she was still a better option by the largest possible margin, and supporting her, that would have allowed for an opportunity.
But now thats gone. Further and further every single day. And at every opportunity, no matter what she says, there are people who will complain about it - see the very first comment I'm this thread.
I can accept that she did things that were wrong, and still recognize that without her, the DOC may never have changed their policies. I can recognize that someone else would have been put to the same task.
So instead we get Trump, and some people are labeled terrorists simply by existing as the person they really are.
Yes, I'm fucking salty about it. And I will continue to be every time someone decides to prop up their ideological purity over making things actually better.
I understand your frustration all too well, and I agree that she was the common sense choice between the two. Unfortunately, this was inevitable. People are desperate and status-quo neoliberals are now intolerable to the masses. In a competition between someone who talks big and promises change and someone who seems like they aren’t going to do anything, the desperate will take the risk even if it’s incredibly stupid.
I am not personally advocating for purity tests, only that we cannot and should not whitewash or cover up the shortcomings of candidates. Kamala should never have had the nomination. As a Californian I already detested her for being neoliberal scum, and knew exactly what would happen if she ran. The DNC fucked us. We cannot run more neoliberals. They will lose and when they don’t lose they will fuck us and the desperate masses will vote for the next increasingly fascist swinging dick that talks big. That is what desperation does to the masses. She had no chance and we had no chance. This is why why you see so many leftists blaming the Democrats, because the DNC is owned and operated by self-serving neoliberals that fight anyone who has a chance at pulling the party left.
The false binary I mentioned wasn’t between Kamala and Trump, but the very purity you are also complaining about. She was problematic and pretending she was doesn’t help. That’s the same gaslighting the DNC uses when they push bad candidates on us. I agree she was still the least worst choice. By a lot. All I’m pointing out is that running a candidate like her, like Hillary, like Newsom, is a recipe for disaster. That was not the fault of voters, but the fault of the DNC and its leaders.
At the risk of oversharing, my partner is trans, but we’re privileged in that we have a way out if we need it, and we are keeping that door open and packing our bags.
You have every right to be salty. Every right to be angry and scared. Fascism is here and the camps are coming. Unless we start a general strike right the fuck now, until every republican resigns, gerrymandering is outlawed, and RCV is the law of the land, then flee, fight, or die will be our only choices very soon.
Consider applying for asylum in Canada and Mexico. Mexico is genuinely wonderful and you should not believe the US propaganda about it. Brazil is also a potential option. Language and culture will take more adjustment, but both are beautiful and wonderful if you dive in.
So I'm going to land on a slightly different take. Every time something doesn't end up going as far as was wanted, every time a specific thing doesn't meet exactly what someone wants, everyone on the left (myself included) is pissed off about it. Right here in this thread, including replies to my with nonsense I don't have the energy or interest in replying to, are people attacking Harris - not acknowledging what was wrong, or even acknowledging what was right. I'm going to very briefly hit on a few things that were done with Biden/Harris:
I'm not going to keep going (there are more), just pointing out some positives here. And what was the response right in this very thread? Even your comment (which is the super-duper-friendly version of what others are saying):
Lets recap - in 2015 while working as an AG, her office as representatives of the Dept. of Corrections worked to block gender affirming care for an inmate. Absolutely a problem. But lets not forget the rest of that - the DoC agreed to change its policy, and just 2 years later, a CA inmate became the first prisoner to get gender affirming surgery out of all the US.
That second part gets left out. That part is a win. Still the first part is repeated - including here - ad nauseum. Was it right? Of course not. Did Harris agree with it? Also no, if we accept the statements of herself and others that she worked toward that agreement that was made behind the scenes. So what should she have done? Gotten fired? Quit? Publicly speak against her office and get fired?
And yet, the response is "BUT THIS HAPPENED!!!". So let me ask this - if you need to get the votes to stop more horrendous shit from happening, where do you get votes from? If the people you are even trying to support won't vote for you because you didn't, I don't know, quit in protest and accomplish nothing, then whose votes do you go for? The only option left is so-called moderates. This is why I complain about "purity tests". All they do is push things to the right, because anyone looking for purity is not going to vote for you regardless.
So lets look at those election statistics from 2024 for a second. We saw a 1.5% decline in voter turnout. Turnout was lower by age group - which also coincides with more leftist opinion (skews younger) and right (skews older). Older voters (65+) turned out in droves by comparison to other age groups.
At the same time, leading up to things, we had groups (Green Party) specifically targeting Palestinian Americans in Michigan with the goal of Harris losing the state. Not Green winning, but making Harris lose. We saw people even on Lemmy encouraging others to not vote in protest, or to vote 3rd party in protest, supposedly to tell them "Neoliberals aren't good enough!". Add in those purity tests - is anyone good enough? Will the Democrats ever be able to get those voters?
The only indication that its possible is when there is RCV (others are fine too, I'm going with RCV here because of NYC). Mamdani won the ticket! And yes, there are jackasses (Schumer and the like) who continue to be shitheads about it.
But outside of NYC, a drastically more progressive city than most of the US, what indication is there that leftist voters (of any variety) will vote Democrat, when their actions more closely match purity tests rather than pushing away from the right?
Thats the part that stands out to me. That is the issue. The constant "NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" just.... excludes as a potential voter. Which just means... who is left who will vote that is more progressive than maga other than capitalist dems that don't want to be hateful but maybe are misguided, and non-maga repubs? And then we have a shift to the right in communication to gain those voters.
Sorry, kind of a rant there, but its what I think is happening. I also know you agree on Harris being the far better option, this is more about those who "showed what great leftists they are" with a 3rd party vote or abstaining from voting in protest. The problem (as I see it).
Already in process for Canada, Mexico is a non-starter for her for personal experience reasons. Aside from Brazil (and Argentina), she's also got some work going for a digital nomad visa in the EU. We'll see where that lands. I've got friends of the family from Greece, and Portugal with some in-laws, to line up proof of housing as well.
Fingers crossed that any of the options work out soon.