When it comes to the struggle for trans protections, there's one unusual quirk I've noticed over the last few years. I've found it interesting, if disturbing, and – as we are seeing the wholesale destruction of transgender rights in the United States and beyond in 2025 – it feels like this disconnect is fueling it all.
The fight for transgender rights in the 2020s lacks one important thing: a wealth of transgender voices.
The right has dominated any discussion on transgender issues, of course, even as it does its best to get transgender people removed from society and erased from our own history. All you hear about is how transgender people need to be removed from women's sports, from women's bathrooms, from the military, from government, and, frankly, from everything else. The reasons are kept vague, usually pointing at the need to protect women from, well, other women.
Semi-centrist pundits, meanwhile, pontificate that it is the left that has focused too much on "social issues" like transgender rights and have urged a return to "real" issues. For me, I know that housing, employment, and all of these issues being championed affect a transgender person just as much as they do a non-transgender person, but I digress: it is always vital to protect the civil rights of all.
The same attitude has begun to permeate left-wing politics, with transgender rights often blamed as a cause for the 2024 election loss. Yet Democratic candidates avoided discussing transgender issues, with presidential candidate Kamala Harris avoiding the topic almost entirely – and never once saying the word "transgender." Her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, to his credit, did discuss transgender issues, but the dominant attitude was to avoid the topic entirely, focusing instead on the price of eggs, which is still high, by the way.
I will never forget that as momentum built behind the Harris campaign going into the Democratic National Convention, Sarah McBride – then on track to be the first out transgender person to serve in the United States Congress – was not asked to speak. Indeed, much more of the convention floor was given to moderate GOP members than to people actually in the Democratic Party, such as McBride, who went on to win her race and represents Delaware in the House of Representatives.
I also think it worth noting that the first battles in this current Congress were aimed squarely at McBride, who was barred – along with any other trans person – from using the correct Capitol restroom for her gender identity as soon as the 119th Congress went into session in early January.
She took this admirably, yet I couldn't help but notice that few in the party came to her aid.
Meanwhile, as we see our rights under threat at every turn, we are not seeing transgender people being asked to speak about our rights or, perhaps more importantly, what we might need.
First and foremost, we'd like for you to listen to us. Set aside your assumptions and hear from us what we may want. Not all of us may have the same answer, but I'd bet you'd very quickly get a sense of things beyond what you might hear from non-transgender people: contrary to popular belief, we're not all out here shouting about pronouns.
Of course, you likely noticed that I hinted at that at the beginning of this column. Perhaps unsurprisingly, you'll find the other things I'd expect for transgender people peppered through the above.
Just like our non-transgender siblings, we want legal protections. I'm not talking about something specific to being trans in this case, but just an expectation that we're not going to be fired, lose our home, or be otherwise unfairly treated simply because of who we are. It's the same expectation afforded to others in this country. I should also note that as rights get repealed for us, it becomes all the more likely they will be lost for others.
While many likely feel that we are unwilling to discuss any nuance within any discussion around trans rights, I'll note that it is not transgender people pushing blanket bans around transgender people in sports, or in public facilities, or in the military. The assumption is made that we are dishonest and disloyal monsters, and I find myself wondering exactly who is being unreasonable: it is not us.
Transition, from the right, is often treated as if it is entered on a whim, with no understanding that for those of us who are transgender, it may take years, even decades, for us to reach a point where coming out as transgender is necessary to our survival. We don't do any of this to win a gold statuette like it's some 1980s-era comedy: it's our very lives we're discussing.
Our biggest want is a simple one: body autonomy. We want people to understand that, just like anyone else, we should have the right to make the right choices for ourselves and our bodies.
More than anything, particularly in these times, we want to be left alone. Every day brings a new attack from the right. There are bills barring us from sports at the federal level, we are pulled from civil rights protections in Iowa, and our care is being criminalized in Texas. Each of these moves are done simply to fuel an anti-trans "witch hunt" that will never stop transgender people from existing; it will only serve to make our lives worse.
What we really want is simple: it's just to be able to live our full lives. This should not be a topic of debate for politicians or pundits, but something we should be able to express on our own.
Hear our voices.
Hear our truth instead of the lies of the right.
Gwen Smith has been out pricing bullhorns again. You'll find her at www.gwensmith.com
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