We Are Out There

I didn’t watch the debates but in the news afterward there talk about us being mentioned in the debate so I did some research.

Democratic Debate Spotlights Transgender Rights in Historic Moment
After the debate, trans rights advocates said candidates need to “move beyond sound bites."
Rewire News
By Sony Salzman
June 28, 2019

In a historic moment, Democratic presidential hopeful Julián Castro used the televised debate stage Wednesday night to support civil rights for transgender people.

His comments were echoed later by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who called for justice for Black trans women. Of the 20 candidates invited to the debate stage across two nights, Castro and Booker were the only two to specifically mention transgender rights.

It is not the first time the trans community has been mentioned in a primary debate—former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee asserted in a 2015 Republican debate that allowing transgender people in the military would be akin to a “social experiment.”

However, a spokesperson for liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America noted that Castro and Booker’s comments are likely “the first time that trans rights were mentioned in an affirming way.”

We have come a long way baby… Well at least in the Democratic party, the Republican party continue to villainize us.

 
The Washington Post in an article by Samantha Schmidt said this about us.

Sure, Julián Castro mixed up transgender women with transgender men in the first Democratic presidential debate.

But to many in the transgender community, the moment was monumental: Here, on a national debate stage, a candidate for president brought up the transgender community in a conversation about reproductive health care.
[…]
“I’m going to continue to use this platform to uplift the needs of the trans community—not just when talking about reproductive justice—but in many conversations where their needs aren’t always included," Castro added in a tweet. "More importantly, I’m going to listen.”

And to transgender advocates, Castro’s mistake was beside the point. The mere fact that he mentioned transgender people in response to a question that did not directly refer to them was striking.
[…]
Later in the debate, Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) quickly responded to remarks from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), regarding her support for the LGBTQ community, saying “it’s not enough.”

“We do not talk enough about trans Americans, especially African American trans Americans . . . and the incredibly high rates of murder right now,” Booker said.

It is not just in the national debates that we made advances… New York state joined Connecticut to pass laws banning trans/gay panic defenses and in Connecticut they legislature passed and the governor signed into law the first LGBTQ+ legislature advisory committee and they funded it for two years.