Last week, I wrote a piece arguing that trans people were frequently talked about in media but rarely talked to.
After that piece published, a producer from CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper emailed me to invite me on the show. This week, we were able to find a time that worked, and I stopped by CNN’s Chicago office to discuss the Trump campaign’s obsession with trans issues. I really appreciate the invite, and I want to thank Jake and everyone else over at The Lead for having me.
Below is a transcript of our conversation:
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In the first half of October alone, Trump and his allies have spent more than 21 million dollars on one specific series of ads. Ads that seem to be intentionally played during NFL games and college football and baseball. I've seen these ads a million times, especially in critical battleground states. Here's one of them that I've seen a lot because I watch a lot of Phillies and Eagles games.
[Plays Trump ad]
So and by the way, we should know Charlamagne Tha God, seen and heard in that ad, has issued a cease and desist letter to the Trump campaign for using him in that ad. But let's talk about the impact of these ads, such as this, with Parker Molloy. She's a Chicago-based writer, author of the newsletter The Present Age, to which I subscribe. So Parker, you've been outspoken about a range of issues, including politics and how trans individuals are often not only marginalized, but demonized. So what was your reaction when you saw this Trump anti-trans ad? And I know you're a baseball fan. You must have seen it a lot.
PARKER MOLLOY: Oh, I've seen it a ton. It's been pretty wild to watch that. It is dehumanizing. It is frustrating because it takes an issue, which is the health care for inmates, for prisoners, something that goes to every single person who is in prison or is being detained. It's an Eighth Amendment issue, and it treats it like it's some outrageous position to take. And yeah, it's been frustrating to watch, especially since at Trump's rallies he'll put pictures of random trans people on the screen, of Rachel Levine, who's the assistant secretary of health, and the crowd will boo. It's a little scary.
TAPPER: What do you hear from trans individuals who maybe aren't as outspoken as you are, but see ads like this during the 2024 election cycle? Because we should know this isn't just a one-off. I think this is one of the main ads the Trump campaign airs.
MOLLOY: Yeah, I mean, they've spent tens of millions of dollars doing this. And it's not just the Trump campaign. It's Republicans across the country have been running ads making these similar points. They see trans people as a small group of just 1% of the population who's easy to demonize. And in talking to trans people, they've been very frustrated to deal with this. It's made a lot of people I know scared. And one thing that people are worried about is if the election does go to Trump, the trans people will be blamed for this outcome.
TAPPER: Vice President Harris was asked about this ad on the Breakfast Club radio show. Take a listen to her response.
[Plays clip from “The Breakfast Club”
KAMALA HARRIS: He has spent tens of millions of dollars trying to hit me with a bunch of disinformation and misinformation on this and he's living in a glass house because the policies he's speaking about in terms of those surgeries were also his policies.]
TAPPER: What did you make of Vice President Harris's response?
MOLLOY: Well, I think the point that she's making there is that this is not what the American people want to focus on. There was a recent survey done by Data for Progress that found that 80% of Americans, including 85% of Republicans, think that politicians should spend less time on trans issues. So I think she's really just highlighting the fact that most people would rather talk about the economy and inflation than talk about where someone uses the bathroom or whether an under-12 girls soccer team includes a trans girl or not.
TAPPER: According to ad impact tracking data, zero dollars in Democratic broadcast TV ads spending, zero went to ads mentioning LGBTQ rights during the first two weeks of October. Why do you think that is? Does that frustrate you because there aren't Democrats defending trans rights?
MOLLOY: A little bit. In one sense, I understand the position that they're taking because when it comes down to it, Republicans are the party of talking about trans people. Democrats, by and large, do not bring up trans issues. This is something that if Republican politicians did not talk about it, there would be no problem. But they do.
And I think it would be nice to have a little more support, a little more vocal support. However, I again understand the position that Democratic politicians are taking.
TAPPER: There's one Republican talking point in that ad that I wonder what you think about, which has to do with keeping trans women and trans girls out of women and girls sports. What do you say to somebody who loves and supports the trans community, says trans individuals should be protected, should be loved, but do have questions about the sports issue because of whether or not it's fair for girls and women, cis girls and women in sports?
MOLLOY: Sure, and I understand that point. I think that what's important to remember here is that in every Republican state, this issue has essentially been taken off the table. Every Republican state has passed bills, has passed laws to ban trans girls from participating in school sports. But then what has happened is they've then gone a step further in almost every one of those states to then ban health care for trans kids, to then restrict health care for trans adults to then affect how trans people as a whole can exist in society. So it's clear that this is more of a Trojan horse issue than actually Republicans pretending to care about fairness in sports.
And one other point on that is that, you know, when you're talking about trans girls participating in grade school and high school sports, for the most part, sports is where people come together to form a community, to play with their friends, and these laws, pushing to divide trans people out of this, is essentially saying you don't belong, you're okay to bully, you're okay to exclude, and I think that that's shameful.
TAPPER: Alright, I want you to come back and I want to dive more into the trans girls and trans women in sports issue next time a big issue comes out, because I'd love to dive more into that one specifically as somebody who supports women's sports, girls' sports. Parker Molloy, thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate it.
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