Navigating the Transgender Issue: A Quiz for Democratic Candidates

By Senior Copywriter/Associate Creative Director D’Anne Witkowski

Circle the correct answer.

Transgender people are:

A: Problems

B: Humans

Trans rights are:

A: A political nightmare

B: Human rights

Gender Affirming Care is:

A: Witchcraft

B: Healthcare

Trans kids:

A: Should not be seen or heard

B: Should be protected and loved 

Transgender people are an estimated 1% of the U.S. population. Such a small population:

A: Is expendable

B: Should be protected

Trans kids should:

A: Be banned from playing girls’ sports

B: Be allowed to play sports with their friends

Refusing to support transgender people:

A: Is politically expedient

B: Is pandering to fascism

Transgender people and their allies should vote

A: Blue no matter who

B: For candidates who respect them as human beings

Imagine a runaway trolley is headed toward a group of ten likely Democratic voters. If you let the trolley continue its course, it will block the likely Democratic voters from reaching their polling place, making it impossible for them to vote. You can pull a lever and divert the trolley onto a side track, but the trolley will run over a transgender person. Do you pull the lever?

A: Yes. Gotta have those votes no matter what the cost.

B: What the hell kind of question is this? I’m not sacrificing transgender people for hypothetical votes.

Scoring

If you answered B to all of the above questions, congratulations. You have shown that you are deserving of public office. If you answered A to one or more of the above questions, you suck. Seriously, what is wrong with you? Fascism depends on pitting people against each other. By abandoning transgender people, you’re helping fascism fester, not fighting it.

If you feel this scoring system is unfair, discuss it with at least one transgender person and at least one person who loves a transgender person. Explain to them why they should vote for you despite the fact that you won’t fight for them. Make them understand why, in this time of unprecedented attacks on every aspect of transgender lives in a concerted effort to eradicate them by the most powerful people in the country, you have chosen to side with the oppressors. Go ahead, coward. Make your case.

The midterm election is Tuesday, Nov. 3. For information about voting in Michigan, visit www.vote411.org/michigan.