Defending trans kids is right, not woke

Let’s play everyone’s favorite new game — “Why did Democrats get clobbered?“

One answer that’s sweeping the nation insists Democrats are too “woke.”

Woke has lost all its original meaning after being transformed into a cudgel to beat up Democrats who backed efforts to fight discrimination, teach real history or stand against school book bans.

There have been progressive excesses, including rigid rules for what people can and can’t say. Instead of helping Americans better understand why discrimination remains a scar on the nation, they punished transgressions.

But there were also excesses on the right. “The transgender thing is incredible. Think of it: Your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation,” Donald Trump claimed. Nope, not happening.

Which brings us to a popular target amid all this Democratic navel-gazing — support for transgender people and their rights.

“Democrats learned the hard way in this election that mothers care both about abortion rights and having their daughters compete fairly and safely on the playing field, Maureen Dowd wrote in a recent New York Times column.

Sure. But it was Republicans who talked incessantly about transgender issues. They used them to define Democrats as weird or crazy or worse.

If this was only about sports, we could have had an adult debate. It’s not a huge problem. Out of 500,000 athletes in NCAA sports, 40 are transgender.

But this was never just about sports. It was part of massive onslaught of ant-trans laws approved in numerous states. They were pushed by conservatives who portrayed transgender kids as mentally ill threats who should be banished from society.

In Iowa, we passed a sports ban. But then we passed a ban on gender-affirming care for Iowans under 18 even if their parents are on board, removed books by LGBTQ authors from schools and prohibited teachers from even mentioning LGBTQ people in grades K-6. Trans kids are barred from using restrooms or locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity. All this to target roughly 2,100 transgender kids ages 13-17 among more than 484,000 public school students.

Republicans blamed a “sinister agenda” in public schools. It coincided with Gov. Kim Reynolds’ push to create private school scholarships using public money. We’re now on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars to cover the cost.

But in Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a similar package of bills in 2023 while facing re-election. He was concerned about high suicide rates among transgender youth.

"My faith teaches me that all children are children of God and Senate Bill 150 will endanger the children of Kentucky," Beshear wrote in his veto message.

"I heard from children that believe this bill is picking on them, and asking … why?"

Republicans voted to override. But Beshear won re-election.

Since Trump’s victory, the Associated Press reports calls from transgender youth are flooding crisis hotlines. They’re afraid of what comes next.

They’re going to need our support in this fight. Democrats should stand up for them, not throw them under the campaign bus.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@the gazette.com