I've seen a depressing trend of Democratic politicians embracing anti trans talking points and compromising gender affirming care for young people. This is extremely concerning as states and the federal government are undermining access to care now more than ever. Democrats standing by trans people has far more dire consequences now than ever, yet we're being treated as politically disposable by people who used to campaign on lgbtq issues like Gavin Newsom and Pete Buttigieg.
I can't say I'm surprised. Liberal papers like the New York Times has been uncritically promoting unscientific transphobia for years that claims alternatives exist to gender affirming care. My guess is that people see a person transitioning as an unfortunate thing, desperately wishing there was another way. They ignore the fact that gender affirming care is both the best treatment for dysphoria, and one of the most successful treatments for any mental condition ever discovered.
To put it simply, making gender affirming care harder to obtain for kids will kill many of them. Kids being kept from care by their parents already drives people to suicide, and a slimy politician preventing supportive parents from helping their kids will do the same. Every time I see people claim these guys are our best shot at beating fascism, I die inside. I have no doubt that they'll eventually axe care for all adults like everyone who was originally "worried about fairness in sports" is currently pushing for. The only way they won't is if we make it a costly issue for them.
They deliberately made things like guns and flags our contention issues so that the left remains weak and neutered. I can't imagine more than the slimmest margin of Lemmy lefties would dare fly an American flag or open-carry and that's one of many reasons we never succeed at policy or lasting social change.
Force and patriotism are political capital which is the currency of politics and policy and elections, and this is why Trump's base has so much more value and are courted more than say, Bernie's base or whatever mythical, fantasy leftist leader everyone is hoping will show up next.
Everyone here thinks we're just a one good candidate away from some kind of absurd post-scarcity civilization with holodecks and food replicators. We are barbarians with iPhones, we have to treat our world as a much less fair and far more hostile place.