I registered my 9-year-old at a new school on Wednesday. In the elevator up to the fifth-floor lobby, which required the security guard to swipe her ID before we could press the elevator button, I thought: She’ll be safe up here. And then: I can’t believe I still have to think about this.
A breaking news alert had popped up on our walk there. Another horrific shooting at a school, this time in Minneapolis, where two young children were killed and 18 others injured. So it was fresher in my mind than usual — the terror all too many parents share that one day their child will not come home.
Recently, I’ve been preoccupied with a more specific threat to my children. My 11-year-old son is trans, which — for some inexplicable reason — makes him a target. Over the past year, the president has spent hundreds of millions of dollars and ranted at many a rally to stoke the flames of anti-trans sentiment among his MAGA legions. The most salient example was his blockbuster — and quite brilliant — ad, which stated, “Kamala Harris is for they/them. Donald Trump is for you.”
Since taking office, Trump has issued one executive order after another denigrating trans Americans and curtailing their rights. Hospitals in red and blue states alike have shuttered gender-affirming-care clinics. Democrats like Gavin Newsom, Rahm Emmanuel and even Pete Buttigieg have walked back support for trans Americans or made problematic comments regarding the community, Party strategists have blamed the Democrats’ championship of trans rights for the loss of the White House, and recent polling shows increased support among Democrats for restrictions on trans rights.
