This election was a setback for trans rights. But we’re still here, still fighting | Opinion
Eve: On Nov. 6, woke up to countless messages of trans people in Idaho begging for some sort of guidance. They asked what we’re going to do to stay alive through the next four years under the Trump administration. An administration that has spent so much of this past election cycle dehumanizing trans people and promising to “eradicate [us] from public life.” Every word of these messages exuded more pain and hopelessness than the last, a feeling that was quickly accustoming itself to my mind and body.
There’s an overwhelming feeling within our community that the majority of the people in this country are against us as trans people — a feeling that’s been exacerbated by the reelection of Donald Trump. This is exactly what they want us to feel, but it’s not the reality. While it’s true that the plurality of voters in this last election voted for a campaign that has the major goal of systematic extinction of trans rights and people, the fondness that this candidacy has for this issue is not reflective of its voter base.
Exit polls reveal that only 4% of Trump voters see policies attacking trans people as an important factor in their vote. In contrast, 64% of Americans favor laws which would protect trans people from unjust discrimination. There are people all around us who care for us and will fight for us. Our opposition is the vocal minority no matter how loud they make themselves. We don’t yet know what this administration will do to us, but we need to know that whatever it is, we can and will resist. We can and will lift each other up, and we can and will endure.
Phoenix: Yesterday, I heard someone refer to their feeling before the election as nauseatingly optimistic. As the night went on, my own sense of nausea steadily grew. As a young voter and a transman, I am coming out of this election carrying a barbed weight of fear for my own identity. I am remembering the hundreds of anti-trans bills brought up in state legislatures across the country in the last year, and I am dreading the hundreds more I expect to see in the coming legislative session. I am mourning the aggression that trans youth have been and will continue to face in school. It feels as though we are being bound and suspended over a flame by willfully ignorant officials.
Hold space for our pain, for our experiences of abuse. However, do not doubt that we are strengthening. We must also celebrate our growing representation. There was the greatest number of queer voters of any U.S. election to date. Dozens of queer candidates were elected to their communities nationwide.
The Eve Devitt Fund remains committed to the transgender youth of Idaho. Our goal is ever the same: Provide an avenue in which all trans minors can access life-saving healthcare. Despite the uncertainty of the future, we will continue to stand with our community. We will not be debilitated by the fear-mongering of an administration dripping in privilege. In the coming scrutiny of our autonomy, we hold fast to our united power. In our loss of safety, we pour compassion into every space between us. By every unit that we lose ground, we grow tighter in our bonds to each other.
We are empowered in our camaraderie and our bravery when we are standing with each other. There is no doubt in my mind that we will secure our dignified, incontestable rights to expression, safety, and privacy. When those officials do drop us into the fire, we will find our resistance inflamed.
Shiva: For cisgender people, there is no more in-between. We either stand with our trans and nonbinary siblings or we are siding with fascism. Everyone must pick a side.