Mark Takano blasts Republicans for cruelly blaming shutdown on trans peoplehttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/10/mark-takano-blasts-republicans-for-cruelly-blaming-shutdown-on-trans-people/ 🔗Alex Bollinger (31 Oct 2025)
For years, Republicans have been blaming their inability to get anything done on transgender people, and out Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) is tired of their "cruel distraction tactic."
"This president just loves to prey upon the vulnerable," the congressman told LGBTQ Nation. "It just makes me think that he's very desperate."
The federal government is currently shut down because the Senate can't pass a continuing resolution to fund federal services. Democrats want a continuing resolution that would also extend health care tax credits for the working class, which are set to expire at the end of this year, while Republicans want to pass a continuing resolution that lets those subsidies expire.
And LGBTQ+ people have been thrown at the center of this fight. Republicans – led by the president – have repeatedly accused Democrats of demanding funding for gender-affirming care in order to vote for a continuing resolution – something the president calls "transgender for everybody" – even though the continuing resolutions don't mention gender-affirming care at all.
Takano had particularly kind words for Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE), the first out trans member of Congress, and how her presence in Congress is helping build support for equal rights.
"It's remarkable that this really charged time over transgender Americans that we've also had for the first time, a transgender member of Congress," he said. "She is an amazing presence here.... She's a real gift, Sarah McBride is a real gift to this Congress, and a gift to the country."
"Sarah McBride is just a very decent, intelligent – I will go beyond intelligent, she's a brilliant member of Congress, and she's just very- It's very hard to stigmatize somebody who is smart, reasonable, and generous in her spirit," he added.
