How desperate are Republican candidates? They think anti-trans attacks will work

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

How desperate are Republican candidates? They think anti-trans attacks will work.

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/10/how-desperate-are-republican-candidates-they-think-anti-trans-attacks-will-work/ 🔗

John Gallagher (5 Oct 2026)

Inflation keeps taking a toll on paychecks, the war with Iran continues with no end in sight, and the president and his family continue to shamelessly line their pockets. So what do Republicans think the voters want to hear?

In a fit of desperation, Republicans are back to claiming that Democrats are virtually mandating sex-reassignment surgeries for young children in hopes of distracting voters from – well, everything bad that they are experiencing, thanks to the president and his party.

Unfortunately for Republicans, the gambit isn't working. In fact, there's a question as to whether it ever did.

The perfect example of just how badly the effort is failing is in Texas. If any state would seem amenable to a message trashing trans people, it would be Texas. The state has long been controlled by Republicans who have made attacking trans rights (and LGBTQ+ rights generally) a trademark of their policy. The state has banned trans athletes from competing in sports. It has blocked trans people from changing the sex marker on their birth certificates. The state has not only banned health care for trans youth, but it has gone after providers outside the state seeking personal medical records. The state even tried to investigate the parents of trans youth for child abuse before it was stopped by a court. The list goes on and on.

The personification of this anti-trans policy is the GOP's Senate nominee, Ken Paxton. As Texas attorney general, Paxton went out of his way to wage war against trans Texans. And yet Paxton is lagging in the polls behind Democratic nominee James Talarico in a race that is far closer than anyone thought possible.
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@Sarah B

[Athena]

Unfortunately in a lot of cases fear does work. You have to remember that most people don't really know much about trans people, after all many think of it as gay pride not lgbtq2+ pride.
When people only hear bad things about trans people that affects their opinion, it's not even mostly malice for a lot of people just ignorance.
Thankfully we have allies spreading the truth about us and hopefully more correct information will start to spread more reducing the effectiveness of trans hate.

Also thankfully the new generations growing up are far more tolerant than even my own generation, gen x.