Where does your candidate stand on Transgender Issues?

Their rights go beyond bathrooms


The hottest debate in politics right now might not involve the presidential primaries, which is incredibly surprising considering it is an election year. The debate surrounding the controversial HB2 “Bathroom” Law has sparked a huge discussion around how receptive our country is to the transgender community.

But, the bathroom debate isn’t where the fight for transgender rights ends. The Affordable Care Act has made strides in areas of hormones treatments becoming cheaper and more regularly available for many trans individuals, but with the fate of the ACA up in the air depending on who wins the election in November, who knows where the fate of trans healthcare coverage will be then.

What will happen to trans individuals if Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein, or Gary Johnson win the nomination?

Donald Trump

The Donald said during an interview that if Caitlyn Jenner walked into Trump Towers, she would be able to use whatever bathroom she felt comfortable with. That’s all well and good, but the fact that Trump thinks that this is only about bathrooms really shows how out of touch he is with the whole situation. He has had am interesting somewhat liberal history, but has in recent years began to lean much more conservative. He has also promised to destroy the ACA, which could have disastrous consequences for many Americans, not just trans individuals. Trump does not have a section on his website dedicated to LGBTQ issues.

Bernie Sanders

The Senator from Vermont has been constantly aligning himself with the LGBTQ community, and under his “issues” page on his website he has a seven step plan for making the community stronger.

His steps are:

1) Sign into law the Equality Act, the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, and any other bill that prohibits discrimination against LGBT people.

2) Work with HHS to ensure LGBT Americans have access to comprehensive health insurance which provides appropriate coverage and do not have to fear discrimination

or mistreatment from providers.

3) Continue the great work of the State Department’s Special Envoy for LGBT Rights and ensure the United States helps protect the rights of LGBT people around the world.

4) Advance policies to ensure students can attend school without fear of bullying, and work to reduce suicides.

5) Require police departments to adopt policies to ensure fairer interactions with transgender people, especially transgender women of color who are often targeted by police unfairly, and institute training programs to promote compliance with fair policies.

6) Bar discrimination against LGBT people by creditors and banks so that people will not be unfairly denied mortgages, credit cards, or student loans.

7) Veto any legislation that purports to “protect” religious liberty at the expense of others’ rights.

Hillary Clinton

Hillary has been criticized a lot during this election due to comments she made in 2008 about her opinions about leaving marriage equality to the states. She has been accused of “flip flopping” on the issue, where her campaign says that its simply a “natural growth” in opinions.

Her website does have a LGBTQ section under issues, and her trans section, “we must do more to end discrimination against the transgender community. Hillary believes no one should be held back from fully participating in our society because of their gender identity. As secretary of state, Hillary made it possible for transgender Americans to have their true identity reflected on their passports.

As president, she will work to protect transgender individuals from violence by directing the government to collect better data regarding crime victims and seeking to improve reporting of hate crimes; streamline identity documents to remove barriers to transgender Americans changing their gender marker on identification documents; and invest in law enforcement training focused on fair and impartial policing, including in interactions with LGBT individuals.

Hillary will invest in law enforcement training that focuses on issues such as implicit bias, use of force, and de-escalation, as well as fair and impartial policing including in their interactions with the LGBT community, in particular transgender individuals. It will also focus on educating police officers on correctly identifying bias-motivated crimes.”

Jill Stein

Dr. Stein is running as The Green Party’s candidate, and under her platform section says that she will, “Protect LGBTQIA+ people from discrimination.” How she will do that is not explained, but she also wishes to reform our health care system by, “Establish an improved ‘Medicare for All’ single-payer public health program to provide everyone with quality health care, at huge savings by eliminating the $400 billion annually spent on the paperwork and bureaucracy of health insurance. No co-pays, premiums or deductibles. Access to all health care services, including mental health, dental, and vision.

Include everyone, period. No restrictions based on pre-existing illness, employment, immigration status, age, or any other category. Eliminate the cancer of health insurance, which adds costs while reducing access to health care. End overcharging for prescription drugs by using bulk purchasing negotiations. Eliminate health disparities in communities of color and low-income communities. Ensure easy access to health care in communities of color, including community health centers. Allow full access to contraceptive and reproductive care. “This expansion of health care would allow for easier access to hormones and other treatments for body and gender dysphoria.

Gary Johnson

Governor Johnson is running for the Libertarian nomination, and has been very ambivalent on his views on trans rights. When asked about civil unions versus gay marriage, he believed that the federal government shouldn’t have a say in marriage. Libertarians usually believe very firmly in the separation of the federal government and state rights, so it’s fair to assume that Johnson would allow the states to choose. As we’ve seen with the introduction of HB2 and similar laws, this doesn’t always end well.

No matter who wins in November, we as Americans need to work hard to accept transgender people into our lives. There’s no difference between a transwoman and a cisgender woman using the restroom, and trans individuals have been using the bathrooms that match the gender, not their sex, forever. No matter what your transphobic uncle who’s never actually met a trans person says on Facebook, trans individuals are not out to get you. They just want to pee in peace.