Entertainer Ts Madison calls out Republicans’ anti-trans politics of fear

Emmy Award-winning entertainer Ts Madison went on CNN Saturday with a clear message: at this moment in America, simply being visible as a transgender person is an act of defiance.

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Speaking with Victor Blackwell ahead of Tuesday’s Transgender Day of Visibility, Madison connected her own life to a broader political reality, where transgender people are increasingly at the center of national fights over policy, identity, and rights.

“Your visibility is your activism. Your presence is your advocacy,” she said, adding that there is “no reason for us to be living in the shadows.”

The interview comes as transgender Americans face a wave of new restrictions from this week’s passage of Idaho’s bill criminalizing transgender people’s bathroom use to Kansas, where the government invalidated transgender drivers’ licenses and ID cards.

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“We’re living in a climate right now where the erasure of trans people… seems as if it’s been priority number one in this administration,” she said.

She discussed the harm in her life caused by Republicans' nonstop targeting of transgender people. She connected the political climate to what she says she is facing in her own life. She revealed that she is currently dealing with stalking, harassment, cyberbullying, and doxing, and said those experiences have pushed her toward a new advocacy goal: legal protections specifically aimed at shielding transgender people from that kind of abuse.

Earlier this year, Madison sought and was granted a temporary restraining order against a content creator she accused of months of escalating harassment. According to court filings reported by Out, the behavior included repeated online attacks, alleged doxing, and what Madison described as threatening conduct that moved offline, including the individual allegedly driving by her home and making statements she interpreted as intimidation. The filing argued that the conduct left her fearing for her safety and required court intervention.

Madison told Blackwell that the experience has shown her something important at a moment when many trans Americans feel abandoned by politics. The legal system can still offer protection, even amid a hostile social climate. Although she said she has been “dehumanized because I’m trans,” Madison argued that people should not confuse political rhetoric with the reality of the courts and the law.

Her next step, she said, is to turn that lesson into policy by pushing for stronger sanctions and new legislation addressing stalking, harassment, cyberbullying, and doxing, with specific protections for trans people who are often disproportionately targeted online and in public life.

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The segment also discussed violence against transgender people, especially Black trans women. Data from the Human Rights Campaign shows that since 2013, hundreds of transgender and gender-expansive people have been killed in the United States, with a disproportionate number of victims being people of color, particularly Black trans women. In recent years, advocates have repeatedly found that most victims are women, many are young, and firearms are the most common cause of death.

Madison said the numbers point to more than the scale of violence facing transgender people. They also expose how violence is discussed. Too often, she said, the reaction is to search for ways to explain it away, with “everyone … trying to blame the victim” instead of accepting what the victim is saying about their own harm.

Madison also pointed to solutions outside government, highlighting her “Starter House,” a community-led housing initiative for trans women navigating instability or reentry. The project reflects a vision she has been building for years.

In an October interview with The Advocate at her home, Madison described the Atlanta-area property as both a refuge and a form of resistance, calling it “a portal of firsts” meant for “the girls coming behind me.” She said the goal is not just housing, but transformation: a place where trans women are encouraged to “live completely out loud” and “stand in resistance.”

But on politics, Madison argued that anti-trans messaging is being used to drive support.

“The way that you garner votes is you fear monger,” she said, “especially from this regime.”

Madison said she has watched anti-trans politics become a point of entry for people who may otherwise be uneasy with the administration’s broader agenda. As she put it, many people say they do not support what the president is doing overall, “but that trans stuff, I can get with that,” often framing it as concern for children. Her argument flipped that logic: the real danger, she said, is not transgender people themselves, but the lawmakers using fear around them as a political tool.

“You need to be protecting your kids from the people that are making these laws,” she said.

Watch Ts Madison talk about trans visibility on CNN with Victor Blackwell below.

- YouTube www.youtube.com