Op-ed: Republicans want voters afraid of transgender people. They should fear voters instead

Doesn’t it seem like every election cycle since Donald Trump came down that God-awful escalator 11 years ago, we’ve been told it’s the most consequential of our lifetimes? The phrase has been used so often it barely registers.

But with less than a week until the 2026 midterm election, and given all we’ve seen since Trump assumed the presidency, especially for the second time, it’s truer than ever.

The Republican Party’s current legislative record is thinner than a razor. This has been one of Congress’s most unproductive and compliant sessions in modern history. Passing little of substantive value, congressional leaders have instead focused on pledging fealty to a president preoccupied with luxury jets, gold appliqués, and a monstrous arch.

Poll after poll shows Americans are most concerned about high prices, corruption, and threats to democracy. Yet Republicans have absolutely nothing to show for themselves on these issues. So what do they do? As usual, they resort to fearmongering and scorning marginalized groups.

Several leading Democrats have told me something in recent months that has stuck: Americans don’t warm to cruelty, and this year, the GOP’s cruelty has been off the charts.

So, if the midterms turn out as pundits and polls expect, with a blue wave or tsunami for Democrats, will the GOP finally stop targeting vulnerable populations?

I’ll answer that right now. I don’t think so. It’s in their DNA. However, they’d be wise to consider how hard they push, particularly this year.

Start in Ohio, where the Senate Leadership Fund has spent an eye-popping $93 million trying to rescue Sen. Jon Husted from Sherrod Brown. Much of it has gone into ads accusing Brown of supporting sex changes for minors.

Yes, that’s the big issue Husted wants Ohioans to worry about. One ad features a woman who, local reporting found, isn’t from Ohio and had her surgery as an adult. If you looked up “desperate” in the dictionary, this ad would be the definition.

Related: A GOP super PAC twists a Texas adult’s transition story to scare Ohio voters with an ad full of lies

Just think about all the money and resources spent targeting a severely marginalized and misunderstood group of children, and doing it behind a lie. It’s mind-boggling.

Elon Musk’s America PAC, meanwhile, has budgeted more than $100 million for the midterms, with anti-trans ads targeting Democrats in Ohio, Texas, Iowa, and Alaska. Musk’s cruelty toward the trans community is all the more horrific because one of his kids is trans.

I searched three AI tools to see where sex changes for minors rank among voters’ top ten concerns this year. As you’d expect, the issue hasn’t registered. Neither has the threat posed by gay vegans.

In Texas, the loathsome Ken Paxton tried to brand James Talarico “too low-T for Texas.” Fox’s equally loathsome Jesse Watters mocked him as a “gay vegan” before conceding Talarico is neither. A pro-Trump PAC released an AI-generated video depicting Talarico in a dress, while J.D. Vance was criticized for insinuating that Talarico is gay.

But the damage is done. Once these lowlifes put something like that out into the MAGA-sphere, the lies get baked in.

Talarico’s offense is standing up for LGBTQ+ people. So is Sherrod Brown’s. I spoke with Senator Brown previously, and he reaffirmed his unwavering commitment to LGBTQ+ rights. So that’s why their opponents, with nothing to show for themselves, deal out the queer card.

Related: A Few Minutes With LGBTQ+ Ally and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown

This is just one of many races demonizing the community this cycle, as this Poynter Institute analysis details.

Now consider another marginalized group: people who suffer the repercussions of childhood sexual and physical abuse. That includes me. And we were slammed by cruelty this cycle.

In Ohio’s governor’s race, Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign spent millions on an ad featuring the estranged mother of Democrat Amy Acton, calling her a liar.

Acton has spoken openly about being raped at 12 by her stepfather. When Republican Gov. Mike DeWine called the ad wrong and urged its removal, Trump attacked him, saying Acton was “fair game.”

Now, remember what I said about Americans not going for cruelty. What Ramaswamy did was below-the-belt cruelty. After initially deciding not to endorse candidates this election cycle, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reversed course and endorsed Acton because of the ad. That spoke volumes about the refusal to tolerate cruelty.

Of course, LGBTQ+ Americans are not new to this. For the April 2023 print issue of The Advocate, I wrote the cover story about how the Republican Party made a strategic calculation years ago that mobilizing resentment against this community was more effective than trying to appeal to it.

Related: LGBTQ+ Republicans: What a Joke

Since 1980, when the religious right made opposition to us and abortion rights the glue of the modern GOP, we’ve been the punching bag. More than 40 years later, the playbook hasn’t changed: The party picks a group of Americans, strips away their humanity, and points its base at them.

First it was gay men. Now it’s trans kids, abuse victims, and anyone who defends them.

This year, the scale and desperation seem different. The money is bigger. The ads are more brazen, and the technology is more deceptive.

But times are changing, and the next generation is more tolerant than its predecessors. I spoke with many veteran GOP operatives for that cover story, and they all agreed. That doesn’t mean hate and cruelty will disappear, but hopefully the GOP learns this election cycle that the strategy is wearing thin and wearing people out.

That’s why it’s imperative for all of us to do whatever we can to vote. A squeaker tells the GOP that the strategy of hate still works, meaning we’ll likely see it again in 2028. A decisive repudiation tells them cruelty is a losing bet.

There’s no excuse for sitting this one out because it is the most consequential and cruel election of our time. Vote early, return a mail ballot, or show up Tuesday, November 3. Do whatever works, but do it.

Vote because this may be the cycle we finally tell the GOP its cruelty no longer works.

Opinion is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit Advocate.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. We welcome your thoughts and feedback on any of our stories. Email us at voices@equalpride.com. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride.