Gretchen Whitmer to Democrats questioning their support for trans rights: ‘I’ve never wavered’

As some Democrats debate whether defending transgender people carries a political cost, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is pointing to her record. She has won repeatedly while making LGBTQ+ protections part of her agenda.

“Michigan is a very swing state, and I’ve never wavered on these issues, and politically, I’ve been successful,” Whitmer told The Advocate in an exclusive interview Saturday, hours before she was scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the Human Rights Campaign’s National Dinner in Washington, D.C.

Her answer comes amid a debate over how Democrats should talk about transgender people. As The Advocate has reported, centrist group Third Way advised candidates to avoid terms including “LGBTQIA+” and “cisgender.” A July paper from the Center for American Progress said schools and sports governing bodies, rather than politicians, should set transgender athletes’ eligibility rules and that restrictions “may be appropriate under some circumstances.” CAP said it opposed blanket bans. Advocates criticized the framework for potentially legitimizing exclusionary policies and letting a right-driven debate overshadow broader civil rights protections.

Asked about calls from some political consultants for Democrats to distance themselves from transgender rights, Whitmer said she saw no political advantage in changing the conversation. “I think we should just be honest,” she said. “This is about fundamental freedoms. This is about dignity for people, no matter who you love or how you identify.”

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HRC expects hundreds of advocates and supporters at the Washington Hilton for an evening honoring LGBTQ+ figures and raising money for its work, weeks ahead of the midterm elections.

Whitmer said politicians who target LGBTQ+ people for political gain are “willing to hurt a community to score political points.” Allies, she said, should support “all the members of the community, not turning our backs on anyone.” She compared the moment to conversations about reproductive rights, recalling an older woman who expected to spend her life defending rights she thought were settled.

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In 2023, Whitmer signed an expansion of Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act that explicitly protects people from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. The law covers employment, housing, education and public accommodations. Whitmer said she had worked on the measure as a state lawmaker, but it took Democratic control of both chambers of the Legislature to get it to her desk.

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“I’m really proud that I’m the one that got to sign that into law after working on it for so long,” she said. “And did it with my daughter standing right next to me.”

Whitmer said that even as a longtime ally, she learned how difficult coming out could be within her own family. “My daughter, when she came out to me, you know, as a longtime ally of the community, it still was hard for my own child to come out,” she said. “She wasn’t sure how to do it.” Her daughter, Whitmer said, “deserves to be protected and respected under the law.”

Whitmer said she begins conversations with people who have questions about LGBTQ+ issues by trying to understand them and find common ground. She also pointed to efforts in other states to expand legal protections. In Virginia, voters will decide in November whether to remove the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriages and affirm marriage equality. Of Michigan’s law, she said: “This is something that I worked on, I ran on, I won on, and we led on. And we’ve been successful doing it.”