11/07/2024
This is a long letter, and an important one from Advocates 4 Trans Equality:
There are no words that will make this easy. The presidential race being called for Trump is not what we wanted. This loss is gut-wrenching, but you are not alone. We are all hurting today. So many are frightened about what a second Trump presidency will mean for our lives and for the lives of our families. That’s why we fought so hard to try to prevent it. And we refuse to stop.
For nearly a decade, trans advocates have been holding the line against thousands of anti-trans state bills and vile rhetoric to prevent the erosion of hard-fought progress. We cannot afford to cede any ground to anti-equality forces. And we are prepared to confront this period of uncertainty and hardship with the work our community relies upon.
Like our trans elders who fought back at Compton's Cafeteria, Cooper Donuts, and the Stonewall Inn, we know that we are the only ones coming to save us. This Trump win begins a new chapter of trans resistance.
We are still cleaning up the damage from the disaster of the first Trump presidency. Now we are preparing to activate plans to guide our work for the next four years. NCTE and TLDEF have spent all this year merging our organizations to become A4TE. Quite simply, we knew we would need to build trans power and scale our work to have what it takes to push back against what we know is coming. Rooted in the wisdom of our trans elders and ancestors, we planned for this moment.
We will continue to work tirelessly because we know what is at stake. Since endorsing the Harris-Walz ticket this summer, we mobilized the largest trans-led effort to turn out the trans vote. (If the Democratic Party didn’t know that trans people are an important voting bloc before, they know now.) We registered new trans voters all around the country this year, and in an historic first, A4TE hosted the Trans Folks for Harris call and gathered nearly 1,000 trans people online to support the Harris-Walz campaign. Additionally, A4TE actively supported the campaign by organizing a town hall, hosting a virtual rally, and spreading crucial campaign updates to mobilize local and state trans organizations and voters.
To all who volunteered to phone and text bank and register your friends to vote – thank you.
Last night was not a complete loss for trans people. A4TE supported and endorsed a slate of trans candidates in federal, state, and local races with incredible success. Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride became the first openly trans Member of Congress in history, and several of the candidates that A4TE endorsed, including Emma Curtis, who won a local race in Kentucky, and Leigh Finke, who was reelected to the Minnesota House of Representatives, also had victories. In addition to these races, New York passed Prop 1, enshrining gender identity and s*xual orientation protections and abortion rights into its state constitution. Red states like Arizona, Missouri, and Montana among others also enshrined abortion rights into their state constitutions.
All of us deal with grief and heartbreak differently. We know some of us will need time to process recent events and others of us will want to get right to work. Remember to be gentle with yourselves. No matter what, take a deep breath. Do something that inspires calm for you. Do something comforting. But know this – A4TE exists to hold the line for trans people from the halls of Congress to state chambers across the country.
We will fight. We will organize, we will testify, we will march. Trans people have faced political and legal oppression before. But each generation of the trans movement has fought back against these regressive forces. Now it is our turn to pick up the baton and show up – rallying, litigating, protecting each other – for our freedoms, our families, and our futures. We will build our power.
The arc of history is long. A second Trump presidency is only a chapter in the story, not the whole book. We will be part of writing this story – together.
Today, let’s focus on self-care and lean on the support systems we have. Prioritize your mental health and take the time you need to recharge. Here are some resources if you need someone to talk to:
Trans Lifeline: 855-578-5683
Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386 (available for all LGBTQ+ youth)
National crisis hotline: 988
The QTP Loveline: (855) 578-5683. This is an immediate, on-demand, 24/7 service.
Text HOME to 741-741 where you will reach a crisis counselor. It’s free and confidential, and 24/7.
NYC Anti-Violence Project: 212-714-1141. It’s a warmline staffed by volunteers, in English and Spanish, who are trained as crisis counselors and backed up by clinicians.
In solidarity,
Andrea “Andy” Hong Marra & Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen
Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE)
DONATE
