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Moderation Is Not the Same Thing as Surrender - The Atlantic
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en" dir="ltr"><head><meta charSet="utf-8"/><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"/><link rel="icon" href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/favicon-3888b0e329526a975703e3059a02b92d.ico"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/apple-touch-icon-default-b504d70343a9438df64c32ce339c7ebc.png"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="76x76" href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/apple-touch-icon-76x76-d5accc11b8265af76495fbfa9d38dd3b.png"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="120x120" href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/apple-touch-icon-120x120-419ba228184c040a691628d3dd82c206.png"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="152x152" href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/apple-touch-icon-152x152-aafde20dd981a38fcd549b29b2b3b785.png"/><meta name="application-name" content="theatlantic"/><meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#FFFFFF"/><meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/_next/static/images/apple-touch-icon-default-b504d70343a9438df64c32ce339c7ebc.png"/><meta property="og:site_name" content="The Atlantic"/><meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/><meta property="fb:admins" content="577048155,17301937"/><meta property="fb:app_id" content="100770816677686"/><meta property="fb:pages" content="29259828486,1468531833474495,1061579677251147,457711054591520,370457103090695,1631141167169115,148681772342453,1510507419185410,128344747344340,128377530562508,236061986423933"/><meta name="p:domain_verify" content="68e1a0361a557708fefc992f3309ed70"/><meta name="twitter:site" content="@theatlantic"/><meta name="twitter:domain" content="theatlantic.com"/><script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebSite","name":"The Atlantic","url":"https://www.theatlantic.com","inLanguage":"en-US","issn":"1072-7825","potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://www.theatlantic.com/search/?q={q}","query-input":"required name=q"}}</script><script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.theatlantic.com/#publisher","name":"The Atlantic","url":"https://www.theatlantic.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","unitCode":"E37","value":224},"height":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","unitCode":"E37","value":224},"url":"https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/files/atlantic-logo--224x224.png"},"sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/TheAtlantic","https://twitter.com/theatlantic"]}</script><style id="_vis_opt_path_hide">#paywall,#nonMeteredNudge,#gate {opacity:0;}</style><title>Moderation Is Not the Same Thing as Surrender - The Atlantic</title><meta name="description" content="Democrats do not, in fact, face a choice between championing trans rights and completely abandoning them."/><meta property="krux:title" content="Moderation Is Not the Same Thing as Surrender - The Atlantic"/><meta property="krux:description" content="Democrats do not, in fact, face a choice between championing trans rights and completely abandoning them."/><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/transgender-rights-election-public-opinon/680813/"/><link rel="image_src" href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/r66RIgdwyVwG0RxiI01z_hNpnA4=/0x43:2000x1085/1200x625/media/img/mt/2024/11/chait_moderation/original.jpg"/><meta name="author" content="Jonathan Chait"/><link rel="ia:markup_url" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/facebook-instant/article/680813/"/><meta property="article:publisher" content="https://www.facebook.com/TheAtlantic/"/><meta property="article:opinion" content="false"/><meta property="article:content_tier" content="metered"/><meta property="article:tag" content="politics"/><meta property="article:section" content="Politics"/><meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-11-27T14:00:00Z"/><meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-11-27T14:01:55Z"/><meta name="robots" content="index, follow, max-image-preview:large"/><meta property="og:title" content="Moderation Is Not the Same Thing as Surrender"/><meta property="og:description" content="Democrats do not, in fact, face a choice between championing trans rights and completely abandoning them."/><meta property="og:url" content="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/transgender-rights-election-public-opinon/680813/"/><meta property="og:type" content="article"/><meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/r66RIgdwyVwG0RxiI01z_hNpnA4=/0x43:2000x1085/1200x625/media/img/mt/2024/11/chait_moderation/original.jpg"/><meta property="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/><meta name="FacebookShareMessage" content="“Democrats do not, in fact, face a choice between championing trans rights and abandoning them,” @jonathanchait writes. To reduce their political exposure, Democrats should “repudiate the movement’s marginal and intellectually shaky demands”:"/><meta name="TwitterShareMessage" content="“Democrats do not, in fact, face a choice between championing trans rights and abandoning them,” @jonathanchait writes. 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Listen to more stories on the Noa app.</p></div><section class="ArticleBody_root__2gF81" data-event-module="article body" data-flatplan-body="true"><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Before this month’s elections, when Democratic candidates were being attacked for letting transgender athletes compete in girls’ sports, trans-rights activists and their allies had a confident answer: They had <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/ted-cruz-colin-allred-anti-trans-ad-rcna175554">nothing to fear</a>, because anti-trans themes were a consistent <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.hrc.org/news/the-facts-on-anti-trans-ads">loser</a> for Republicans. That position became impossible to maintain after the elections, when detailed research showed that the issue had done tremendous damage to Kamala Harris and other Democrats. In fact, the third-most-common reason swing voters and late deciders in one <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://blueprint2024.com/polling/why-trump-reasons-11-8/">survey</a> gave for opposing Harris was that she “is focused more on cultural issues like transgender issues rather than helping the middle class,” an impression these voters no doubt got from endless ads showing her endorsing free gender-transition surgery for prisoners and detained migrants.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Now some of the very people who pushed Democrats into adopting these politically toxic positions have shifted to a new line: Abandoning any element of the trans-rights agenda would be morally unthinkable. “To suggest we should yield even a little to Mr. Trump’s odious politics, to suggest we should compromise on the rights of trans people,” wrote the <i>New York Times </i>columnist <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/opinion/america-trump-tolerance.html">Roxane Gay</a>, would be “shameful and cowardly.” Asked whether his party should rethink its positions on transgender issues, Senator Tim Kaine<a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/18/us/schools-election-virginia-suburbs.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare"> said</a>, “Democrats should get on board the hate train? We ain’t gonna do it.” The writer Jill Filipovic <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://jill.substack.com/p/should-the-democratic-party-sell">recently argued</a> that Democrats must refuse “to chase the median voter if that voter has some really bad, dangerous, or hateful ideas.”</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Refusing to accommodate the electorate is a legitimate choice when politicians believe they are defending a principle so foundational that defeat is preferable to compromise. But in this case, the no-compromise stance is premised on a fundamental misunderstanding of the options on the table. Democrats do not, in fact, face a choice between championing trans rights and abandoning them. They can and should continue to defend trans people against major moral, legal, and cultural threats. All they need to do to reduce their political exposure is repudiate the movement’s marginal and intellectually shaky demands.</p><p id="injected-recirculation-link-0" class="ArticleRelatedContentLink_root__VYc9V" data-view-action="view link - injected link - item 1" data-event-element="injected link" data-event-position="1"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/democrats-dishonest-gender-conversation-2024-election/680604/">Read: The Democrats need an honest conversation on gender identity</a></p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">The major questions about trans rights are: Do some people have the chance to live a happier and more fulfilling life in a different gender identity than the one to which they were born? Do some of these people need access to medical services to facilitate their transition? Do they deserve to be treated with respect and addressed by their chosen names and pronouns? Do they deserve equal protections from discrimination in employment, housing, and<a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/donald-trump-transgender-troops-us-military-52xf5cdlc?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Briefing%20-%20Monday%2025th%20November%202024&utm_term=audience_BEST_OF_TIMES"> </a>military service? Must society afford them access to public accommodations so as not to assault their dignity?</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">I believe the moral answer to all of these questions is a clear <i>yes</i>. The evidence also suggests that this is a relatively safe position for politicians to take. Americans broadly support individual choice, and trans rights fit comfortably within that framework. Sarah McBride, the incoming first transgender member of Congress, faced down <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/20/congress/johnson-on-capitol-hill-bathrooms-00190645">bullying</a> by her new Republican colleagues—an example of how Democrats can defend the dignity of trans people without allowing themselves to be depicted as extremists. The Trump administration is <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/donald-trump-transgender-troops-us-military-52xf5cdlc?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Briefing%20-%20Monday%2025th%20November%202024&utm_term=audience_BEST_OF_TIMES">reportedly</a> planning to kick transgender people out of the military, a move that only 30 percent of the public supports, according to a February <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/48685-where-americans-stand-on-20-transgender-policy-issues">YouGov poll</a>. If Trump follows through, this fight would give Democrats the chance to highlight the pure cruelty of the Republican stance.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Democrats mainly ran into trouble because they either supported or refused to condemn a few highly unpopular positions: allowing athletes who transitioned from male to female to participate in high-level female sports, where they often enjoy clear physical advantages; allowing adolescent and preadolescent children to medically transition without adequate diagnosis; and providing state-funded sex-change surgery for prisoners and detainees. The first two issues <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/americans-oppose-inclusion-trans-athletes-sports-poll-finds-rcna88940">poll</a> <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/05/05/trans-poll-gop-politics-laws/">horribly</a>; the last has not been polled, but you can infer its lack of support from the Harris campaign’s insistence on changing the subject even in the face of relentless criticism.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">I think there’s a strong case to be made for the Democrats adjusting the first two of these stances on substantive grounds. But even if you disagree with that, as many activists do, there remains an almost unassailable <i>political</i> case for reversing course. Why not stick to what I’d argue are the clearest, most important cases where trans rights must be protected, while letting go of a handful of hard-to-defend edge cases that are hurting Democrats at the polls—yielding policy outcomes that work to the detriment of trans people themselves? The answer is that much of the trans-rights activist community and its most vocal allies have come to believe that the entire package of trans-rights positions is a single, take-it-or-leave-it bloc. That mistaken conviction underlies the insistence that compromise is impossible, and that the only alternative to unquestioning support is complete surrender.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">This maneuver is common among political movements of all stripes. Consider how, say, Israel hawks routinely define being “pro-Israel” as not only supporting the existence of a Jewish state but also withholding any criticism of Israel’s military operations or settlement expansion. Once you have defined acceptance of your entire program as a moral test, it becomes easy to dismiss all opposition as bigotry—hence the disturbing ease with which many Israel hawks routinely <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/gop-calls-rep-tlaib-anti-semitic-for-being-nice-to-israel.html">smear</a> even measured criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Examples of this dynamic are easy to find. Gun-rights advocates will denounce even the mildest firearms restriction as gun-grabbing and a rejection of the Second Amendment; some climate activists have extended the <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://x.com/mattyglesias/status/1837850689227067821">term</a> <i>climate denier</i> from those who deny the science of climate change to anybody who rejects any element of their preferred remedy.</p><p id="injected-recirculation-link-1" class="ArticleRelatedContentLink_root__VYc9V" data-view-action="view link - injected link - item 2" data-event-element="injected link" data-event-position="2"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/03/trans-youth-transition-andrea-long-chu/677796/">Helen Lewis: The worst argument for youth transition</a></p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Trans-rights activists have made especially extensive use of this tactic, frequently accusing anyone who dissents from any element of their agenda as transphobic. Quashing internal disagreements is a necessary step toward casting all dissent as pure bigotry. “A lot of LGBTQ leaders and advocates didn’t want to say they had concerns because they worried about dividing their movement,” the <i>New York Times</i> reporter Jeremy Peters <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://x.com/benryanwriter/status/1861455161702457409">noted</a>.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Perhaps the nadir of this campaign occurred last year, when a group of <i>Times </i>contributors and staffers published an <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/15/new-york-times-transgender-coverage-controversy/">error-riddled</a> <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://nytletter.com/">letter</a> attacking the paper. The letter accused the <i>Times</i> of “follow[ing] the lead of far-right hate groups” with its reporting on the debate among youth-gender-care practitioners about the efficacy of providing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children. It effectively transmitted the message that calling into question any position maintained by trans-rights activists would create a reputational cost for anybody working not just in journalism but in other industries, too—particularly people in Democratic politics and other nonconservative elite fields. The hothouse dynamic no doubt contributed to Democrats’ inability to form reality-based assessments of their positioning on the issue.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">A few days after the election, Democratic Representative Seth Moulton<a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/us/politics/democrats-kamala-harris.html"> told</a> the <i>Times</i>, “I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete.” This sparked a furious backlash. Kyle Davis, a Democratic official in Moulton’s home city of Salem, called on Moulton to resign. “We’re certainly rejecting the narrative that trans people are to be scapegoated or fear-mongered against,” he told reporters. Moulton has supported the <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://moulton.house.gov/news/press-releases/moulton-helps-lead-new-effort-lgbt-equality">Equality Act</a> and the <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/269/cosponsors">Transgender Bill of Rights</a>, both of which would extend broad anti-discrimination protections to trans people. He has <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.advocate.com/politics/seth-moulton-trans-rights-debate">explained</a> that he favors “evidence-based, sport-by-sport policies,” rather than the sweeping bans favored by Republicans. But Moulton’s general support for trans rights makes his heresy on female sports more, not less, threatening to the left.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">The MSNBC columnist <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/ted-cruz-colin-allred-anti-trans-ad-rcna175554">Katelyn Burns</a> argues that placing any limits on female sports participation means denying trans women all their other rights. “If trans girls are really boys when they’re playing sports … then trans women should be considered men in all contexts,” she wrote in October. That simple equation collapses under a moment’s scrutiny. Female sports is one of the rare cases in which the broadly correct principle of allowing trans people to set the terms of their own identity can meaningfully inhibit the rights of others. One can easily defend <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/33529775/amid-protests-pennsylvania-swimmer-lia-thomas-becomes-first-known-transgender-athlete-win-division-national-championship">Lia Thomas’s</a> right to be addressed as a woman and allowed access to women’s bathrooms without supporting her participation on a women’s college swim team.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">In place of careful reasoning, advocates of the maximal position frequently resort to sweeping moralistic rhetoric. <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=trans+under+the+bus&rlz=1C5GCEM_enUS1136US1136&oq=trans+under+the+bus&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB4yCAgCEAAYFhgeMggIAxAAGBYYHjIICAQQABgWGB4yCAgFEAAYFhgeMgsIBhAAGBYYHhjHAzINCAcQABiGAxiABBiKBTINCAgQABiGAxiABBiKBTINCAkQABiGAxiABBiKBdIBCDI1ODFqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">Innumerable</a> columns after this month’s elections have chastised moderates for “throwing trans people under the bus.”</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Arguing in this spirit, the <i>New York</i> <i>Times</i> columnist <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/22/opinion/trans-rights-donald-trump.html">M. Gessen</a> worries that trans people will be outright “abandoned” by the Democratic Party, and insists that Democrats cannot separate trans rights from other social issues, in part because <i>Republicans</i> see them all as linked. “On the right, all fears are interconnected, as are all dreams: Replacement theory lives right next to the fear of trans ‘contagion,’ and the promise of mass deportation is entwined with the vision of an America free of immigrants and people who breach the gender binary.”</p><p id="injected-recirculation-link-2" class="ArticleRelatedContentLink_root__VYc9V" data-view-action="view link - injected link - item 3" data-event-element="injected link" data-event-position="3"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/05/texas-puberty-blockers-gender-care-transgender-rights/673941/">Helen Lewis: The only way out of the child-gender culture war</a></p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">As they refine their position profile, Democrats should obviously continue to listen to trans people themselves about their priorities. Those priorities are not always uniform, however, nor are they perfectly represented by the activist organizations speaking on their behalf. Dr. Erica Anderson, a trans woman and the former president of the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health, has <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/11/24/trans-kids-therapy-psychologist/">criticized</a> rapid medicalization of gender-questioning youth. The trans writer Brianna Wu <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.thefp.com/p/brianna-wu-bari-weiss-gamergate-progressive-antisemitism-honestly">argues</a> that the movement’s adoption of more radical positions has imperiled its core goals. The tactic of smearing all of these critiques as “anti-trans” is deeply misleading.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">In a column demanding that Democrats give not an inch on any element of the trans-rights agenda, the <i>Time</i> columnist Philip Elliott <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://time.com/7174459/democrats-trans-moulton-mcbride/">asserts</a>, “Conceding ground to the winners, as seems to be the case here in a culture-war fight that is as over-simplified as it is ill-considered, is not a way to dig out of this deep hole.”</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">But the hole is not actually <i>that</i> deep. Harris lost both the national vote and Pennsylvania, the tipping-point state, by less than two percentage points. A Democratic firm <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/us/politics/trump-win-election-harris.html">found</a> that exposure to Trump’s ubiquitous ads showing Harris endorsing free sex-change surgery for migrant detainees and prisoners moved the audience 2.7 points in his direction. And conceding ground to the winners is a time-honored way to escape political holes of any size. After Mitt Romney was hammered in 2012 over Republicans’ desire to cut Medicare, Trump repositioned them closer to the center. In 2024, Trump partially neutralized the GOP’s biggest liability, abortion, by insisting that he would leave the matter to the states, allowing him to pick up enough pro-abortion-rights votes to scrape by.</p><p class="ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW" data-flatplan-paragraph="true">Gessen argues, “It’s not clear how much further Democrats could actually retreat.” But there is plenty of reasonable room for Democrats to retreat—on female-sports participation, youth gender medicine, and state-sponsored surgery for prisoners and detainees. You may wish to add or subtract discrete items on my list. I can’t claim to have compiled a morally or politically unassailable accounting of which compromises Democratic politicians should make. What is unassailable is the principle that compromise without complete surrender is, in fact, possible.</p><div class="ArticleBody_divider__GpNxD" id="article-end"></div></section><div data-event-module="footer"><div class="ArticleWell_root__fueCa"><div data-event-module="author footer" class="ArticleFooter_authorFooter__5NsdY"><div class="SectionHeading_root__3GnqT"><h3 class="SectionHeading_heading__iNkek">About the Author</h3></div><div><div class="ArticleBio_root__ua8zj"><address id="article-writer-0" class="ArticleBio_author__6pDyl" data-event-element="author" data-event-position="1" data-flatplan-bio="true"><div class="ArticleBio_content__O0ZVF ArticleBio_noHeadshotContent__RrLmd"><div class="ArticleBio_bioSection__Hef4P"><div data-flatplan-bio="true"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/jonathan-chait/" class="author-link" data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/jonathan-chait/" data-action="click author - name" >Jonathan Chait</a> is a staff writer at <em>The Atlantic</em>.</div><div class="ArticleBio_moreStories__LKpwT"><p class="ArticleBio_contentHeading__cmbmT">More Stories</p><a class="ArticleBio_storyLink__xuRiU" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/pete-hegseth-books-trump/680744/" data-event-element="more stories" data-event-position="1"><p>Donald Trump’s Most Dangerous Cabinet Pick</p></a><a class="ArticleBio_storyLink__xuRiU" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/trump-cabinet-appointments/680652/" data-event-element="more stories" data-event-position="2"><p>Republican Leaders Are More Afraid of Trump Than Ever</p></a></div></div></div></address></div></div></div><div class="ArticleTags_root__zS_pT"><div class="ArticleTags_tagTitle__WjjAt">Explore More Topics</div><div><span class="ArticleTags_tagLink__SZysG"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/tag/organization/democratic-party/">Democratic Party</a>, </span><span class="ArticleTags_tagLink__SZysG"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/tag/person/donald-trump/">Donald Trump</a>, </span><span class="ArticleTags_tagLink__SZysG"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/tag/location/israel/">Israel</a>, </span><span class="ArticleTags_tagLink__SZysG"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/tag/person/kamala-harris/">Kamala Harris</a>, </span><span class="ArticleTags_tagLink__SZysG"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/tag/organization/republican-party/">Republican Party</a>, </span><span class="ArticleTags_tagLink__SZysG"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/tag/product/the-new-york-times/">The New York Times</a></span></div></div></div><div></div></div><gpt-ad class="GptAd_root__pAvcS ArticleInjector_root__I7x9v s-native s-native--standard s-native--streamline" format="injector" sizes-at-0="mobile-wide,native,house" targeting-pos="injector-most-popular" sizes-at-976="desktop-wide,native,house"></gpt-ad><div class="ArticleInjector_clsAvoider__dqIAm"></div></article><div></div></main><div></div><div></div></div></div><script id="__NEXT_DATA__" type="application/json">{"props":{"isLoggedIn":false,"hasPaywallAccess":false,"hasAdFree":false,"pageProps":{"id":"BlogArticle:680813","isTnfCompatible":true,"layout":"standard","hasMeter":true,"url":"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/transgender-rights-election-public-opinon/680813/","dateModified":"2024-11-27T14:01:55Z","__typename":"BlogArticle","notFound":false,"urqlState":{"166722283":{"data":"{\"article\":{\"__typename\":\"BlogArticle\",\"id\":\"BlogArticle:680813\",\"authors\":[{\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/author/jonathan-chait/\",\"displayName\":\"Jonathan Chait\",\"__typename\":\"Author\",\"id\":\"Author:19\",\"biography\":{\"default\":\"\u003ca href=\\\"https://www.theatlantic.com/author/jonathan-chait/\\\" class=\\\"author-link\\\" data-label=\\\"https://www.theatlantic.com/author/jonathan-chait/\\\" data-action=\\\"click author - name\\\" \u003eJonathan Chait\u003c/a\u003e is a staff writer at \u003cem\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c/em\u003e.\",\"__typename\":\"Biography\"},\"headshot\":null,\"river\":{\"edges\":[{\"cursor\":\"MjAyNC0xMS0yNyAwOTowMDowMHw2ODA4MTM=\",\"node\":{\"id\":\"BlogArticle:680813\",\"title\":\"Moderation Is Not the Same Thing as Surrender\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/transgender-rights-election-public-opinon/680813/\",\"__typename\":\"BlogArticle\"},\"__typename\":\"PromoEdge\"},{\"cursor\":\"MjAyNC0xMS0yMSAxMjozMzowMHw2ODA3NDQ=\",\"node\":{\"id\":\"BlogArticle:680744\",\"title\":\"Donald Trump’s Most Dangerous Cabinet Pick\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/pete-hegseth-books-trump/680744/\",\"__typename\":\"BlogArticle\"},\"__typename\":\"PromoEdge\"},{\"cursor\":\"MjAyNC0xMS0xNCAxMToyNDowMHw2ODA2NTI=\",\"node\":{\"id\":\"BlogArticle:680652\",\"title\":\"Republican Leaders Are More Afraid of Trump Than Ever\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/trump-cabinet-appointments/680652/\",\"__typename\":\"BlogArticle\"},\"__typename\":\"PromoEdge\"}],\"__typename\":\"RiverConnection\"},\"slug\":\"jonathan-chait\",\"socialMedia\":[]}],\"authorContext\":\"\",\"categories\":[{\"slug\":\"top-20\",\"__typename\":\"Category\"},{\"slug\":\"top-40\",\"__typename\":\"Category\"},{\"slug\":\"top-60\",\"__typename\":\"Category\"}],\"content\":[{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Before this month’s elections, when Democratic candidates were being attacked for letting transgender athletes compete in girls’ sports, trans-rights activists and their allies had a confident answer: They had \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/ted-cruz-colin-allred-anti-trans-ad-rcna175554\\\"\u003enothing to fear\u003c/a\u003e, because anti-trans themes were a consistent \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.hrc.org/news/the-facts-on-anti-trans-ads\\\"\u003eloser\u003c/a\u003e for Republicans. That position became impossible to maintain after the elections, when detailed research showed that the issue had done tremendous damage to Kamala Harris and other Democrats. In fact, the third-most-common reason swing voters and late deciders in one \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://blueprint2024.com/polling/why-trump-reasons-11-8/\\\"\u003esurvey\u003c/a\u003e gave for opposing Harris was that she “is focused more on cultural issues like transgender issues rather than helping the middle class,” an impression these voters no doubt got from endless ads showing her endorsing free gender-transition surgery for prisoners and detained migrants.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Now some of the very people who pushed Democrats into adopting these politically toxic positions have shifted to a new line: Abandoning any element of the trans-rights agenda would be morally unthinkable. “To suggest we should yield even a little to Mr. Trump’s odious politics, to suggest we should compromise on the rights of trans people,” wrote the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c/i\u003ecolumnist \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/opinion/america-trump-tolerance.html\\\"\u003eRoxane Gay\u003c/a\u003e, would be “shameful and cowardly.” Asked whether his party should rethink its positions on transgender issues, Senator Tim Kaine\u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/18/us/schools-election-virginia-suburbs.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share\u0026amp;referringSource=articleShare\\\"\u003e said\u003c/a\u003e, “Democrats should get on board the hate train? We ain’t gonna do it.” The writer Jill Filipovic \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://jill.substack.com/p/should-the-democratic-party-sell\\\"\u003erecently argued\u003c/a\u003e that Democrats must refuse “to chase the median voter if that voter has some really bad, dangerous, or hateful ideas.”\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Refusing to accommodate the electorate is a legitimate choice when politicians believe they are defending a principle so foundational that defeat is preferable to compromise. But in this case, the no-compromise stance is premised on a fundamental misunderstanding of the options on the table. Democrats do not, in fact, face a choice between championing trans rights and abandoning them. They can and should continue to defend trans people against major moral, legal, and cultural threats. All they need to do to reduce their political exposure is repudiate the movement’s marginal and intellectually shaky demands.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleRelatedContentLink\",\"idAttr\":\"injected-recirculation-link-0\",\"innerHtml\":\"\u003ca href=\\\"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/democrats-dishonest-gender-conversation-2024-election/680604/\\\"\u003eRead: The Democrats need an honest conversation on gender identity\u003c/a\u003e\",\"index\":0},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"The major questions about trans rights are: Do some people have the chance to live a happier and more fulfilling life in a different gender identity than the one to which they were born? Do some of these people need access to medical services to facilitate their transition? Do they deserve to be treated with respect and addressed by their chosen names and pronouns? Do they deserve equal protections from discrimination in employment, housing, and\u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/donald-trump-transgender-troops-us-military-52xf5cdlc?utm_source=Sailthru\u0026amp;utm_medium=email\u0026amp;utm_campaign=Daily%20Briefing%20-%20Monday%2025th%20November%202024\u0026amp;utm_term=audience_BEST_OF_TIMES\\\"\u003e \u003c/a\u003emilitary service? Must society afford them access to public accommodations so as not to assault their dignity?\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"I believe the moral answer to all of these questions is a clear \u003ci\u003eyes\u003c/i\u003e. The evidence also suggests that this is a relatively safe position for politicians to take. Americans broadly support individual choice, and trans rights fit comfortably within that framework. Sarah McBride, the incoming first transgender member of Congress, faced down \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/20/congress/johnson-on-capitol-hill-bathrooms-00190645\\\"\u003ebullying\u003c/a\u003e by her new Republican colleagues—an example of how Democrats can defend the dignity of trans people without allowing themselves to be depicted as extremists. The Trump administration is \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/donald-trump-transgender-troops-us-military-52xf5cdlc?utm_source=Sailthru\u0026amp;utm_medium=email\u0026amp;utm_campaign=Daily%20Briefing%20-%20Monday%2025th%20November%202024\u0026amp;utm_term=audience_BEST_OF_TIMES\\\"\u003ereportedly\u003c/a\u003e planning to kick transgender people out of the military, a move that only 30 percent of the public supports, according to a February \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/48685-where-americans-stand-on-20-transgender-policy-issues\\\"\u003eYouGov poll\u003c/a\u003e. If Trump follows through, this fight would give Democrats the chance to highlight the pure cruelty of the Republican stance.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Democrats mainly ran into trouble because they either supported or refused to condemn a few highly unpopular positions: allowing athletes who transitioned from male to female to participate in high-level female sports, where they often enjoy clear physical advantages; allowing adolescent and preadolescent children to medically transition without adequate diagnosis; and providing state-funded sex-change surgery for prisoners and detainees. The first two issues \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/americans-oppose-inclusion-trans-athletes-sports-poll-finds-rcna88940\\\"\u003epoll\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/05/05/trans-poll-gop-politics-laws/\\\"\u003ehorribly\u003c/a\u003e; the last has not been polled, but you can infer its lack of support from the Harris campaign’s insistence on changing the subject even in the face of relentless criticism.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"I think there’s a strong case to be made for the Democrats adjusting the first two of these stances on substantive grounds. But even if you disagree with that, as many activists do, there remains an almost unassailable \u003ci\u003epolitical\u003c/i\u003e case for reversing course. Why not stick to what I’d argue are the clearest, most important cases where trans rights must be protected, while letting go of a handful of hard-to-defend edge cases that are hurting Democrats at the polls—yielding policy outcomes that work to the detriment of trans people themselves? The answer is that much of the trans-rights activist community and its most vocal allies have come to believe that the entire package of trans-rights positions is a single, take-it-or-leave-it bloc. That mistaken conviction underlies the insistence that compromise is impossible, and that the only alternative to unquestioning support is complete surrender.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"This maneuver is common among political movements of all stripes. Consider how, say, Israel hawks routinely define being “pro-Israel” as not only supporting the existence of a Jewish state but also withholding any criticism of Israel’s military operations or settlement expansion. Once you have defined acceptance of your entire program as a moral test, it becomes easy to dismiss all opposition as bigotry—hence the disturbing ease with which many Israel hawks routinely \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/gop-calls-rep-tlaib-anti-semitic-for-being-nice-to-israel.html\\\"\u003esmear\u003c/a\u003e even measured criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Examples of this dynamic are easy to find. Gun-rights advocates will denounce even the mildest firearms restriction as gun-grabbing and a rejection of the Second Amendment; some climate activists have extended the \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://x.com/mattyglesias/status/1837850689227067821\\\"\u003eterm\u003c/a\u003e \u003ci\u003eclimate denier\u003c/i\u003e from those who deny the science of climate change to anybody who rejects any element of their preferred remedy.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleRelatedContentLink\",\"idAttr\":\"injected-recirculation-link-1\",\"innerHtml\":\"\u003ca href=\\\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/03/trans-youth-transition-andrea-long-chu/677796/\\\"\u003eHelen Lewis: The worst argument for youth transition\u003c/a\u003e\",\"index\":1},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Trans-rights activists have made especially extensive use of this tactic, frequently accusing anyone who dissents from any element of their agenda as transphobic. Quashing internal disagreements is a necessary step toward casting all dissent as pure bigotry. “A lot of LGBTQ leaders and advocates didn’t want to say they had concerns because they worried about dividing their movement,” the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c/i\u003e reporter Jeremy Peters \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://x.com/benryanwriter/status/1861455161702457409\\\"\u003enoted\u003c/a\u003e.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Perhaps the nadir of this campaign occurred last year, when a group of \u003ci\u003eTimes \u003c/i\u003econtributors and staffers published an \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/15/new-york-times-transgender-coverage-controversy/\\\"\u003eerror-riddled\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://nytletter.com/\\\"\u003eletter\u003c/a\u003e attacking the paper. The letter accused the \u003ci\u003eTimes\u003c/i\u003e of “follow[ing] the lead of far-right hate groups” with its reporting on the debate among youth-gender-care practitioners about the efficacy of providing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children. It effectively transmitted the message that calling into question any position maintained by trans-rights activists would create a reputational cost for anybody working not just in journalism but in other industries, too—particularly people in Democratic politics and other nonconservative elite fields. The hothouse dynamic no doubt contributed to Democrats’ inability to form reality-based assessments of their positioning on the issue.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"A few days after the election, Democratic Representative Seth Moulton\u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/us/politics/democrats-kamala-harris.html\\\"\u003e told\u003c/a\u003e the \u003ci\u003eTimes\u003c/i\u003e, “I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete.” This sparked a furious backlash. Kyle Davis, a Democratic official in Moulton’s home city of Salem, called on Moulton to resign. “We’re certainly rejecting the narrative that trans people are to be scapegoated or fear-mongered against,” he told reporters. Moulton has supported the \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://moulton.house.gov/news/press-releases/moulton-helps-lead-new-effort-lgbt-equality\\\"\u003eEquality Act\u003c/a\u003e and the \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/269/cosponsors\\\"\u003eTransgender Bill of Rights\u003c/a\u003e, both of which would extend broad anti-discrimination protections to trans people. He has \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.advocate.com/politics/seth-moulton-trans-rights-debate\\\"\u003eexplained\u003c/a\u003e that he favors “evidence-based, sport-by-sport policies,” rather than the sweeping bans favored by Republicans. But Moulton’s general support for trans rights makes his heresy on female sports more, not less, threatening to the left.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"The MSNBC columnist \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/ted-cruz-colin-allred-anti-trans-ad-rcna175554\\\"\u003eKatelyn Burns\u003c/a\u003e argues that placing any limits on female sports participation means denying trans women all their other rights. “If trans girls are really boys when they’re playing sports … then trans women should be considered men in all contexts,” she wrote in October. That simple equation collapses under a moment’s scrutiny. Female sports is one of the rare cases in which the broadly correct principle of allowing trans people to set the terms of their own identity can meaningfully inhibit the rights of others. One can easily defend \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/33529775/amid-protests-pennsylvania-swimmer-lia-thomas-becomes-first-known-transgender-athlete-win-division-national-championship\\\"\u003eLia Thomas’s\u003c/a\u003e right to be addressed as a woman and allowed access to women’s bathrooms without supporting her participation on a women’s college swim team.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"In place of careful reasoning, advocates of the maximal position frequently resort to sweeping moralistic rhetoric. \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.google.com/search?q=trans+under+the+bus\u0026amp;rlz=1C5GCEM_enUS1136US1136\u0026amp;oq=trans+under+the+bus\u0026amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB4yCAgCEAAYFhgeMggIAxAAGBYYHjIICAQQABgWGB4yCAgFEAAYFhgeMgsIBhAAGBYYHhjHAzINCAcQABiGAxiABBiKBTINCAgQABiGAxiABBiKBTINCAkQABiGAxiABBiKBdIBCDI1ODFqMGo3qAIAsAIA\u0026amp;sourceid=chrome\u0026amp;ie=UTF-8\\\"\u003eInnumerable\u003c/a\u003e columns after this month’s elections have chastised moderates for “throwing trans people under the bus.”\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Arguing in this spirit, the \u003ci\u003eNew York\u003c/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eTimes\u003c/i\u003e columnist \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/22/opinion/trans-rights-donald-trump.html\\\"\u003eM. Gessen\u003c/a\u003e worries that trans people will be outright “abandoned” by the Democratic Party, and insists that Democrats cannot separate trans rights from other social issues, in part because \u003ci\u003eRepublicans\u003c/i\u003e see them all as linked. “On the right, all fears are interconnected, as are all dreams: Replacement theory lives right next to the fear of trans ‘contagion,’ and the promise of mass deportation is entwined with the vision of an America free of immigrants and people who breach the gender binary.”\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleRelatedContentLink\",\"idAttr\":\"injected-recirculation-link-2\",\"innerHtml\":\"\u003ca href=\\\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/05/texas-puberty-blockers-gender-care-transgender-rights/673941/\\\"\u003eHelen Lewis: The only way out of the child-gender culture war\u003c/a\u003e\",\"index\":2},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"As they refine their position profile, Democrats should obviously continue to listen to trans people themselves about their priorities. Those priorities are not always uniform, however, nor are they perfectly represented by the activist organizations speaking on their behalf. Dr. Erica Anderson, a trans woman and the former president of the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health, has \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/11/24/trans-kids-therapy-psychologist/\\\"\u003ecriticized\u003c/a\u003e rapid medicalization of gender-questioning youth. The trans writer Brianna Wu \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.thefp.com/p/brianna-wu-bari-weiss-gamergate-progressive-antisemitism-honestly\\\"\u003eargues\u003c/a\u003e that the movement’s adoption of more radical positions has imperiled its core goals. The tactic of smearing all of these critiques as “anti-trans” is deeply misleading.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"In a column demanding that Democrats give not an inch on any element of the trans-rights agenda, the \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c/i\u003e columnist Philip Elliott \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://time.com/7174459/democrats-trans-moulton-mcbride/\\\"\u003easserts\u003c/a\u003e, “Conceding ground to the winners, as seems to be the case here in a culture-war fight that is as over-simplified as it is ill-considered, is not a way to dig out of this deep hole.”\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"But the hole is not actually \u003ci\u003ethat\u003c/i\u003e deep. Harris lost both the national vote and Pennsylvania, the tipping-point state, by less than two percentage points. A Democratic firm \u003ca data-event-element=\\\"inline link\\\" href=\\\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/us/politics/trump-win-election-harris.html\\\"\u003efound\u003c/a\u003e that exposure to Trump’s ubiquitous ads showing Harris endorsing free sex-change surgery for migrant detainees and prisoners moved the audience 2.7 points in his direction. And conceding ground to the winners is a time-honored way to escape political holes of any size. After Mitt Romney was hammered in 2012 over Republicans’ desire to cut Medicare, Trump repositioned them closer to the center. In 2024, Trump partially neutralized the GOP’s biggest liability, abortion, by insisting that he would leave the matter to the states, allowing him to pick up enough pro-abortion-rights votes to scrape by.\"},{\"__typename\":\"ArticleParagraphContent\",\"subtype\":null,\"idAttr\":\"\",\"innerHtml\":\"Gessen argues, “It’s not clear how much further Democrats could actually retreat.” But there is plenty of reasonable room for Democrats to retreat—on female-sports participation, youth gender medicine, and state-sponsored surgery for prisoners and detainees. You may wish to add or subtract discrete items on my list. I can’t claim to have compiled a morally or politically unassailable accounting of which compromises Democratic politicians should make. What is unassailable is the principle that compromise without complete surrender is, in fact, possible.\"}],\"editorialProject\":null,\"primaryCategory\":{\"__typename\":\"Channel\",\"displayName\":\"Politics\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/\",\"slug\":\"politics\"},\"reviews\":[],\"embeds\":[],\"preview\":null,\"tags\":[{\"name\":\"2024 United States presidential election\",\"url\":null,\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"2024-united-states-presidential-election\"},{\"name\":\"Democratic Party\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/tag/organization/democratic-party/\",\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"democratic-party\"},{\"name\":\"Donald Trump\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/tag/person/donald-trump/\",\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"donald-trump\"},{\"name\":\"surgery\",\"url\":null,\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"surgery\"},{\"name\":\"Israel\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/tag/location/israel/\",\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"israel\"},{\"name\":\"Kamala Harris\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/tag/person/kamala-harris/\",\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"kamala-harris\"},{\"name\":\"military\",\"url\":null,\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"military\"},{\"name\":\"politician\",\"url\":null,\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"politician\"},{\"name\":\"politics\",\"url\":null,\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"politics\"},{\"name\":\"election\",\"url\":null,\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"election\"},{\"name\":\"Republican Party\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/tag/organization/republican-party/\",\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"republican-party\"},{\"name\":\"Seth Moulton\",\"url\":null,\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"seth-moulton\"},{\"name\":\"society\",\"url\":null,\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"society\"},{\"name\":\"gender\",\"url\":null,\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"gender\"},{\"name\":\"sport\",\"url\":null,\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"sport\"},{\"name\":\"The New York Times\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/tag/product/the-new-york-times/\",\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"the-new-york-times\"},{\"name\":\"transgender\",\"url\":null,\"__typename\":\"Tag\",\"slug\":\"transgender\"}],\"layout\":\"standard\",\"secondaryByline\":\"\",\"dek\":\"Democrats do not, in fact, face a choice between championing trans rights and completely abandoning them.\",\"url\":\"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/transgender-rights-election-public-opinon/680813/\",\"shareText\":\"“Democrats do not, in fact, face a choice between championing trans rights and abandoning them,” @jonathanchait writes. To reduce their political exposure, Democrats should “repudiate the movement’s marginal and intellectually shaky demands”:\",\"shareTitle\":\"Moderation Is Not the Same Thing as Surrender\",\"title\":\"Moderation Is Not the Same Thing as Surrender\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-27T14:00:00Z\",\"editorsNote\":null,\"leadArt\":{\"__typename\":\"LeadArtImage\",\"image\":{\"url\":\"https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/MVXT8lwvwtl9f2gIljtCT9nZ_y8=/0x0:2000x1125/960x540/media/img/mt/2024/11/chait_moderation/original.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":540,\"srcSet\":\"https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/YPUjjWLJ-vzxFxQziOUwKXhw3N4=/0x0:2000x1125/750x422/media/img/mt/2024/11/chait_moderation/original.jpg 750w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/wB1Er8J6hDLuxA92HVlPnBuePsg=/0x0:2000x1125/828x466/media/img/mt/2024/11/chait_moderation/original.jpg 828w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/MVXT8lwvwtl9f2gIljtCT9nZ_y8=/0x0:2000x1125/960x540/media/img/mt/2024/11/chait_moderation/original.jpg 960w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/alIYTZPhhrPN_DtbQBbffNZWNng=/0x0:2000x1125/976x549/media/img/mt/2024/11/chait_moderation/original.jpg 976w, https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/bkdBcOs_NEzW-V0t0fwAnx3xato=/0x0:2000x1125/1952x1098/media/img/mt/2024/11/chait_moderation/original.jpg 1952w\",\"reducedMotionSrcSet\":null,\"altText\":\"White, blue, and pink cement bricks stacked in a pyramid\",\"captionText\":\"\",\"attributionText\":\"Illustration by The Atlantic. 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