While abortion and the economy are anticipated drivers in the 2022 midterm elections, children’s unmitigated access to irreversible medical transition has emerged as a critical issue leading voters to the ballot box.
Democrats in office have made abortion a core part of their campaign message, in addition to fearmongering about Republicans being a “threat” to democracy. While left-wing media assures its readers that “trans” issues are nothing but a right-wing overreaction, many Americans are not buying it. Erin Friday, founder of Our Duty, an international network of parents critical of gender ideology, believes the Democrats’ adoption of medical transition for minors will be the end of them.
“I truly believed that my party–the party I consistently voted for over the last 37 years–was the party of morals and science,” said Friday, a California resident who describes herself as a lifelong supporter of the Democrat party.
“But given that not one high level Democrat has stood up against the gender ideology that promotes ripping children’s and vulnerable young adults’ body parts out for profit, I can no longer vote for a Democrat,” she added. “This singular issue will destroy the party.”
The medical transition of minors is a contentious issue, and current polling indicates that it may play a significant role in determining the outcome of the 2022 midterm elections. A recent poll found that more than 70% of American voters in the 2022 midterm elections are not likely to vote for a candidate who supports allowing minors to undergo gender transition procedures. According to the survey, nearly 80% of Independent voters, and 43% of Democrats join Republicans in opposing candidates who support allowing minors to medically transition.
An analysis of voter registration data by the Associated Press in June found that more than 1 million voters across 43 states, especially in the suburbs, where swing voters can sway election results, have switched to the Republican Party over the last year.
Rikki Schlott, a columnist for the New York Post, interviewed some of the ex-Democrats who had recently changed their voter registration to either Independent or Republican because they were “sick of the radical left.”
According to recent Gallup data of “Party Affiliation” in October, 35% of respondents said they considered themselves Independent, 33% chose Republican, and 29% selected Democrat.
Additional polling from October found that nearly 75% of American voters with an opinion on the issue believe that the transgender movement has “gone too far” by encouraging minors to use drugs and surgeries to appear like the opposite sex. Another recent poll found that nearly 80% of American voters believe minors should be required to wait until they are adults to pursue transgender procedures.
Legacy media has frequently portrayed those urging for caution and common sense practices as “anti-LGBT” and “far Right,” assuring their readers that science is on their side because of the U.S. medical organizations that endorse gender-affirming care.
But none of the U.S.-based organizations have done systematic reviews of the evidence, while arguably more progressive European countries like Sweden, Finland, and England have. After reviewing the evidence for the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in treating pediatric gender dysphoria, health authorities in all three countries have decided to abandon the “gender-affirming” model, finding the costs outweigh the benefits.
Left-wing talk show host John Oliver dedicated an episode of his show “Last Week Tonight” to “transgender rights” last month, making a slew of false and misleading claims about “gender-affirming” care and framing any criticism of it as a right-wing overreaction.
“Some on the right have truly lost their minds about trans rights,” Oliver said on his show, relying on clips from Republican candidates running for office who have used trans issues as part of their political campaigns, but neglecting to include the various ways Democrats have also used it to elevate their platforms.
Leor Sapir, a fellow for the Manhattan Institute, believed that this was a deliberate choice. “This framing is clearly intended to persuade moderates and liberals that they are safe in supporting ‘gender affirming care’ because only ‘those people’ oppose it—never anyone with secular, progressive values,” said Sapir.
“He attributes all opposition to the trans movement to ‘the right,’ as if feminists, gay rights activists, and even some transgender (or transsexual, as they often prefer to be called) people and groups are not key constituencies in the opposition to medical transition for minors,” he added.
Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard recently renounced the Democrat party, days before her appearance speaking at the Matt Walsh’s Rally to End Child Mutilation in Nashville.
“Women fought for the right to compete on a level playing field in sports when they faced discrimination on the basis of sex,” Gabbard told The Daily Wire. “Now, the progress women and girls have made is being eroded, and so-called woke gender ideology poses a unique threat to children who are not old enough to make such permanent, irreversible decisions.”
Dozens of detransitioners have emerged in recent months to share their experiences of being rushed into transition, who bear the scars of what they have described as “medical violence.” A group of detransitioners wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland last month in response to several American medical institutions urging him to silence critics of medical transition procedures on minors.
“Children deserve the best evidence-based medical care available,” the letter penned by the group of detransitioners read. “Silencing the victims and critics of ‘gender affirming’ practices is not a pathway to truth and justice, but to ignorance and harm.”
Despite the emerging data that Americans are reluctant to cosign onto medically transitioning minors, President Biden recently doubled down on allowing minors full access to medical interventions in a video interview with transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney last month. Biden took aim at Republican-led efforts to limit access to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender transition surgeries for minors, calling them “immoral.”
