Donald Trump has once again been elected to the White House.
The results have shocked advocates, who fear LGBTQIA+ rights will be rolled back under a Trump administration.
Anti-trans messaging has been a cornerstone of the Republican campaign, with Trump vowing to to pass a federal ban on gender-affirming care for minors and to redefine gender at the federal level so that male and female (as assigned at birth) are the only recognised genders. His platform also urged the adoption of national “Don’t Say Gay” policies targeting LGBTQIA+ students in schools and promises to “keep men out of women’s sports.”
Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, also amplified anti-transgender messages on the campaign trail. In an interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, Vance claimed that more young people are identifying as trans to better their chances of acceptance to elite universities.
And in the final hours of the campaign, Trump’s team released a minute-long advert titled “We Fight,” in which a gravelly-voiced narrator examines the “downfall of America”.
As evidence of this so-called downfall, the ad features a clip of Imane Khelif at this year’s Olympic Games as the narrator intones, “Men could beat up women and win medals.”
While the inclusion of an Algerian Olympian in an American political advert is an odd choice, the intended message was clear.
In fact, an October New York Times analysis of AdImpact data found that Republicans have spent over $65 million on anti-trans campaign ads since the beginning of August and the Trump campaign had already spent $15.5 million on anti-trans ads in just three weeks.
In a small silver lining in this US election, Senator Sarah McBride became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.
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