As 2024 draws to a close, it’s worth taking a look back at the year before we fully move our focus over to panicking about what 2025 is predicted to bring us. It can feel like 2024 was entirely defined by a single 24-hour period and a few million votes. That event was certainly significant, and it has many of us making sure we have documents in order and questioning where we can safely live in the coming months. However, it is not the only thing that happened.
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It’s the last Digging INTO Politics of 2024. Here’s all you need to know, including the Senate’s anti-trans move and some heartwarming news.
The last year was filled with attacks against the trans community, but it was also characterized by the fight back against that hatred. It’s hard to pretend that last year was all sunshine and rainbows, but there were at least a few silver linings among the horror. So, as we prepare for 2025, let’s take stock of the highs, lows, and in-betweens of the past 12 months.
Those we lost this year
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As we remember 2024, it’s important to take a moment to remember those who we lost along the way this year. Trans people are still disproportionately likely to be the victims of violence and the lack of social acceptance (spurred on by hateful transphobes) takes its toll on all of us. A particular mention goes for the memory of Nex Benedict, who suffered extreme anti-LGBTQ+ bullying before dying by suicide. As always, please remember that organizations like The Trevor Project exist and know that you’re not alone.
Record anti-trans bills introduced
Since 2019 the number of anti-trans bills introduced to legislatures across the United States has increased year-on-year. In 2023, we saw a huge increase with 615 bills being introduced compared to 174 in 2022. While 2024 saw a record number of bills introduced, the increase has slowed with the introduction of a (still shocking) 669 bills attacking trans rights to bathroom access, sports, gender-affirming healthcare, and education.
Even one of these bills being passed is too many. They come from a culture of ignorance and hate, and the politicians who sign them into law are attacking some of the most vulnerable people in our community. Whether it’s not being able to use the bathroom at school, participate in team events, or receive the necessary healthcare, any number of these bills passing has a huge and horrifying impact on real children, teens, and adults who just want to live their lives.
That being said, it’s also interesting to note that while these bills were being introduced, they didn’t all pass. Of those 669 bills in 43 states only 48 passed (7.2%). Another 139 are still technically active, but 482 fully failed to pass. By comparison, 87 of the 615 bills from 2023 passed (14.1%).
Bans on gender marker changes
The last year has brought attempts to legislate trans people out of existence. Both the House and the Senate have seen bills introduced specifically trying to redefine male and female as being the only genders that exist, with those being entirely static. That same logic has led to several states limiting trans people’s ability to change the gender marker on their driver’s licenses and other documents.
In Florida, trans people were barred from changing the gender marker on their driver’s licenses with a suggestion made that using a license with a previously corrected gender marker could be cause for an accusation of fraud. In Alabama, a law was upheld that requires trans people to have surgery before their gender marker could be changed (despite that not being something every trans person wants and amounting to coerced sterilization). And in Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton called for the Department of Public Safety to stop approving gender marker change applications, even if the applicant has a valid court order, and instead had their personal details emailed to a specific address. It’s still not clear what might be done with that information, but the possibility of reversing previously corrected licenses has been raised and it makes many people uncomfortable that Texas seems to be making a list of trans people.
The year of the anti-trans ads
While the election itself took place in November, campaign ads were part of the reality throughout the year. The Republicans complained about how much Kamala Harris and the Democrats went on about trans issues that nobody cared about (despite the fact that they really barely mentioned it). Meanwhile, Republicans across the country ran record numbers of anti-trans ads and made it a key part of their campaigns. In the wake of the election, people quickly started trying to blame Harris’ loss on trans matters, but exit polls and surveys around political ads refuted that.
While some voters were swayed by the hate and lies around trans people, the majority of people surveyed said that anti-trans ads weren’t making them vote for Trump. Even the majority of Republican voters would have preferred that trans people were left out of it: they had bigger concerns, and some felt that the ads were mean-spirited. When it came down to it, the biggest impact that these ads had was helping to create a social environment where trans people feel less welcome than we already did.
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The vast majority of voters across all parties said that political parties should focus less on transgender issues.
2024 and trans athletes
The Olympics took place this year (yes, really, that was only six months ago). In the run-up to the international event, sports had been in the public eye in the United States. In particular, through the lens of a fight over whether trans people should be allowed to participate under their correct gender. That was following on from 2023’s trans sports bans, based on claims that trans people have an unfair advantage, even when playing games like chess.
But when it came to the Paris Olympics, conservatives had trans participation on their mind and wanted to attack someone. Strangely, the person they decided to attack was Imane Khelif, a cis woman who competed in boxing. Everyone’s favorite transphobes, JK Rowling and Elon Musk, came to join the fight online and harassed Khelif so much that the boxer turned around and sued them for it. The most immediate result of which was a few blissful days of peace from JKR’s Twitter/X account.
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Some folks have nothing better to do than create trans panic narratives…even around cis people!
In the wake of the Olympics, the United States continued the uncertain push and pull of trans sports bans. In September, New Hampshire and Arizona, courts ruled against the enforcement of trans sports bans. But multiple Republican politicians made the issue a central part of their campaigns, using the misleading assertion that they didn’t want “boys playing in girls’ sports.” Trump himself pushed the line, and after Ted Cruz attacked his Democratic opponent, Colin Allred, over his record, Allred caved and pushed the same transphobic dog whistle line.
One small highlight from the whole matter was Ted Cruz once again highlighting how little these people understand about the issues. In a campaign against “boys in girls’ sports” Cruz used images of the wrestler Mack Beggs. Beggs is a trans man who was forced to compete in the women’s wrestling competitions and is actually a representation of the Republicans forcing women to compete against men.
2024 was delightfully rough on transphobic chaser Mark Robinson
While we’re going to have to talk about Trump in a minute, let’s take a guilty pleasure in some schadenfreude and remember the ongoing saga of Mark Robinson for a moment. Robinson was North Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor and decided to run for Governor. He ran on an anti-trans, anti-abortion ticket. As we’ve come to expect from anti-abortion Republicans, it was revealed that he had paid for his wife to have an abortion some years before. But the more fascinating revelations came from a CNN exposé.
CNN dug into Robinson’s online history and made some truly shocking findings. Robinson’s email address was associated with several accounts across the internet tied to the username “minisoldr”— that will be relevant in a minute. Robinson has denied connection with the accounts, but the evidence tying him to them is strong. Robinson apparently spent a wealth of time in the comment sections of porn sites, where he held discussions about how much he enjoyed “peeping” on women, his love of trans porn (not the words he used), and referred to himself as a “Black N*zi.” The account also espoused a favorable view of slavery and suggested that he’d like it to be reinstated so he could own some.
When November hit, Robinson lost his election to Democratic opponent Josh Stein. Robinson has since filed a defamation lawsuit against CNN. He’s also being fined $35,000 for campaign finance violations that include accepting money from unauthorized donors, receiving donations over the legal limit, and using campaign money for his own personal expenses. And after all of this, and despite his claims that he never made those comments and that those weren’t his accounts, he signed on to a meeting in December using the username… “minisoldr.”
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Trump’s biggest trans lies
Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign was filled with lies. While some focused on fearmongering around immigrants eating pets, plenty were targeted at the queer community. In a claim reminiscent of the urban legend turned Republican talking point about children using litter boxes at schools, Trump repeatedly claimed that kids were going to school and coming back trans. Not only was he pushing the social contagion line, he also wanted people to believe that kids were getting gender-affirming care, including surgeries, all at school and all for free. That’s quite the visit to the nurse’s office. (Usual disclaimer: this isn’t happening, hasn’t happened, and won’t ever happen. Gender-affirming surgeries are vanishing rare and nearly always for cis minors, even aside from the difficulty in accessing affordable healthcare.) This wasn’t just an isolated case either. Trump repeated this lie multiple times in front of Republican figures who acknowledged that it was a lie but praised the misinformation.
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Trump’s latest bizarre claim rivals the urban legend around litter boxes in classrooms.
Trump’s 2024 win
Yeah. Assuming you haven’t been in a coma, you probably know about this. If you have been, I’m so sorry you had to find out this way. There was a lot at stake for the LGBTQ+ community in this election. We have to contend with the fact that people voted for Trump because they are more concerned about the price of groceries than they are about protecting marginalized communities. And now we have to fight everything that we know is coming in 2025 and beyond. Trump has already threatened trans rights with executive actions, and his previous comments about banning same-sex marriage again could come back to haunt us. Especially with his stacked supreme court. The future will be a challenge, but the organizations that will lead the fight are already mobilizing. In the meantime, we just have to keep on being who we are, even if that is an act of rebellion.
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The Brighter side of the 2024 election
While Trump’s win overshadowed the rest of the night, there were some important and historic wins across the United States. Record numbers of openly trans and non-binary people will be sworn into office come January. Zooey Zephyr won re-election for her seat in the House of Representatives in Montana. The win is particularly notable as it comes after the previous legislative session saw Zephyr barred from the House floor. When Republicans voted in favor of a gender-affirming care ban for trans youth, Zephyr told them that they would see “blood on your hands” and took part in the rest of the legislative session from a bench and a snack bar just outside the chamber.
And, of course, Sarah McBride was elected to the House of Representatives, becoming the first openly trans person to serve in the United States Congress. McBride hasn’t even been sworn in yet, but she has already become a target for right-wing hate with the introduction of a new villain, Nancy Mace, who appears to be vying for a Marjorie Taylor Green-esque notoriety. Regardless of the attacks, or how you might feel about McBride’s responses, with the House being Republican-controlled in an era of anti-trans bills, having McBride in Congress will give trans people an historic voice in the room. These are just two of the many important LGBTQ+ victories that took place in the 2024 election.
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Sarah McBride has come under fire for her response to Republican bathroom bills. It isn’t perfect, but she shouldn’t be the target of our ire.
Gender-affirming care at SCOTUS
After the election, a process began that will also have a huge impact on trans youth in the coming years, but we won’t know the results until 2025. The Supreme Court of the United States heard the oral arguments in the case of United States v. Skrmetti. The case is a challenge to a Tennessee law that bans puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy for minors in the state if the treatment is related to gender dysphoria. The vast majority of prescriptions for this care is actually for cis people with precocious puberty or early onset puberty and the Tennessee law singles out trans people only.
Initial reactions to the justices’ responses to the oral arguments were pessimistic about the potential outcome of the case. However, several experts have voiced a more hopeful vision. Erin Reed of Erin in the Morning noted that Justice Amy Coney Barrett seemed surprised by some of the history behind discriminatory laws targeting trans people given by Chase Strangio (the first openly trans lawyer to give arguments before the Supreme Court). Similarly, Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, has suggested that the court might well rule to protect trans youth. However, while the process has started, we have to remain anxious about the possible outcomes until (most likely) the summer of 2025.
It feels like they fit a whole year into the last two months of 2024. The last twelve months have been scary, exhausting, and horrifying. But there have also been reminders of trans joy, and for every story of something awful being enacted there is the story of those who are fighting back. We’re headed into 2025 and there are parts of it that are going to suck. But there will always be those who fight back and lift up those around them.♦
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