Anti-trans ad targets Harris and promotes Trump: Advocates question impact

The Sunday Football commercial breaks also led to a series of commercials attacking the vice president. Kamala Harris for supporting the transgender community.

“Kamala supports taxpayer-funded sex change of prisoners,” one advertisements state. “Kamala is for them. President Trump is for you.”

Pro-Donald Trump Groups have poured millions of dollars into airing ads, especially on NFL weekends, according to the data. CNN And ABC News.

The advertisements’ themes do not contradict the former president’s previous messages. Trump has previously criticized Harris’ efforts to protect healthcare for transgender prisoners. In a viral moment on presidential debateTrump said Harris wanted “perform transgender surgeries on illegal immigrants in prison.”

The survey results were released Thursday by the LGBTQ media advocacy group. GLAAD And Terrestrial media showed that the ad had no statistically significant effect on viewers’ choice of candidate or likelihood of voting compared to those who saw an unrelated ad. However, advocacy groups stated that the ad does have harmful effects on the trans community, as study participants who viewed the ad reported that they felt less loyal to the trans community after viewing the ad.

“This demonstrates that attacking the trans community is not just a weak and feckless political strategy, it is a deeply cynical strategy,” David Rochkind, CEO of Ground Media, said in a statement. “This ad weaponizes trans identity to sow fear and division that makes our country less safe for everyone.”

More: Conservative think tank leader calls for charities to be banned from voter registration

Prisoners eligible for health care, including gender-affirming care

As GLAAD previously indicated, Harris said she would provide health care to transgender and nonbinary people who “rely on the government, including those in prison and immigration detention,” according to GLAAD. 2019 ACLU Questionnaire.

Detainees have a legal right to medical care, and every major medical association supports healthcare for transgender people, according to GLAAD.

Harris was pressed on this topic in Fox News Interview with Bret Baier she recently said she would follow the law and noted that Trump followed the law while in office. Trump-appointed Bureau of Prisons officials also provided gender-affirming treatment to some prisoners who requested it. New York Times first reported.

“To be honest, these Trump campaign ads are a little like throwing rocks when you live in a glass house,” Harris said in an interview. Trump’s campaign said he never advocated the surgeries, according to The Times.

Lincoln Project, former Republican anti-Trump groupreleased an ad highlighting this controversy, saying he was “gaslighting America.”

“Trump for him/him, Kamala for us“, the ad says.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Advertising continues harmful misinformation about the transgender community

The transgender community has increasingly become a target of far-right attacks in recent years, leading to hundreds of bills introduced in state and federal legislatures aimed at restricting youth health care, bathroom access and exercise opportunities.

Imara JonesCEO of TransLash Media, said today’s resistance to the trans community began before this election cycle and even before the last election cycle.

“This conversation about transgender people is nothing about what we’ve come to, and it’s an accident that it’s politicized,” Jones told USA TODAY in an interview. “This is what the Christian nationalist movement, which has now moved into the heart of the Republican Party, has been fighting for for a very long time.”

Ideologically it fits with the core idea of control over human bodies, and politically it empowers people, she explained.

She called the politicization of health care for detained people a “sham” because the Trump administration did the same thing. Additionally, she said that is not the crux of the issues transgender people face in this country today.

“I think transgender people are concerned about their safety, which is made much more difficult by these ads,” Jones said, citing an increase in suicidality and hate crimes among transgender people due to widespread transphobic rhetoric. “Transgender people worry about housing, they worry about jobs… I think there are a lot of things that transgender people worry about, and this conversation is not helping.”

The lack of a coordinated counterattack from the other side caught Jones’s eye.

Harris’ campaign declined to comment for this story, but pointed to Harris’ reaction when pressed on the issue in an interview with NBC News.

“I believe that all people should be treated with dignity and respect, period, and should not be vilified for who they are and should not be bullied for who they are,” she told NBC News’ Holly Jackson in an interview on October 22. . “And that has been true for me throughout my career. And that hasn’t changed.”

In a different approach to countering anti-trans advertising, GLAAD is running a trans story telling ad campaign, “Here We Come,” highlighting stories of ordinary transgender people.

Harris and Trump’s track record with the LGBT community

The 2024 elections look like incredibly close race where young votersthe most public LGBTQ generation in history could influence the outcome.

GLAAD, which tracks Trump’s actions affecting the LGBT community, says he has achieved more than 220 “attacks” in speeches, presidential actions and legislative support. One of “20 Key Promises”The GOP platform targets transgender women, promising to keep them out of “women’s sports.” repealing federal abortion rights, GLAAD quotes.

According to the magazine, Harris has more than 65 acts in the LGBTQ community. GLAAD Accountability Tracker. Harris supported same-sex marriage back in 2004 and refused to defend the same-sex marriage ban while serving as California’s attorney general. Although she denied gender-affirming care transgender prisoners, she worked to change internal policies, The lawyer reported this. As vice president, she spoke about how anti-LGBTQ violence in Guatemala is a leading cause of immigration, criticized anti-LGBTQ legislation in Florida and supported the trans community on Transgender Day of Visibility.

Contributing: Joey Garrison

Kinsey Crowley is a senior news reporter for USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley.