In the aftermath of Vermont candidate Christine Hallquist’s historic win for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination this past Tuesday, a gay conservative journalist accused Hallquist of winning due to “transgender privilege.
Wait, what?
Speaking to Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night, homocon Chadwick Moore said, “She can get away with many, many things simply by being transgender.”
“I mean, who knows if that's even how she won this primary,” he added. “But while the entire country is fixated on the fact that she's transgender, nobody knows anything about her policies.”
Professional hater Chadwick Moore sais Christine Hallquist won her primary because of "transgender privilege" and said "they" look "half dead" pic.twitter.com/1iz0K1n24N
— Madeline Peltz (@peltzmadeline) August 16, 2018
It’s patently false to claim “nobody knows anything” about Hallquist’s policies and priorities. She’s spent the past several months criss-crossing the state sharing her ideas on addressing poverty, promoting renewable energy and fighting climate change, spotlighting economic development in the state’s rural areas, raising the minimum wage, working toward single-payer health care, and reworking the school funding structure, as well as empowering LGBTQ Vermonters.
Whether you consider the various “bathroom bills” being introduced in multiple states meant to keep trans people from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity, or the Trump administration’s attempts to keep transgender service members from serving in the U.S. military, the idea of “transgender privilege” is laughable.
LGBTQ advocates and politicians were not down with Moore’s claim of “transgender privilege.”
On Twitter, folks began trending the hashtag #transgenderprivilege, attempting to spotlight the violence and discrimination that transgender Americans face on a daily basis.
#TransgenderPrivilege is watching a bunch of cis people discuss if you deserve to have basic human rights and not being allowed to have a say in the conversation.
— Gabby (@ItsYaGurlGabby) August 16, 2018
#TransgenderPrivilege is planning your entire day around knowing when it will be safe to use the bathroom
— Mel Stone (@MelStoneMusic) August 16, 2018
#TransgenderPrivilege is being told that you don’t exist even though you’re standing right in front of them.
— Amy (She/Her) (@AmyGotBeauty) August 16, 2018
#TransgenderPrivilege is people suddenly starting to use the wrong pronouns for you as soon as they learn you're trans, even though they never had a problem gendering you correctly before.
— AKA Horus Cheston (@ChromiumJones) August 17, 2018
#TransgenderPrivilege is a Black trans woman celebrating if she makes it past age 35 #BlackTransLivesMatter
— Monica Roberts (@TransGriot) August 16, 2018
A study by the National Center for Transgender Equality found in 2015 that 46% of trans folks had been the target of verbal assault in the past year.
Additionally, 30% said they had been fired or denied a promotion for being transgender.
And one in ten trans respondents admitted to having been physically assaulted by family members.
Does this sound like “privilege” to you?
Annise Parker, former mayor of Houston and now President of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, addressed the ludicrous idea of “transgender privilege” in a statement which read, in part:
“For two cisgender white men on Fox News to bemoan ‘transgender privilege’ in a conversation about one of the few openly trans candidates in the entire nation requires extraordinary ignorance, at best.
“Christine was the chief executive of a well-respected energy utility company for more than 12 years and traveled the entire state sharing with voters her progressive vision for Vermont.
“They claimed Vermont primary voters know nothing beyond her gender identity while in fact the opposite is true – voters chose Christine because of her experience and positions, not because of her gender identity, and it is an insult to Vermont voters to say otherwise.
“To say trans candidates have ‘privilege’ is simply these two pundits spewing nonsense and hate – there are only 13 trans people in elected office nationwide, hardly a privileged group.”
