1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

I will never vote for a candidate who abandons transgender people as a political strategy. Across the country, states have stripped gender identity from civil rights protections, banned gender-affirming care, banned transgender students from bathrooms, and passed "Don't Say Gay or Trans" laws. Any candidate who responds to that wave of attacks by endorsing anti-trans sports bans isn't taking cultural issues off the table — they're piling on. The consultants selling this approach call it pragmatism. It isn't. Conservatives aren't won over by diet conservatism, and voters like me won't show up for candidates who treat our community as acceptable collateral damage. Nobody is asking for anything except for kids to play soccer with their friends. I need to know, clearly and on the record, that you will stand with transgender people — not signal to their opponents that the attacks are justified.