“I think that many of the strategies and tactics that we employed over the last five years, that they didn’t work in staving off the regression.”
Biological male Rep. Sarah McBride admitted that transgender activists' strategy of “shaming and blaming” and cutting off relationships with opponents has failed, while blaming a “well-funded, well-coordinated, right-wing, regressive movement” for pushing public opinion “backwards.”
“I think that many of the strategies and tactics that we employed over the last five years, that they didn't work in staving off the regression,” McBride admitted..
She said those tactics included “a strategy of shaming and blaming” as well as “a strategy of cutting off conversation, and in many cases, cutting off relationships.” McBride, the first transgender member of Congress, made the comments while talking on the declining support for transgender idologiolgy and other issues. She said public support is now weaker than it was several years ago.
“Support on individual issues facing the trans community, on individual policies around trans rights, by every objective metric, is worse today than it was five years ago,” McBride said. She also said that while some transgender-related policies still maintain majority support, support for them has declined compared with four or five years ago.
“There is no question that a well-funded, well-coordinated, right-wing, regressive movement has successfully pushed public opinion backwards,” McBride said.
But McBride also coneceded that the tactics used by her own side may have contributed to that shift. “I think none of those strategies work,” she said. “And they not only didn't work, I think they often created even more space for those well-funded right-wing efforts to advance their regressive priorities.”
“If I was speaking to an ally right now, the number one thing I would say is, we need you to speak up and we need you to stay in conversation with people who aren't on our side,” she said.
“You might not say everything perfectly. It's okay. It's okay not to get everything right,” McBride said. “It's okay to be imperfect. You don't have to be the perfect ally.”
McBride also came to the realiziation that cutting people off can actually prevent them from changing their views. “When you shut down conversation and when you cut people off, even with the best of intentions, you are eliminating the possibility for that person to change their behavior and grow,” she said.
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