By Mariah Moore
This November presents an opportunity. We will either exercise our rights to build the power of our movement, or politicians and billionaires will get their way in trying to rig the elections in their favor. Knowing our people, I am fully confident we will not just show up, but show out.
Throughout this year, Transgender Law Center has been traveling to states across the country who have anti-trans ballot measures this election (Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, and Washington State). We are getting folks excited for the midterms and training people up on how to hold conversations about why these ballot measures hurt all of us. Measures like the anti-trans sports bans, which we know will harm not just Trans athletes, but Black and Brown cisgender girls who will be subject to even more intense scrutiny over their bodies.
These trainings have brought together people from all walks of life. I was on-the-ground in Arizona just a few months ago for one of their activation trainings that was framed around Black August. It was a reminder of the power we have as Black, Brown, and Trans people—and the power we are building together.
I know that many of us have become disengaged in the political process. We are, quite frankly, tired. We have shown up for others who have not shown up for us. We face a Supreme Court and wealthy politicians who are redistricting our states to dilute our voting power. They’re purging the voter rolls and enacting strict identification laws to stop us from going to the polls. And they are deploying ICE agents and the National Guard to try and intimidate us from showing up on election day.
With all of that, it’s understandable why many people in our community are deterred from engaging in our democracy. And we also know that elections are not the only way we build power. Often, we use elections as an entry point to talk to people about how and why grassroots organizing is so important. It’s a time for us to get out in our neighborhoods and knock on doors to engage with folks, understand what their struggles are, and let them know there are other people who care about those issues too. Real, material change happens when communities come together, organize, and make a shared commitment to creating the conditions where every person can thrive.
This is why billionaires are trying their hardest to put up all these election barriers. They fear what will happen when we get outside, talk to our neighbors, and fully exercise our rights. They know that given the opportunity to come together and have the freedom to make our voices and vote count, we would turn the tables. We would elect people who actually represent us and our vision for the future; the systems we currently live under would be reimagined into something that would allow us all to thrive; and we would defeat every single anti-trans ballot measure because liberation for Trans people is liberation for everyone.
The thing is, these aren’t just lofty dreams. We are seeing change happen in real-time right before our eyes. There are Black Trans leaders like Jaelynn Scott, a dear friend of mine who is now running to become a State Representative in Washington State. Her campaign is one of possibility—the possibility for a future where our communities are housed, safe, and have what they need to thrive.
We need more people like Jaelynn who are willing to offer themselves up for public service. People who have the lived expertise and knowledge to implement community-based solutions and dream bigger than the current system we’re living under. We can and deserve to be decision-makers in every space and in every part of our government, from local school boards and city councils to state and federal legislatures. And we also deserve to live in a society that takes care of each other to ensure every person, no matter their identity, has what they need to belong as themselves.
This November, I want all of us—Black, Brown, immigrant, queer, and Trans—to lean into what is possible when we come together and support one another. This election is not just about the next two years. It is about strengthening our movement through relationship building, exercising our ability to organize, and cultivating Trans power that will shape the next generation of leaders, agitators, and changemakers.