In commemoration of the upcoming Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV), President Joe Biden issued a statement praising trans people’s contributions to society and describing actions his administration has taken to counter transphobic bullying and extremism. Additionally, many members of Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also issued their own statements affirming that community health depends on supporting trans people too.

“Transgender Americans are part of the fabric of our Nation,” Biden wrote in his statement. “Whether serving their communities or in the military, raising families or running businesses, they help America thrive. They deserve, and are entitled to, the same rights and freedoms as every other American, including the most fundamental freedom to be their true selves.”

  • Funderpants @lemmy.ca
    28725·
    8 months ago

    Anyone telling you both sides same are either a bad actor or so incredibly privelleged that they can just not care about this kind of thing.

    • TheKMAP@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      2429·
      8 months ago

      The problem isn’t that they are the same. The problem is one side is so bad that the other can do whatever they want, because “at least I’m not the other guy and first-past-the-post means you better fall in line and vote for me in November”.

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
        5415·
        8 months ago

        Which is why it’s a shame that Biden said “trans people are disgusting and we really should execute all of them, but we won’t because it’s unconstitutional”

        Oh wait, what? He didn’t say that? He made the greatest show of public support a President has ever made? Huh, curious. Anyway, let’s talk more about how bad Joe Biden is.

      • jve@lemmy.world
        6·
        8 months ago

        problem is biden did SO MUCH fucked up things to so many lgbt that he could keep keep trying to overcompensate for the rest of his life and still not even budge the karma scale.

        What did he do?

          • jve@lemmy.world
            2·
            8 months ago

            It’s not a great track record, for sure.

            tldr: biden is a 2-faced politician

            Sadly this bit is just redundant.

            That said, when going with “what’s popular” happens to align with what’s right, that’s gotta be worth something.

            I’m a 90s kid, so I grew up calling my friends all sorts of homophonic slurs. I’ve told some racist jokes in my day, thinking I was edgy.

            None of this affected public policy, but I’ll say for sure my views have changed a lot over the last few decades.

            Can we say for sure that bidens not just a “fair weather ally?” No I suppose not, but a fair weather ally is still an ally.

            • chingadera@lemmy.world
              1·
              8 months ago

              What’s popular? That’s literally what I want from a politician and nothing else. That is democracy defined.

    • bumphot
      210·
      8 months ago

      They are not the same but they are almost the same. Identical on most important issues such as genocide, police power, prisons, wealth inequality,etc.

      They just pick controversial topics that they know will divide people, so they can make us vote for them so the other side won’t win, while both couldn’t care less about anything but money in their pockets.

    • Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world
      3344·
      8 months ago

      You know, usually when I read “both sides are the same”, it’s a blue conservative like you trying to make people critical of the Democratic party seem unreasonable.

      Both sides are capitalist and conservative, but there are differences for sure. Dont you want more differences?

      If you wanna really shut up those people bitchhing from the sidelines, the best way to do so is to put them in the game! Force them to show us how to do things since it’s so easy and they have it figured out.

      Switching away from first past the post voting allows people to vote for who represents them best while still counting their vote against those they dont want to win. Just search for videos on FPTP voting if you want an explanation on how and why the spoiler effect exists.

      Electoral reform is possible in each individual state (for now), we dont need federal reform! Maine and Alaska have already passed electoral reform.

      Republicans are moving to make alternative electoral systems illegal in their states. Republicans LOVE first past the post voting. Just sbsolutely adore it. Why would you want to use the same voting system republicans want?

      So what’s the hold up blue states?

      Consider starting a campaign to change how we vote in your own state! Force our representatives to compete with fresh outside ideas. We deserve the best representation, not excuses.

      • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
        1120·
        8 months ago

        HOW was this downvoted.

        every time I argue that we should vote third party to move the Democratic party left, people tell me that instead we should focus on electoral/voting reform. And then someone suggests it and gets downvotes.

        it’s almost as if people don’t really care 🤔

        • laverabe@lemmy.worldEnglish
          14·
          8 months ago

          Voting 3rd part has the opposite effect. Republicans voted 3rd part in 92 to shift policy and lost the presidency for 8 years, and the appointment of 2 lifetime supreme court justices.

          • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
            38·
            8 months ago

            But long term it worked … just look at where conservatives are now. The populist movement is stronger than ever.

            • Asafum@feddit.nl
              7·
              8 months ago

              That’s thanks to propaganda outlets. Fox news going absolutely bat shit insane over the last 15-20 years has done a lot of heavy lifting in that regard :(

            • laverabe@lemmy.worldEnglish
              6·
              8 months ago

              That has nothing to do with elections and everything to do with the direction news media has taken. Outrage sells, reasonable politics not so much.

        • dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          52·
          8 months ago

          I get why people are so freaked out about voting third party, especially when mass political actions like voting don’t seem to handle nuance well. So advocating a simple slogan like “vote third party” might be irresponsible, but people seem almost irrationally afraid of third party voting in contexts where it should be entirely rational to vote third party.

          For example, in a swing state it’s clearly useful to vote for the Lesser Evil (in recent U.S. elections that would be the Democrats, of course). But in states where there is a supermajority and there is almost no chance the state will flip, for example California which will certainly go to the Democrats or Arkansas which will go Republican, voting third party becomes helpful because it might enable the third party to receive federal funding.

          There are various objections I have considered to this strategy, the one I think that comes up immediately is that if you vote third party it takes a vote that might otherwise contribute to changing the status of a state as stronghold or swing state, basically those margins matter and you should always be pushing the margin even if not likely to make a difference (just on the slim chance it does make a difference).

          In that instance I think it’s just a matter of weighing the good: does the good from voting for the third party justify the slight risk of not being part of an unexpected shift in votes? This is clearly contextual, see recent upsets in Georgia (who went to Biden in 2020) and Pennsylvania (who went to Trump in 2016). I think the responsibility is on the voter to research their state demographics and those probabilities and make a decision. If you want to do less work, sure, just vote for the Lesser Evil.

          What I don’t understand is the kind of blind dogmatism that refuses to acknowledge that there even could be reasons to vote third party, and that doing so is wrong a priori.

          • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
            22·
            8 months ago

            Frankly, because people are stupid and can’t handle nuance. Know your audience. In a downthread conversation between a small group of people like you who acknowledge the basic strategy of voting blue no matter who in a swing state, it’s fair to discuss the nuance.

            But most people on Lemmy cannot handle that level of nuance. They’re dumb and ill-informed. They need to be told to vote Dem, because if we prevaricate and say “well, if you’re in a safe state” they (and foreign agitators) will take that and run with it to try to convince ALL Democrats tp vote 3rd party.

        • hark@lemmy.world
          56·
          8 months ago

          Because you’re supposed to follow the script of pretending that democrats are saving democracy and that you should vote blue even if poo. The reality is that democrats are only interested in saving the current power structure, we already don’t have a democracy, both parties do in fact serve the rich first and foremost, and guaranteeing your vote no matter what will not cause the democrats to change their policies. These should be obvious to anyone paying any attention. I wonder if these people lived through the Bush Jr years where democrats were screaming about how bad he was (correctly so), but after he was out of office they continued many of his policies (corporate bailouts, his wars, maintained tax cuts for the rich, etc) and worked to rehabilitate that war criminal’s image.

          Yes, republicans are worse, but democrats use that to their advantage to never significantly improve things. It’s the classic good cop, bad cop routine. They’re still cops and they’re both on the same team working against you.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      2145·
      8 months ago

      both sides same

      Once side does some weak tea pandering in a Facebook post while the other disenfranchises 10,000 newly registered voters to rig a Constitutional Amendment vote.

      The solution, as always, is to vote harder. And if we catch you showing disappoint while on your way to the election booth, we reserve the right to blame you for our clown car of corporate flak losers falling flat in the latest round of gerrymandered and voter caged elections.

      • FrostyTheDoo@lemmy.world
        3014·
        8 months ago

        Creating a national day of visibility == pandering on Facebook. It’s an official act and statement by the president of the United States that acknowledges and shines a light on the struggle of what is currently one of our most oppressed and murdered social groups.

        These people really just can’t let someone say “hey maybe Joe Biden is obviously the better option to vote for.” It just really can’t be left alone without someone making a comment like the one I’m replying to right now. I see it in every thread

          • FrostyTheDoo@lemmy.world
            3·
            8 months ago

            My point is that Biden’s stance on trans rights is objectively better than Trump’s and therefore saying both sides are the same on this issue is just ignorant or bad faith discussion. I agree Biden could do better than he has. I’d still vote for him over trump in November if those are my only options.

        • eldavi@lemmy.ml
          43·
          8 months ago

          These people really just can’t let someone say “hey maybe Joe Biden is obviously the better option to vote for.” It just really can’t be left alone without someone making a comment like the one I’m replying to right now. I see it in every thread

          that’s because you’re either missing or dismissing the context of biden’s 2-faced behavior. he was one of the worst anti-lgbt polictians we’ve ever had in the modern era and it’s only recently that he’s switched sides once it became clear that screwing over lgbt wasn’t popular anymore just to get votes.

          • FrostyTheDoo@lemmy.world
            3·
            8 months ago

            Wait, you mean he has evolved over time on the issue you’d like him to evolve on? Fuck him completely?

            I said it in another comment, I agree Biden could do better on this topic. I also agree there are other candidates I’d rather vote for than Biden. But if we’re talking about Biden vs Trump, both sides are not the same, and it’s dangerous to several different communities to suggest so.

            • eldavi@lemmy.ml
              12·
              8 months ago

              Wait, you mean he has evolved over time on the issue you’d like him to evolve on? Fuck him completely?

              biden didn’t evolve; he switched once he realized that it was no longer popular to hate lgbt so he could get more votes

              I said it in another comment, I agree Biden could do better on this topic. I also agree there are other candidates I’d rather vote for than Biden. But if we’re talking about Biden vs Trump, both sides are not the same, and it’s dangerous to several different communities to suggest so.

              you’re the only one saying that both sides are the same; not me.

              • FrostyTheDoo@lemmy.world
                2·
                8 months ago

                I won’t make claims to know why his stance has changed, I’ll leave the assumptions to you. All I know is him recognizing the trans day of visibility is an objectively positive outcome, and it wouldn’t happen under Trump.

                You seem to be confused, as this whole time my point has been that both sides are not the same. I’m glad you agree with me on that.

                • eldavi@lemmy.ml
                  12·
                  8 months ago

                  the reason(s) why he’s switched speaks to to heart of whether he’s actually pro lgbtq and how much different, if at all, he is than trump on this issue.

                  biden anti-lgbtq body of work is literally decades long where other contemporary politicians were and are still not and it makes sense to question his genuineness since he’s very much in need of votes in this election and only changed his tune when it benefited him politically.

    • index@sh.itjust.works
      1143·
      8 months ago

      Bad actors usually work for the government and if there’s anything the government is pressuring you to do is not voting for parties that aren’t part of the government (red or blue). If there’s anyone privileged here i would point my finger at americans, people getting bombed in gaza or in the middle east don’t even get to decide if they can live the day or not. Let’s not play the politicians game anyway, turning people against each others is one of their oldest trick in the book. If there’s anyone actually privileged in this world it’s them

    • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
      26104·
      8 months ago

      I’m a trans person and I don’t appreciate my identity being used to justify voting for someone who literally TODAY sent more weapons to Israel to bomb Palestinians with.

        • TheKMAP@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
          83·
          8 months ago

          When can we start voting for someone good instead of merely less bad? How do we get to that point?

          • VoterFrog@lemmy.world
            5·
            8 months ago

            I would think it would take 4 back to back presidential election wins by the Democratic party. Maybe 3 if it included wipeouts of Republicans in Congress and at the state level. No party can survive being out of power for that long without changing and shifting towards were voters are and that leaves the Democrats room to shift left to solidify that flank.

            We’ve already had 1. We’re on the cusp of a possible second. That means we could be 4 years from a complete collapse of the Republican party, if people were actually serious about creating a real leftist movement in this country. That’s because winning is how you affect change. A loss just tells politicians that they need to be more like the winner.

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
              4·
              8 months ago

              The California model. Render Republicans impotent, then you can start enacting real positive changes.

            • TheKMAP@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
              3·
              8 months ago

              That’s a good start, I think. The tricky bit is I think you need thirty years straight of good decisions so that the next generation is fully done “correctly”. Will be harder to abuse the system after that.

              “Be more like the winner” is interesting. Trump is a populist and he was more worried about Bernie than Clinton.

          • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
            3·
            8 months ago

            Gotta get rid of First Past the Post voting. And increase the size of the House. Even then, there can be only one President, so he necessarily won’t be someone you perfectly agree with, he will represent the broader coalition that your party is part of in government. But I think that’s as close as we could get in a Democracy.

          • 𝕱𝖎𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍@lemmy.world
            6·
            8 months ago

            I’m only voting for him because the other option and inaction are death sentences. I don’t like the guy at all and would vote for someone else given the option.

            That said, for all his centrist tendencies he does seem to occasionally cave in to pressure. It just takes time.

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
              61·
              8 months ago

              That moment when doing what your constituents want you to do is “caving to pressure” ugh

              This is a Democracy. Biden was elected to enact the will of the people. If all of a sudden America became fascinated with the color yellow, I would expect him to start wearing yellow pins. If the American people change their minds, our elected leaders should also change their minds, because they work for us.

              • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
                34·
                8 months ago

                we will only continue to get the “lesser evil” guaranteeing that we will eventually get the greater evil anyways

                How does that follow?

                If you keep voting hard enough for the lesser evil every time, you make things less evil. That’s how democracy works.

                Or are you one of those silly people who never votes in the primaries?

                • eldavi@lemmy.world
                  42·
                  8 months ago

                  here’s your strawman-esque argument with another one: lesser evil and evil work towards the same goal; it’s only difference at the speed at which its executed so voting for the lesser evil means that we’ll get there no matter what.

                  • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
                    45·
                    8 months ago

                    Ah, so you’re one of the tinfoil hat Joe Rogan types.

                    Voting for the lesser evil brought us expanded healthcare that saved thousands of lives. It brought us legal recognition of gay marriage. It brought us all the social progress that you’re completely ignoring.

                    "Both sides"ism brought us the end of abortion protections.

                    There is no grand conspiracy to make your life horrible. It’s just one evil party, one good party, and you in the middle refusing to pick because you’re scared of having any agency in your life.

            • hark@lemmy.world
              24·
              8 months ago

              Unfortunately, you’re going to be voting for “not the other option” for the rest of your life since democrats will see that this is the perfect strategy they can use to never have to actually change the status quo.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
          433·
          8 months ago

          condemn anyone who won’t vote to stop a fascist dictator

          Finally standing up to Benjamin Netanyahu and all those Americans who keep voting for him

        • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
          994·
          8 months ago

          Yeah you’re cool with voting in the fascist killing Palestinians, and shitting on people for caring about genocide. Very cool.

            • webadict@lemmy.world
              215·
              8 months ago

              It’s a 10 day old account, they are 100% a bad faith actor, and you know this because they don’t acknowledge any of the ways to push for better treatment of Palestinian civilians. They are using them as a prop to tell people to not vote for Joe Biden (which is its own brand of fucked up privileged), even though Joe Biden is pretty famous for being bullied into better positions. Voting against fascists is, indeed, the right move, and Joe Biden might be a centrist liberal, but he isn’t a fucking fascist.

                • Sylver@lemmy.world
                  132·
                  8 months ago

                  And you are acting in bad faith. You set up a straw man argument so you can bash people for whatever their choice is. If you really meant to have actual discussion, you would. Instead you spout right-wing bullshit about “Biden bad boohoo”

                  You say he is the genocidal one, while he is actively being pushed to change his ways and taking responsibility while correcting the behavior. Slowly but surely. As opposed to the other side, which literally just wants to drop a nuke on the situation.

                  When people call you a bad-faith actor, it’s because you’re acting in bad faith.

                  • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
                    210·
                    8 months ago

                    He literally sent more weapons to Israel yesterday. You’re dumb as hell if you think he’s going to push back against the mainstream Democratic opinion that is in support of Israel. Only way to convince Democrats to change is to stop voting for them.

            • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
              357·
              8 months ago

              I’m sure you’ve heard all the arguments, if you are curious about my thoughts you can dig through my comment history or do some googling and guess at what they could be.

              • Feddyteddy@lemmy.sdf.org
                103·
                8 months ago

                I think your sphincter is squeezing your neck too tight, and it’s cutting off the circulation to your brain.

                  • Feddyteddy@lemmy.sdf.org
                    11·
                    8 months ago

                    That’s so nice of you to say! I’m quite proud of it. It just came to me out of nowhere for this comment. By all means, use it as if it were your own.

          • webadict@lemmy.world
            233·
            8 months ago

            Please list the descriptors that show Joe Biden is a fascist, because I’m looking at Umberto Eco’s and I see… maybe 1, if you reach a bit: “appeal to the middle class”

            You probably fall under at least 4 though.

            • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
              516·
              8 months ago

              he’s funding a genocide, is the leader of a country that has one of the proportionally largest prison populations in the world that are used as slaves, the U.S. is a police state who spies on its own citizens and regularly just bombs/assassinates activist movements. Any president not acting to dismantle that is fascist.

              shocking that you’re just learning this now, but the United States are the bad guys

              • webadict@lemmy.world
                122·
                8 months ago

                That’s not really a good answer though. Those are policies put in place long before Biden became president, but not only that, you haven’t proposed an alternative. Your current solution is “Don’t vote for Biden” but the outcome is that you either get Biden, a continuation of the status quo at worst, or you get Trump, a continuation of the status quo AT BEST. You can pretend you live in a world where you get a third party candidate, but you don’t.

                Which leaves you in an unfortinate bind, since that makes you a fascist by your own definition. You are trying to push a solution that would make the situation at best the same, and at worst, much, much worse. As you said:

                Any president not acting to dismantle that is fascist

                I assume you would never take an action that would support a fascist. So, how can you argue that in a First-Past-The-Post voting system (and one that defaults to state legislatures if no majority is made), voting for a third party is a viable solution?

                I think you can’t if you are against fascism. You can post links to antifascist movements, organizations, or steps to take, but the American election system is too fucked to argue against the two big parties unless you are ever the optimist, but I don’t think you are if you argue both parties are fascist.

                • hark@lemmy.world
                  24·
                  8 months ago

                  You’re forgetting that biden spent almost his entire career in the senate. He’s part of the political machine that put those policies into place. Things are only getting worse, which is how assholes like trump rise to start with. If things were going great, then a candidate like trump wouldn’t have found a foothold.

                • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
                  313·
                  8 months ago

                  If the Dems lose elections or nearly lose elections because 10% of voters choose a leftist third party, the party will move left to capture those voters. If we keep voting them in as-is, they will have no incentive to change. I am an optimist, actually, because I believe in the capacity for change. The results from the primary elections prove to me that this strategy is viable.

                  • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
                    51·
                    8 months ago

                    You’re forgetting that Democrats losing means Republicans winning. And when Republicans win elections, it pushes the entire country to the right. It happened with Reagan, the Tea Party, and Trump.

                    This approach only spirals us further into far right extremism.

                • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
                  23·
                  8 months ago

                  Idk why your definition of fascism doesn’t include labor camps, war-mongering, and a militarized policing of our own people.

                  • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
                    2·
                    8 months ago

                    Because that’s not fascism. Fascism is hypernationalism and tacit acceptance of political violence to support your goals. Everything you’ve mentioned is usually there with fascist regimes, but it isn’t what makes the regime fascist.

      • TheKMAP@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        63·
        8 months ago

        I think it’s sad that your idea can’t stand on its own, and that you have to say you’re trans to not get down voted.

        • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
          43·
          8 months ago

          oh cool I’m sure The Israel Times is a great resource. Of course Israel is using them lawfully. Nevermind all the actual reports coming out of Palestine of hospitals being bombed.

    • hark@lemmy.world
      24105·
      8 months ago

      Like the privileged Palestinians getting genocided by your centrist idol biden? This is the same biden who said that we need the republican party, by the way. Interesting that someone saying such flowery words about trans people is so strong in his belief that we need a party that is intent on erasing them. You’re complaining about "both sides"ism, but biden is “both sides” the candidate.

      • el_bhm@lemm.ee
        466·
        8 months ago

        Good that the genocide commited on Palestinians is used universally to bash whoever we dont like.
        Or derail any conversation.

        Truly a blessing. Sorry I meant disgusting.

        • EatATaco@lemm.eeEnglish
          153·
          8 months ago

          Seriously, you know it’s a blessing because even as the tide has started to turn and more politicians are speaking out against it…well, now it’s too late so they’re still terrible and all the same.

          • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
            84·
            8 months ago

            Right?? Like, given the way things are trending, there’s a decent chance Biden will cut off aid to Isrsel. And then these fucks will find something else to complain about, because it was never about Gaza. It was about hurting Biden.

            • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
              66·
              8 months ago

              he literally sent more weapons yesterday. You don’t care about genocide, you just want to stay comfy at home and hear about how us poor trans people are finally being accepted 🥺

        • hark@lemmy.world
          717·
          8 months ago

          You know what’s really disgusting? Dismissing genocide. You can’t stand on a platform of morality when you ignore great evils in favor of flowery words. If you don’t want your precious candidate to be bashed for supporting genocide, here’s a brilliant idea: stop supporting genocide.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
          727·
          8 months ago

          People being distracted from the President going online and saying “Trans Rights” by the purely immaterial spectacle of a 9/11’s worth of new dead Palestinians.