A hate-filled tsunami made landfall following Donald Trump’s election victory—this one directed at women, transgender people, and, basically, anyone who isn’t cisgender and white.
Floods of “your body, my choice” echoed across social media while violent race-targeted text messages were sent to Black students in high schools and colleges around the country.
And the bigoted bathroom bans that target transgender people have popped up in Ohio and in the halls of Congress.
Following the felon-elect’s win, Ohio became the latest state to enact anti-trans legislation banning K-12 students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identities.
This ban is the largest of its type so far, as it also applies to private colleges and universities.
Additionally, the bill mandates that schools cannot have “all-gender” restrooms or locker rooms aside from single-occupancy or family facilities.
However, Ohio’s new bill, passed by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine the day before Thanksgiving, doesn’t stand alone.
As NBC News reported, several other states have passed similar bills since 2022, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah.
Republican lawmakers, including in Ohio, often cite baseless reports that allowing transgender people to use bathrooms of their choice puts people at physical risk and increases violence. But as NBC News noted, there’s no evidence to support such claims.
In other words, it’s just hate-filled rhetoric to justify bigotry.
The Trump team heavily campaigned on this transphobia, spending more than $21 million in the last month of the campaign on TV ads to tap into this bigotry.
“Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you,” Trump’s ad proclaimed.
The ad, which featured chopped and misconstrued clips from an old Kamala Harris interview, attacked a policy that assisted imprisoned transgender people with gender-affirming care.
What Trump’s ad didn’t include, however, was the part of Harris’ interview in which she points out that Trump followed the same law during his first term in the White House.
Prison policies aside, Trump has historically gone after transgender folks even in his first term — including reinstating a decades-old transgender military ban.
The incoming president and his Vice President JD Vance have also heavily campaigned on rolling back transgender rights after they take office.
On Trump’s website, he vows to “sign a new executive order instructing every federal agency to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age.”
Trump’s actions seem to have given the green light for other transphobic officials, including Ohio’s governor, to create hate and fear-based legislation.
Republicans as a whole dropped $215 million on anti-trans advertising in 2024, according to data obtained by AdImpact and reported on by Washington Post reporter Casey Parks.
Meanwhile, MAGA crony Nancy Mace, the congresswoman from South Carolina, has devoted her time since the election to targeting the first openly transgender member of Congress, Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware. She introduced a bill that would specifically ban McBride from using the bathroom that matches her gender identity in the U.S. Capitol.
GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson immediately gave his support for the bill.
“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” the Louisiana Republican said in a statement.
Despite calling herself “pro-transgender rights” just last year, Mace has devoted herself to her new anti-trans attacks and has repeatedly attacked “mentally ill” transgender people on her social media accounts.
Responding to the legislation seemingly directed at her, McBride said, “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families. Like all members, I will follow the rules as outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them.”
