“Our lives and our existence are being used as political fodder to ramp up the GOP base, and they’re not coming to our defense,” said Deja Alvarez, a transgender woman who finished third in the Democratic primary in a heavily LGBTQ state legislative district in Philadelphia. With measured responses and occasional capitulation, Democrats like Mills are aiming to avoid getting sucked further into culture wars that serve mostly to galvanize the Republican base.īut as Democrats largely avoid direct confrontations, some LGBTQ people say they feel abandoned. While most Democrats support the rights, safety and visibility of LGBTQ adults and children, they're struggling to counter a barrage of GOP attacks on LGBTQ people, particularly transgender people.
