| | | | |  | | By Jael Holzman | With help from Brakkton Booker, Rishika Dugyala, Steven Overly and Teresa Wiltz
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Becky Smith, Executive Director of Iowa Safe Schools, holds a transgender flag behind the signing ceremony for an Iowa bill prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports on March 3. | Kelsey Kremer/The Des Moines Register via AP | Howdy Recasters, this is Jael! I'm a reporter from POLITICO'S E&E News who covers mining as well as gender politics, and I'll be your host today. As the war in Ukraine rages on, displacing millions, President Joe Biden announces a ban on Russian oil imports, the Supreme Court decides not to block new congressional maps in battleground states and the Senate votes unanimously to make lynching a federal hate crime. But first, we kick things off with a look at unlikely allies. A new American culture war is brewing, this time over health care for transgender children — and in this battle, two disparate groups are forging an unusual alliance. Religious conservative activists have moved on to focusing on trans kids after losing the legal battle over same-sex marriage. They have been aided by a rising anti-trans movement on the left, referred to by some as "trans-exclusionary radical feminists" or TERFs, who believe gender is immutable and biological — and that trans people shouldn't be legally recognized. Conservative outlets, including Fox News, in the past few years began showcasing people from the "anti-trans radical feminists" arena, a fringe movement in the U.S. with a far more popular contingent in the United Kingdom . (Even media figures like podcast host Joe Rogan — not exactly a religious conservative — are spotlighting prominent figures in the feminist anti-trans movement.) This isn't the first time feminists and religious conservatives, normally diametrically opposed on social issues, have joined forces. Activists like Andrea Dworkin worked with religious conservatives to rally against pornography in the 1980s , arguing that it was degrading to women. Similarly, some feminists have campaigned against the decriminalization of sex work.
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The Rev. Milo Grant, right, of University Baptist Church, listens at a rally in support of transgender children and their families in Austin, Texas, on March 2. | Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP | But here's what's different today: Unlike those earlier, 20th-century collaborations, these two groups are making significant political gains on the legislative front. Already, multiple states including Idaho and Iowa have passed laws curbing participation by transgender people in school athletics, arguing that such legislation is needed to protect female athletes. Most recently, proponents have endorsed a directive from Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to prosecute parents for child abuse if they pursue gender-affirming medical care for their trans children — which has already led to an investigation into a state employee with a 16-year-old transgender daughter. In a letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Abbott said the agency was "responsible for protecting children from abuse." Last week, he tweeted, DFPS will "refer for prosecution any such abuse."
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| This runs counter to volumes of studies that show trans people, meaning individuals who no longer identify as their sex assigned at birth, should have the option to consider social and medical transitioning, especially if they suffer high distress from that gender-sex disconnect. Social conservatives and some feminists believe treatment options should not be given to children, pointing to the number of kids known as "detransitioners," who transitioned medically only to later regret it and revert to their sex assigned at birth. (Trans advocates argue relatively few trans kids end up detransitioning.) To trans people, this raises an existential question: Will this new axis of political power succeed in making an all-out assault on transgender people that will likely grow only more intense ahead of the November midterm elections? Ari Drennen, LGBTQ program director at Media Matters for America, a progressive nonprofit that tracks misinformation in media, said it's important to understand the anti-trans "bridge" between the left and the right. Religious conservatives, she says, are using a fringe group to look bipartisan. But the presence of feminists in the argument gives the issue political cover that it might not warrant: Drennen points to polling that shows a majority of Democratic voters support giving health care to transgender people. Some backlash against the anti-trans movement has begun. In Texas, a talk led by an anti-trans GOP candidate for state House was shut down by students chanting, "FUCK these fascists!"
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Indiana state Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, left, speaks during debate with Sen. Stacey Donato, R-Logansport, about a bill Donato sponsored that would ban transgender women and girls from participating in school sports on March 1. | AP Photo/Tom Davies | But some polls, like one Gallup poll released in May 2021, show a majority of Americans oppose allowing transgender athletes to compete in sports. That, Dennen argues, is an "unfortunate" result of conservative messaging. "The right-wing media has been very focused on fear-mongering and messaging medical misinformation about trans health care," Drennen said. "And people are seeing it." Brynn Tannehill, a trans writer and activist, told The Recast that the "unholy alliance" goes back decades. Under President Ronald Reagan, the Health and Human Services Department invited Janice Raymond, a long-time feminist activist and critic of transgenderism, to author its position on the effectiveness of trans health care. The paper was then cited to block gender-affirming care from coverage under Medicare and Medicaid. HHS reversed this decision under President Barack Obama in 2014. Tannehill said:
|  | But after losing the fight over same-sex marriage, the U.S. conservative movement switched gears and began engaging anti-trans feminists. Feminists like Lierre Keith and Jennifer Bilek, have since been featured at events hosted by groups like The Heritage Foundation and Texas Public Policy Foundation. Tannehill stressed that those trying to spot anti-trans activists should understand transphobia is often couched in "reasonable concerns" and arguments like, "'Oh, I think trans youth should be able to transition, but are we pushing them towards it too fast and too hard?'" Clearly, this is an explosive issue — one that we'll be exploring in the weeks and months to come. Stay tuned. All the best,
The Recast Team
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| Power dynamics are changing. With The Recast, you'll get a twice-weekly breakdown of how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy. Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe to the newsletter here.
| | | PROGRAMMING NOTE
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| Since its launch, The Recast has covered how race and identity shape policy and each party's agenda. This Friday, March 11, we're launching our inaugural Power List, naming 40 people and organizations who were at the forefront of reshaping American power in 2021. RSVP in advance to join POLITICO Live on March 16 at 2:30 p.m. ET. Brakkton will be moderating virtual conversations with a select number of individuals from the List to discuss how they are changing "business as usual" in power and politics. We hope to see you there.
| | | ANTI-LYNCHING BILL CLEARS SENATE
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Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., speaks during a news conference about the "Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act" on Capitol Hill in February 2020. | AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File | The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act is on the verge of becoming law. The bill passed unanimously in the Senate on Monday after clearing the House last week with very little opposition. It now heads to President Joe Biden's desk, where he's expected to sign the legislation. The measure, named after a Black teenager who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955 after allegedly flirting with a white woman, federally criminalizes lynching and it carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who co-sponsored the Senate bill along with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), took to Twitter to champion its passage.
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| Booker also heralded it as a bipartisan achievement, tweeting: "The time is past due to reckon with this dark chapter in our history and I'm proud of the bipartisan support to pass this important piece of legislation." On Twitter, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), the architect of the original House bill, talked about the bill's arduous path before it finally cleared both chambers of Congress.
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| "We corrected that historic injustice," he tweeted. "Next stop:@POTUS's desk!"
| | | IN OTHER NEWS.... It's International Women's Day and in an exclusive shared first with The Recast, one organization is out with a new slate of endorsements for candidates running for the House of Representatives. Higher Heights for America PAC, whose mission is to elect progressive Black women to state, federal and local office in the nation's most populated cities, is backing candidates running in battleground states. Below are the endorsements:
- Emilia Sykes (OH-13), a state representative seeking to retain the Democratic seat currently held by Rep. Tim Ryan, who is running for the Senate.
- Alisha Shelton (NE-02) is a mental health therapist who is facing off with Nebraska state Sen. Tony Vargas. The winner will take on incumbent Republican Rep. Don Bacon.
- Valerie Foushee (NC-06), a member of the North Carolina General Assembly who also faces a crowded Democratic primary field that includes "American Idol" alum Clay Aiken.
- Michele Rayner-Goolsby (FL-13), who is looking to fill the seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist, who is running for governor of Florida.
- Summer Lee (PA-18), who is seeking to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle.
- Erica Smith (NC-02) who is seeking to challenge incumbent Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross in the May 17 North Carolina primary.
"The voices of Black women must be included in all places where decisions are being made, most especially when it comes to federal legislation," Glynda Carr, president and CEO of Higher Heights, said in a statement.
| | | ICYMI @ POLITICO
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Phoenix Mercury's Brittney Griner (42) shoots against Chicago Sky's Azura Stevens (30) during the first half of Game 4 of the WNBA Finals in October 2021. | AP Photo/Paul Beaty | Full Court Press — Members of the Congressional Black Caucus met with administration officials at the White House on Monday to discuss American WNBA all-star Brittney Griner, who's currently in Russian custody for allegedly possessing cannabis in her luggage. "She is in a situation that would generate a 10-year sentence," Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) told reporters at the White House on Monday. Watch: Congressional Black Caucus on Brittney Griner: 'We know that we have to move on her situation'
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| High Court Block — The Supreme Court rejected a pair of Republican-led legal challenges to new congressional maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. POLITICO's Steven Shepard reports the move left in place maps that could give Democrats a boost in the midterms. Courting Manchin — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Shcumer (D-N.Y.) unveiled his latest blueprint for jump-starting the party's stalled domestic agenda. As POLITICO's Marianne LeVine points out, a certain Democratic senator recently floated ideas that he could support.
| | | THE RECAST RECOMMENDS A serious treasure trove of Black history — roughly 20,000 items ranging from Muhammad Ali's boxing shoes to Klan memorabilia — resides in the Staten Island home of a 90-year-old retired New York City school teacher. Pixar, that arbiter of animation, finally busts its glass ceiling, with "Turning Red,"directed by Domee Shi — the first female filmmaker to be sole director of one of its movies. "After Yang," a new film directed by Kogonada , tells the story of the life and death of an android-nanny. You've got to watch this New Yorker mini-doc, "We Call Him Super," which profiles a Dominican immigrant's infatuation with QAnon. Kaina, a Venezuelan-Guatemalan singer-songwriter from Chicago , is carrying us through the rest of the week with "Blue," a dreamy collab with Helado Negro.
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| TikTok of the Day: Could you ID Rosa Parks or Malcolm X?
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