Last night, Senate Democrats unanimously stopped the transgender athlete sports ban from advancing to the floor for a vote. They held the line at last, and did it in defense of one of the nation’s single most persecuted minorities. If you have a Democratic senator (or two), call or e-mail to tell them you appreciate this, and that you’d like to hear them stick up for transgender folks even more, regardless of what the messaging consultant dipshits have to say. I am going to ring Fetterman’s people shortly. I’m pleasantly surprised.
Not even Fetterman?! I should send that lummox a fuckin’ fruit basket.
— Rose Judson (@rosejudson.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Also, I thought the novelty of learning I was on the same side of an issue as Bloody Bill Kristol—a thing that has happened many times in the Trump Era—had long ago worn off. But no:
Stand with trans Americans. You don’t have to understand everything about the transgender experience to know that Trump’s acts of humiliation and dehumanization are unjust and dangerous.
www.thebulwark.com/p/stand-with…
— Bill Kristol (@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 2:14 PM
(The actual article is by Marc Solomon.)
The Senate Democrats did the right thing here. Encourage them to keep doing it.
Baud
This was on sports, too, which is probably the trans issue we’re weakest on in terms of public opinion.
Chief Oshkosh
This is a good thing. My family is savoring it.
Here’s hoping for more to come. And yes, call your Senators. If they’re Dem, to thank them. If they’re Reptilian, to tell them them “Fuck off asshole. Die in a fire.”
Boy, THAT took a turn (our nerves are pretty frayed over this issue…)
Butch
From the blog Erin in the Morning:
“Democratic Senators Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Peter Welch of Vermont, as well as Republicans Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, did not vote for reasons unknown.”
Rose Judson
@Chief Oshkosh: It sounds like you are in the same boat as a few members of my extended family (parents of trans kids).
If I get a minute later, I’ll ring McCormick’s office and tell him to fuck off for you. Least I can do.
Lobo
Encouraging Action:
Please thank your Senators. Also let your representatives know about this: Trump’s Plan for a permanent shutdown through an EO(From TPM).
Steve LaBonne
How I wish I still had Sherrod Brown to thank.
tam1MI
@Butch: Slotkin may be busy prepping her SOTU rebuttal for tonight.
Betty Cracker
No Democratic senators to thank but I will add “fuck off, asshole” and “die in a fire” to the talking points for my next call to Senators Scott and Moody. Kudos to Team Donk in the senate for denying cloture.
Baud
rodwell
Call both mine senators (Andy Kim and Corey Booker) to thank them for their vote. I just sent it to voice mail. We need to constantly encourage our elected officials, so they know we have their back.
dmsilev
@Baud: Whoever it was should have used a chainsaw instead. I believe that’s the Musk-approved method.
Baud
@dmsilev:
Taking a chainsaw to an electrified facility seems ill advised.
TONYG
@Chief Oshkosh: That’s right. I think that the full phrase is “Die in a fire, in a Tesla whose doors won’t open due to idiotic design.”. Somewhat less catchy though.
TONYG
@Baud: Maybe. But Tesla shit seems to frequently catch fire spontaneously.
Butch
@tam1MI: I didn’t think of that. I wasn’t really being critical – I just thought it was good information.
Cheryl from Maryland
Thanked my Senators, Van Hollen and Alsobrooks re this vote and asked them to wear an armband or similar with Ukrainian colors tonight if they attend the SOTC (not going to reject them if they choose to go). I’m an old and, while cisgender, have always been non conforming re appearance, interest in sports, and attitude. My late spouse was totally into me. I hate this current “gender” cultural policing of everyone.
ArchTeryx
@Baud: Isn’t if you use a nonconductive/teflon chain, but noooot many average joes have access to that kind of equipment. Whoever they are, carry on setting fire to them.
Tim C.
@TONYG: Owner of a Chevy Bolt here. It also went though a fire problem. The difference is Chevy made things right by figuring out the issue, swapping out battery packs for free, and the issue was solved. Tesla is…. not handling things in the same way.
frosty
Just called Fetterman to thank him. Voicemail, of course.
laura
Kudos for Senate Dems who collectively stopped this Bill in its tracks, but it is merely one battle in the ongoing “show us your pussy” war.
Ohio Mom
@Steve LaBonne: Me too.
matt
@Baud: vulnerable to credit card skimmers too
PST
Given that two democrats and two republicans failed to vote, they may have had pairing agreements that allowed them to be absent without consequences. I hope so, since I want to think well of Slotkin and Welch.
beckya57
Called Murray’s last night to thank her for this and for declining to attend tonight’s spectacle. Will call Cantwell’s tonight.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
Done (Bennet and Hickenlooper). Also encouraged them to continue pushing back on anti trans legislation.
A Ghost to Most
My Senators and Rep are doing just fine. I see no reason to badger them. Especially Petterson, who just had a baby.
Baud
@A Ghost to Most:
You’ll never make it as a telemarketer with that attitude.
(You realize that its their staff that does all the work fielding calls, right?)
MattF
Evidently, the R Senate leadership thought Dems could be stampeded into doing the wrong thing. Nice to hear otherwise.
Chief Oshkosh
@Rose Judson: Much appreciated. :)
Chief Oshkosh
@Betty Cracker: Excellent. Sounds like we’ve started a trend.
Baud
@MattF:
Or they just wanted a show vote, knowing it would fail.
Dems did that too, although heightening the contradictions never really worked for us.
H.E.Wolf
Thank you for the reminder to call and thank Democrats on this issue! Done and done.
My US Rep has also been a voice of leadership on this topic, so I called and said thanks there as well.
A Ghost to Most
@Baud: I gave up on public facing jobs decades ago. I was always the guy in the back, making things and fixing things.
JML
God, it’s still weird to be on the same side as Bill Kristol.
But just because he’s a right wing reactionary douche on so many issues doesn’t mean he can’t do the right thing from time to time. and he’s 100% a Never Trumper. (I’m never going to forget that he’d rather spend all his time ripping democrats and is frequently wrong about so many things, but the enemy of my enemy and all that…)
But good god it’s weird.
Ramalama
Done and done. Left messages (state and DC) for Liz Warren giving her mad props in general and for this blocking of the transgender whatnot sports dealie. Also to urge her, if she’s going to show up for the State of the Onion tonight, to please be there and then walk out in the middle of it.
Thanks for the reminder.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Yes, it’s the wedge. Crackdowns on trans rights (at least going by pre-2025 polling) are very unpopular, but the sub-issues for which they have the most support are anything to do with minors, and anything to do with sports. So the Republicans hit those hard expecting to get bipartisan support, and things could get worse from there on.
I’m struck by how Trump’s EOs just went to the maximum eliminationist position right out of the starting gate–that is not something most people were on board with, though Trump going there may well have made some of them get on board because they take their talking points from him. Just doing blanket firings of trans people is not popular.
JoyceH
@Tim C.: You know, originally I’d hoped that the boycotts and protests would damage Tesla, drive the stock price down, etc. But now that’s not enough. I want the company destroyed. Bankrupted, doors shuttered, obliterated.
Tesla is Musk’s largest corporate holding, a significant chunk of his wealth. I don’t want to just teach him a lesson, I want him to be ruined, in case other billionaires start thinking that what he’s doing looks like fun.
And BTW, what the heck is wrong with Musk? Put USAID through the wood chipper? USAID feeds the starving and heals the sick – what is it about that mission that makes Musk so freakin’ ANGRY?
Matt McIrvin
@JoyceH: USAID opposed apartheid in South Africa and is also the subject of right-wing conspiracy theories somehow connecting it to COVID being a Chinese bioweapon. Those are probably the main reasons.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Betty Cracker:
Makes you wonder what category of response that’s put under by the staffer taking the call. :)
French Onion Soup
@Matt McIrvin:
They were also looking at Starlink IIRC.
Rose Judson
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: “Qualified praise.” These are Florida GOPers, remember.
zhena gogolia
Called Murphy — voicemail full in DC, left a voicemail in Hartford. Called Blumenthal in DC and got a person!
Jay
France, still with the old ways,……………………………
https://electrek.co/2025/03/03/a-dozen-tesla-cars-burned-at-store-arson-is-suspected-amid-global-protests/
JoyceH
@Matt McIrvin: Huh – is Musk pro-apartheid? Has he ever said anything about it?
Jay
@JoyceH:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/26/elon-musk-peter-thiel-apartheid-south-afric
Musk is a soutpiel, Afrikanner slang for “salt dick”. It refers to ‘Englishmen” who have one foot in South Africa and one foot in the Atlantic. They came to South Africa to make money off the slavery that was Apartheid, (Musk’s Dad) and left as soon as Apartheid was ended.
Sister Golden Bear
Thank you for highlighting this Rose. And please thank (or harangue) your senators as appropriate. Also, please let them know you’re opposed to throwing trans people out of the military and ask them to speak out against this was well. After all we’re gonna need a full-strength fighting force for invading Canada, Greenland, Panama, and Mexico. /s
azlib
@JML:
Kristol is more a libertarian and that particular political persuasion should always oppose this kind of bill.
sauron496
Not being a good impromptu speaker, I write down what I plan to say and just try to read it out loud when I make the call. Here’s the message I left Senator Schiff today.
I thanked him for the vote against the transgender athlete ban in a separate call.
WaterGirl
@Baud: And they are surely getting calls from asshole MAGAs, so it’s important to run up the numbers on our side.
sauron496
BTW, I’ve settled on calling the muskrat org by the initials rather than either the full name or the meme word — no cuteness, and no mention of the word “efficiency” where it doesn’t belong, just a cold, unfeeling initialism wrecking ball just like the org itself. Plus, you can consistently prepend “misnamed” to it.
Gloria DryGarden
@Sister Golden Bear: oh ! A terrible thought just flashed. We hit some dust bowl type depression, as discussed today. And nearly the only job left, is to work for the military. So all this is prerecruitment, prior to these bizarre invasions.
i really hope this is a very wrong guess, in the horror prediction genre. Please may I be wrong!
sorry!
meanwhile, of course let anyone who desires to work in the military continue, or join up. No matter their gender, or orientation, or status. This dei crap seems to defy the concept of competence.
Gloria DryGarden
@sauron496: your comment and phone script, #48, belongs in watergirl collection of sidebar letters and scripts. Thanks for sharing
YY_Sima Qian
Yes! This is what we need from Congressional Dems. Through up as many procedural hurdles as they can, delay, obstruct, burn through the legislative calendar. They may fail most of the time, but they have to try, & be seen trying.
A Ghost to Most
The fascists may be afraid of town halls, but I just got an invite to a town hall by Rep. Petterson. She’s more useful than Ed Perlmutter ever was.