Seven 2020 Democrats Celebrate 'Transgender Day of Remembrance' After Ignoring 'International Men's Day'
The top candidates for the Democratic nomination might not have meant to, but they just admitted the United States under President Donald Trump is doing better than they want us to believe.
That’s one takeaway from Wednesday’s slew of social media activity, where seven of the candidates trying to unseat Trump in 2020 took the time to commemorate something called Transgender Day of Remembrance on Wednesday.
As an occasion, it’s tough to argue with — a day to recall the victims of violence directed against individuals because of their sexuality.
But at a time when the headlines are full of a grotesque attempt to impeach the president, the fact that the members of a major American political party are making a big deal about a vanishingly small segment of the population must mean things are going OK overall.
It makes you wonder why they skipped International Men’s Day completely, though.
To be fair, International Men’s Day isn’t marked in red letters on everyone’s calendar, but it’s safe to say that there are a whole lot more men in the world than there are men who think they’re women.
According to Newsweek, the annual Nov. 19 Men’s Day observance has been around since 1999, with the theme this year of “making a difference for men and boys.”
According to the International Men’s Day website, the aims of the day are: “to promote positive male role models;” “celebrate men’s positive contributions to society, community, family, marriage, child care, and to the environment;” “focus on men’s health and wellbeing;” “highlight discrimination against men;” “improve gender relations and promote gender equality;” “create a safer, better world; where people can be safe and grow to reach their full potential.”
Those goals sound laudable enough across the political spectrum (though some liberals would probably blanch at the idea that “discrimination against men” is even possible barring some additional adjective involving skin color), but judging by their social media accounts, Democrats ignored the occasion completely.
It should be no surprise, though, that Transgender Day of Remembrance got a huge shout-out from at least seven of the biggest names in the Democratic field.
As The Hill noted, former Vice President Joe Biden, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren all found time to take note of the day — and implicitly condemn their countrymen in the process.
“On this Transgender Day of Remembrance, we honor the memory of those we’ve lost—at least 22 trans and gender non-conforming people killed this year—and recommit to ridding this hate-filled violence from our society. Everyone deserves to live open and proud and free without fear,” Biden wrote in a Twitter post.
(He obviously wasn’t thinking of Donald Trump supporters who are attacked simply for wearing “Make America Great Again” hats.)
On this Transgender Day of Remembrance, we honor the memory of those we’ve lost—at least 22 trans and gender non-conforming people killed this year—and recommit to ridding this hate-filled violence from our society. Everyone deserves to live open and proud and free without fear.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 20, 2019
Warren, meanwhile, combined shameless pandering with an equally shameless distortion of the English language when she used her tweet to refer to the deaths of transgenders in the United States as an “epidemic.”
On Transgender Day of Remembrance, we #SayTheirNames, and we re-commit to ending this epidemic. #TDoR https://t.co/6mTLM2grTq
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) November 20, 2019
Epidemic?
The Hill noted that 22 transgender individuals have been killed this year. That’s obviously 22 too many. Every death caused by discrimination and hate is a tragedy.
But it’s coming at a time when, by comparison, opiate-related deaths are numbering in the tens of thousands a year.
According to the liberal-leaning Kaiser Family Foundation, there were 47,600 opioid overdose deaths in 2017 — about two-thirds of them involving males. That’s an epidemic, and it’s one hurting men the most.
Comparing misery indicators like that is a grim business — the kind of dehumanizing practice that’s much more up the liberal alley — but 22 of anything in a nation of more than 320 million doesn’t qualify as an “epidemic” by any stretch of the imagination. It’s an exaggeration so blatant that its absurdity could actually hurt the cause it’s aimed at helping.
But for liberals in 2019, transgender issues are a cause celebre, despite the real damage the Democrats’ mistaken loyalty to males-who-think-they’re-females is doing to actual women and girls in the areas of athletics. The contenders are also ignoring the antipathy of the American public to the idea that differences between men and women can or must be erased.
The Democratic contenders are responding to the skewed priorities of their base — and clearly a salute to International Men’s Day would never make a list of Democratic talking points.
It’s easy to see why they’re looking for a wedge issue.
At a time when the economy is roaring, unemployment rates are at or near historic lows — especially for blacks and Hispanics — and when the Trump administration has made progress against barbaric terrorists the Obama White House would never even dream of, Democrats have to reach for whatever ammunition is available.
That’s what the impeachment circus in Washington is about and it’s what the “Transgender Day of Remembrance” tweets are about.
In other words, things are going an awful lot better with Trump in the White House than Democrats or the media want the country to think.
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