I think it’s pretty fucking obvious what their problem is. They don’t want the newfound visibility that trans people have gained over the last few years to present a visible option for their kids and grandkids. They didn’t care about trans people years ago because they were largely in the shadows. Now that the language and culture around trans people is becoming visible to the average American, it has become the perfect shibboleth for the right wing to rally around no different than when the Christian right pulled abortion out of thin air as a rallying point to drive right wing voters. Don’t want your daughter to embarrass the fuck out of you at social functions when they introduce themselves as Xe/Xer/Xim? Vote Republican. That’s the point of the manufactured outrage. A way to drive funding and votes for fascism. And it worked. Trans visibility is the golden egg dropped in trumps lap that put him back in office.
This isn’t just mindless theorizing. I work with these right wing jackasses. It’s all they talk about.
A long time ago, republicans needed an easy way to get voters to vote against their own interests and instead vote in the interest of the corporate overclass. Abortion. It’s genius. Make the preachers ultra wealthy by getting them to preach about something the Bible never seemed concerned about. Abortion. They’re murdering babies, you just have to get out and vote.
Eventually that strategy brought diminishing returns. They overturned Roe and the issue doesn’t have the same bite that it once had. They needed a new plan. Wait, I’ve got it. Trans people existing. Trans people bad, and they’re trying to assimilate your children by existing. They’re trans animals now, pooping in litter boxes at school. How long until you have to refer to your children by neopronouns under the threat of incarceration?
Seriously. This is how trump won the election. This issue is the issue they chose and it works. I hear it from my rightoid coworkers all the time. The GOP creates boogeymen to get idiots to the polls and it works, and the democrats have nothing to counter it.