Donald Trump’s ads attacking Kamala Harris for her support of gender-affirming care for transgender prisoners are ringing a bit hollow following a New York Times exposé that showed his own Justice Department held a very similar position.
Trump is not being widely called out for his hypocrisy, however. Most Democrats, save Harris, sidestep any mention of transgender issues — appearing concerned that their support of transgender rights will hurt them among moderate and swing voters. Republicans, meanwhile, simply ignore all historical facts.
In his ads, Trump has lambasted Harris for supporting gender-affirming care for transgender inmates, including undocumented immigrants who are in custody, in an attempt to paint her as too liberal in the eyes of moderate and independent voters.
The ads are part of a larger campaign tactic deployed by Republicans in various races across the country, in which they seek to motivate their socially conservative base by exploiting Democrats’ support of the LGBTQ community.
Fox News host Brett Baier confronted Harris about her stance in a recent interview with the Democratic nominee, with his questions mimicking Republican talking points. He sought to corner Harris on policy issues, catch her off guard, or trick her into making an unforced error similar to Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment from 2016.
Baier asked Harris if she was “still in support of using taxpayer dollars to help prison inmates or detained illegal aliens transition to another gender.”
“I will follow the law, and it’s a law that Donald Trump actually followed,” Harris replied. “Under Donald Trump’s administration, these surgeries were available to — on a medical necessity basis — to people in the federal prison system, and I think frankly that ad from the Trump campaign is a little bit of throwing stones when you’re living in a glass house.”
Baier replied that Trump aides have argued the former president “never advocated” for the prison policy, and that no gender-affirming surgeries actually happened during his presidency.
Harris shot back that Trump has to take responsibility for policies promulgated by his administration and said that, as president, she would follow the law — which currently allows transgender inmates to receive medically necessary health treatments for gender dysphoria.
Harris blasted the Trump campaign for spending nearly $20 million on anti-transgender ads, accusing the former president of “trying to create a sense of fear in the voters because he actually has no plan in this election that is about focusing on the needs of the American people.”
She noted that instances of transgender inmates receiving surgical care are very rare, and that most voters aren’t prioritizing transgender issues when they cast votes for president.
According to an analysis of Trump’s attacks against Harris by FactCheck.org, a spokesperson for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons confirmed that only two prisoners in custody have received surgical interventions.
According to the Times, it was the Obama administration that first adopted guidelines aimed at ensuring transgender inmates could access programs and services, including health care, that meet their individual needs. The Trump administration kept much of that framework in place throughout the former president’s term.
In a February 2018 budget memo to Congress, Bureau of Prisons officials said they were obligated by federal law to pay for a prisoner’s surgery if it was deemed medically necessary.
The Times reports that the most significant change made to the treatment guidelines by the Trump administration was the addition of the word “necessary,” which created a higher, but not altogether insurmountable, barrier to federally-funded surgeries.
The Bureau also ended up spending between $60,000 and $95,000 a year on hormone therapy during Trump’s term, according to internal department estimates obtained by the Times.
When approached by the Times for comment about the Trump administration’s policy, senior campaign advisor Brian Hughes parroted the anti-Harris ad’s central contention.
“Kamala Harris has forcefully advocated for transgender inmates to be able to get transition surgeries. President Trump never has,” Hughes insisted.
Two pharmacists are suing Walgreens and the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy, alleging they were punished for refusing to dispense gender-affirming medications. They are seeking a religious exemption that would allow them to decline filling such prescriptions on moral grounds.
Minnesota law classifies it as unprofessional conduct for a pharmacist to refuse to dispense a valid prescription. Exceptions exist, but only for non-religious reasons, such as doubts about a drug's effectiveness.
State law also permits pharmacists to refuse prescriptions for abortion-inducing drugs. The plaintiffs argue the state should likewise clarify whether pharmacists can decline to dispense gender-affirming medications if doing so conflicts with their belief that gender is binary and fixed at birth, reports Minnesota Lawyer.
The Turning Point USA co-founder, who once declared Pride a “sin” and opposed LGBTQ rights, was killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed by an assassin's bullet during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
The 31-year-old was the co-founder of Turning Point USA, an organization advocating for conservative politics and education on high school and college campuses.
At the time of the shooting, Kirk, who appeared on campus as part of his "American Comeback Tour," was taking questions from people in the crowd while seated at a "Prove Me Wrong" table in the Sorensen Center courtyard on campus, according to The Associated Press.
In March 2022, Justine Lindsay made history as the NFL’s first openly transgender cheerleader. Three seasons later, the Carolina Panthers TopCat is stepping away from the squad to pursue pageantry and community outreach.
In a statement to Outsports, Lindsay said she wanted to grow beyond the sidelines, striving to be “recognized not just as an NFL cheerleader, but as someone making a positive impact, especially during these uncertain times.”
The announcement marks a reversal, as some news outlets had previously reported she would return for the 2025–2026 season.
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