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An anthropologist attends the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)—ground zero for the current onslaught of anti-trans rhetoric and legislation in the U.S.
A person with blonde hair wearing a pink blazer stands at a podium with several microphones on it and a sign that reads, “Protect Children’s Innocence.” Several people in suits stand behind, with a large white domed building in the background.
During a September 2022 news conference, U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks at the U.S. Capitol in support of proposed legislation that would criminalize providing gender-affirming care to minors.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc./Getty Images
HOW THE RIGHT DEMONIZES TRANS PEOPLE
The lights dim. Trumpets sound. A rapid disco drumbeat begins to pulse.
Around me, the Make America Great Again crowd leaps to their feet and dances in the aisles to “YMCA,” the Village People’s 1978 hit classic. From experience, they know this song signals that former President Donald J. Trump will momentarily take the stage as the final speaker at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
As the song blares and red, white, and blue lights flash, it is hard not to get caught up in the crowd’s energy. But I’m at this event as an anthropological observer seeking to understand this annual gathering of conservative activists and political figures that many on the left revile.
Now, as “YMCA” thunders in the cavernous hotel ballroom, I’m not sure what surprises me more: the fact that three nearby young men in blazers, who have been hunched over their phones for hours, have sprung to their feet—or the fact that a song many consider a gay anthem is being played for a group that is queer ambivalent at best and deeply transphobic at worst.
Indeed, many speakers at CPAC—a microcosm of the conservative right—have demonized transgender identity by drawing on two interrelated myths. The first is that gender is natural and so, by extension, transgender people are unnatural. The second myth maintains that transgender people, as “unnatural deviants,” are dangerous.
These myths enable discrimination and hate speech that put transgender people increasingly at risk and in the crosshairs of anti-trans commentators, legislators, and even extremists. As “YMCA” plays, I wonder if Trump will join the demonization of this marginalized group.
“I KNOW...