The Huffington Post's headline lays out the unfortunate situation bluntly and accurately:
No Support For Transgender High School Students In Minnesota Governor's Race
Here's the report:
Minnesota's gubernatorial candidates are not fans of allowing transgender high school students to participate in sports based on their gender identity, a policy currently being considered by the state's high school league.
During a Wednesday night debate, the moderator raised the issue, posing what he said was "by far" the most emailed question from Minnesota voters. Each candidate deferred to the Minnesota State High School League to make the decision, though they made clear they didn't like the sound of the policy. Some used harsher words than others.
"I will tell you, as a dad of two teenaged boys, I don't think it makes a lot of sense to have boys and girls in the same locker room," said Jeff Johnson, the Republican candidate.
"It's a very complicated issue," said Gov. Mark Dayton (D), the incumbent. "Giving transgender students the choice of which team they want to play on is, I think, problematic."
What disappoints me about this is that even in a deeply Democratic state, we can't even find a Democratic candidate for governor that supports transgender equality. I'm not surprised by Johnson's stance, but Gov. Dayton's is more disappointing. I'm not entirely unsympathetic, as to say that he supports the proposed policy could possibly be detrimental to his image (which would, of course, signal a greater problem in the perceptions of transgender people in Minnesota). But it's
well documented that there are absolutely no problems with allowing these accommodations, and so I'd like to see more politicians be able to accept this reality.
The other concern I have is what this means for actual transgender students in Minnesota. I would not like to be in the situation where not a single candidate for the chief executive officer of a state accepts you as who you are. Gov. Dayton's strong stance against the marriage amendment was brilliant and risky, but it seems to me that he is looking for the safe side, not the right side, in this issue.
It's to no one's fault or discredit that this issue lags behind marriage equality. The latter is much more visible, affects more people, and is currently easier to advance. But I'm sure we all agree that transgender equality matters just as much. So as we create more room in our agendas as marriage equality is resolved, this should fill that void. (Even before marriage equality is resolved, we should do what we can.)