The past week was not fun because, on more than one occasion, I have had to deal with people on the left buying into transphobic right-wing talking points. It was not a fun way to go into Shabbos last week, especially with not having any Shabbos dinner plans. Moreover, the conversation didn’t get any better following the conclusion of Shabbos, what with the doubling and tripling down. Suffice it to say, the transphobia triggered a depression. Going into this past Friday night without any dinner plans didn’t do any favors.

I dealt with two Jewish men in particular who bought into those right-wing talking points. I specify Jewish men because that’s what they are, and one of them founded a Jewish organization aimed at helping education in Haredi communities. But here’s the thing: when a transgender person tells you that you bought into Republican propaganda, maybe take some time to listen rather than double down on bigoted talking points. They chose to double down and then triple down.

More often than not, almost all of the people, in my personal experience, who have a problem with transgender people using the restroom or playing sports are cisgender men. It’s never the women who I share those spaces with.

Moreover, when NCAA President Charlie Baker testified before a U.S. Senate panel in December 2024, he stated that there were less than 10 transgender athletes. There were 554,298 student-athletes participating in NCAA championship sports in the 2024-25 school year, “an all-time high” according to the NCAA. How is it again that less than 10 athletes are the problem?

What’s incredibly sad is that one of those people—I didn’t interact with her directly as I did others—is a Jewish woman running for governor in Ohio. Let’s talk about Amy Acton for a minute and what she said.

Acton ran unopposed in Ohio’s Democratic primary for governor. She’s running in the general election against Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy. I cannot endorse either of them. Not that I could even vote for the Ohio gubernatorial race anyway. But if I could, Acton would have to earn my vote, and she’s doing everything possible to prevent that. Take her comments to the Toledo Blade after the recent transphobic Supreme Court ruling:

Dr. Acton said she agrees with the law prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in women’s and girls’ sports.

“I do not support boys playing in girls sports. This is already settled law in Ohio, and as governor I will enforce and uphold the law,” Dr. Acton said.

“As a doctor, public servant, and a mom, I will always stand up for fairness and protect kids’ health and safety,” she continued. “While my opponent tries to divide us, I’m laser-focused on issues that matter most to Ohioans: lowering costs, cracking down on corruption, and cutting taxes for working families.”

Right off the bat, Acton said that she agreed with the law banning transgender women. But it isn’t just that: she misgendered transgender girls. Whether she did this deliberately or if she actually thinks that it was a law about boys playing in girls’ sports, I don’t know. But it only got worse from there.

If Acton truly believed in fairness and protecting kids’ health, she wouldn’t let transphobic right-wing talking points with no factual basis in science dictate her views. And yet, here we are.

Not surprisingly, her comments led to a backlash from progressive and LGBTQ groups in Ohio. As they should. But what gets worse is how Acton decided to address her remarks a few weeks later, leading to a soundbite that doesn’t really do anything to apologize for misgendering trans girls. Instead, it’s not even an apology at all, just regular campaign-speak for someone wanting to get elected.

“We are in the middle of political season, and one of the hallmarks of political season is pitting us against one another and intentionally creating fear and chaos for people who are already dealing with a lot, and I think that’s a crime,” Acton said. “Nonetheless, this is settled law in Ohio as well as now the Supreme Court, and what I am hearing from Ohioans is they want me to focus on lowering costs in this state.”

When Ohio legislators went forward in banning trans athletes from sports, it followed a period of eight years allowing trans athletes in sports. How many trans athletes participated during that period?

Nineteen trans girls — 10 in middle school and nine in high school — have participated in girls’ sports since the policy was implemented eight years ago, including the six trans high school students taking part during the 2022-23 school year.

If we want to get more specific, we’re talking about 19 trans athletes who participated in sports out of 400,000 athletes in grades 7-12. If you want to talk about fairness and protecting health, think about the impacts of marginalization and ostracization when it is directed at transgender youth.

But you know how I say that it got worse? When a Democratic campaign makes a blunder like this, you don’t kick out or block LGBTQ leaders from attending a Zoom meeting set up to address the backlash. It just makes everything worse. In fact, it’s only because of the Zoom issues that I first heard about Acton’s transphobic comments. And no, changing one’s campaign platform isn’t enough to undo the damage.