Trans Rights

Priorities

QCDSA’s Trans Right Working Group fights for trans and queer people against far-right repression.

Projects

We’re launching a campaign called Trans Sanctuary Davenport: we want Davenport city council to pass an ordinance that protects people who are receiving, or providing gender-affirming or reproductive healthcare. At a time when the State of Iowa and the Federal Government are restricting the rights of trans people and denying them healthcare, along with further restricting access to abortion, we work to ensure that the third-largest city in Iowa will do whatever they can to protect bodily autonomy and not submit to external pressure.

We need working people like you to work with us and other aligned groups to pressure city council to pass the ordinance! Sign up for updates and to help the campaign, and keep on reading for more info!

With the rise of the far-right and the GOP’s near-total control of Iowa’s government, we’re not content to let trans and abortion rights get thrown under the rug by the Democratic Party, the alleged opposition to fascism. Too many prominent Democrats like California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Iowa’s own Rob Sand have embraced far-right talking points around trans people, foolishly hoping that dabbling in right-wing cultural war issues will make the Democrats somehow more appealing. As socialists, we’re about building solidarity with all working people: an injury to one is an injury to all, we reject dabbling in hateful and exclusionary rhetoric to somehow win over voters. Instead, we’re building a movement of working people and aligned organizations to fight for our rights.

We’re not alone: we’re doing this campaign as part of DSA’s Trans Rights & Bodily Autonomy Campaign, we’re working alongside DSA chapters who’ve been able to pass similar legislation like in Columbia, MO and Ithaca, NY. While we want an ordinance passed today, as part of DSA’s political program Workers Deserve More, we want Medicare For All, a universal healthcare system free for anyone in the U.S. that covers gender-affirming care and abortions. So while this fight is just in one town, we’re part of a larger movement for economic and social justice in the world.