A Sign, a Scandal, and the Mishandling of Issues: How Democrats Continue to Fail at Communications and Strategy

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There was quite the scandal here in Arlington, Virginia, late last week.  First, the Lieutenant Governor for Virginia, Winsome Earle-Sears, decided to make the trek from Richmond all the way up to Arlington to speak at a school board meeting to denounce Arlington’s decision to allow transgender students to use whichever bathroom they choose.  I would think there are more important issues in Virginia (like our ridiculous taxes) for the lieutenant governor to tend to, but I guess where people pee is the most pressing thing in her mind. Or she’s simply pandering to the far-right. 

If that wasn’t scandalous enough, a protestor and member of the Democratic Party, held up a sign at the rally that said, “Hey Winsome, if trans can’t share your bathroom then Blacks can’t share my water fountain.”

Let me start with the basics here, if it isn’t readily apparent as to why the sign is offensive.   As written on the sign, it took what was probably intended to be a comparison to another injustice and made it a present-day, personal, racist statement that says Black people should ALSO be denied a right.  Advocating for the return of Jim Crow-era policies isn’t a good look for anyone. 

If the sign said something like “trans not sharing bathrooms is like denying a Black person the right to drink from a water fountain,” the sign wouldn’t have garnered the same negative reaction (and I acknowledge there’s still some criticism to be had for making that comparison in the first place).  What makes the sign racist as it was written, is the statement, “Blacks can’t share my water fountain” (emphasis added).  The sign is also directed at a Black woman.  The sign’s message, therefore, is essentially, ‘you, Winsome, cannot drink from my water fountain because you are Black.’  (And for the record, I think Winsome Earle-Sears is an awful human being who lacks a moral compass—because of her political stances, not her race.) 

The sign itself is problematic enough, but the reaction of the Arlington Democrats is perhaps the bigger issue in this incident.  Their sloppy handling of the situation distracted from what should have been a rally that called attention to individual rights, but again the Dems fell short. 

It’s also important to note here before I dive into how the Dem’s response was dismal, that the person holding the sign was not planted there by a Republican operative, as some have claimed.  She is an active member of the Democratic Party in Arlington and other Democratically-oriented organizations. 

At the protest, and in the photos (there are several from different angles), there are many prominent members of the party including leadership of the Arlington County Democratic Committee (ACDC) and members of the Arlington County Board.  While I acknowledge those individuals may not have seen the sign at least initially, they did learn of its existence during the rally.  Further, as Democrats, all of us have a responsibility to hold each other accountable.  Someone saw that sign when she held it up and no one addressed the issue in the moment.  If Dems can’t stand up to one of their own, how will we effectively stand up to the other side?  As one political strategist said, “The cancer in the party is not a crazy lady with a sign—it’s no one willing to confront her about it until the press picked up on it.  Hundreds of Arlington Dems there and they let all of us down by staying silent.”

It does not appear that at any time during the rally before the school board meeting did anyone in the party, leadership or not, ask the woman to put down the sign and leave the rally.  Once the woman moved into the building where the meeting took place, the chair of ACDC told her the sign was attracting negative attention, to which she just shrugged.

Arlington Congressman Don Beyer and candidate for Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger quickly issued statements denouncing the sign, as they should have.  But ACDC?  Crickets for almost 24 hours.  They issued a statement on Bluesky, posted on Threads, Facebook, and on X, but nothing on the homepage of their website.  They could have used this incident to highlight injustices.  They could have spun it and capitalized on it to amplify their messaging.  But they didn’t.

Their response should have aggressively confronted the issue head-on.  They should have released a statement that same night.  They should have expressed empathy at how this incident negatively impacted the Black community and distracted from advocating for trans rights.

They should have issued a press release with their statement and then they should have put the chair of ACDC in front of a camera to talk to whatever media outlet would have him.  And you know what he should have talked about when he got in front of those cameras?  All the wonderful things Democrats are doing, and all the horrible things Republicans are doing.

Because you know who is really good at turning scandal into opportunity?  Republicans.  Democrats, take note. 

It’s just the latest misstep from a party, and specifically a local party, that struggles to communicate effectively, that has misplaced focus, and that doesn’t appear to understand what matters to voters.  Moreover, Democrats hate that Republicans fail time and time again to call out the extremist elements of their party, but here we are with Democrats doing the exact same thing. 

And since we’re on the topic, let’s talk about how Dems have handled the whole trans rights issue. 

I don’t know what it means to be trans.  I don’t know how it works or what it entails to live as a different gender than the sex in which you were born.  My thought, though, is it takes an incredible amount of bravery to tell our cruel, cold world that you are transgender, knowing full well that some people will hate you for no other reason than you trying to live your life as you like.  I am also of the opinion that people should be able to live the way they want without fear. 

But I also don’t think Democrats should make trans rights a focal point of their platform.  We need to be compassionate, but at the same time, trans rights should be part of a broader effort for everyone to have the right to be able to live safely and equally no matter our differences.  On the list of issues that matter most to a broad range of voters, trans rights isn’t it.  And please don’t take that last statement to imply that I don’t support trans rights.  I very much do, but when you’re trying to win elections, we should be speaking to the issues that matter most to voters.

Like so many things, politics by its nature tries to make complex things simple in large part because voters aren’t engaged enough to pay attention to the nuances.  People pay attention passively, looking for quick sound bites that don’t do justice to the intricacies at hand.  Trans rights is one of those topics and the Dems have done an abysmal job at navigating this difficult terrain, leaving those on both sides of the debate upset. 

The progressive wing of the Democratic Party often tries to shove their beliefs down the throats of voters, rather than taking incremental steps to change.  That’s off-putting for a lot of people and sets the conversation up to be contentious and one that can escalate quickly.  Rather than meeting the average American where they are—and less than half of all Americans say they personally know someone who is trans—they are talking to voters where they want them to be.  That is not a winning strategy.

Like many things in life and politics, it’s not an all-or-nothing proposition.  While I strongly support protecting trans people from discrimination at work, within healthcare, in the military, in schools, and in housing, for me, and I think many others, the two sticky areas in this debate are with kids and with sports. 

No, I don’t think kids are going to school and having sex change operations as some on the right claim, but there are parents who are declaring their children to be transgender, including some in Arlington.  My daughter asked me the other day if gender and sex were the same thing and I said most of the time they are, but sometimes people are born a boy or a girl, but they identify with a different gender.  Her response was, ‘Oh, like XX at school.  They were born a boy, but now they’re a girl.’ 

I encouraged my daughter to be a good friend to her trans schoolmate because I’m sure that’s a difficult place for a fourth grader to be.  I also don’t know if it’s the parents’ decision to make.  While some of the gender-affirming care can be reversed and I recognize there’s a case to be made for taking some of these steps before puberty, I don’t know if kids have the wherewithal to make that decision about their bodies and I don’t think parents should be making that decision on their behalf.  When we as Dems fail to acknowledge that or don’t have a good response to that concern, we just look nonsensical.

With sports, if you let trans women compete in women’s sports, what I think will happen in the long term is that it’ll ultimately push out biological women.  One will need to be biologically male to be competitive in female sports and that disadvantages women.  It is, or at least can be, an ultra-liberal or very conservative position to advocate for female-only spaces.  I don’t oppose trans individuals from participating in those sports where everyone who signs up gets to play, but in competitive sports, the tradeoff of allowing trans women to compete against women who were born biologically female will do more to harm women than it will to help trans people.  We Democrats need to acknowledge this.  We should not be trading on the rights of one group for the rights of another.

All of this to say the Dems have work to do.  And lots of it.  The scandal with the sign and the broader handling of the issue of trans rights highlight just how out of touch the party is with the people.  Both are also demonstrative of our problems with strategy and communication.  We will not win back the House, the Senate, or the White House unless we make major changes as a party. Rather than ACDC telling me they don't appreciate the "friendly fire," they, and the Democratic Party as a whole, should use the criticism as a wakeup call.