Now that our New Jersey Gubernatorial election is over (and the campaign signs have mostly been removed from roadways), well over 3.2 million New Jerseyans voted for either Mikie Sherrill or Jack Ciattarelli for Governor and their Assembly representatives. Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill won – but we do not know yet who has won the battle for New Jersey’s identity and culture. As someone who is a non-partisan elected official representing the part of Trenton which includes our State House; who is a currently registered Republican; and who happens to be transgender – I remain just as concerned about who won the battle for New Jersey’s identity and culture as I was about who would be our next Governor or Assembly representatives.
This ongoing conflict of “identity and culture” between the two parties will eventually decide whether New Jersey remains the proudly brash Northeastern state that worries more about the Eagles vs. Giants, the cost of beach tags, and not pumping your own gas – rather than becoming one that restricts the freedoms and liberties of transgender people.
Unfortunately, there is a contingent in our state more concerned about the continued existence and persistence of transgender people (let alone their access to health care) and/or gay couples getting married than the traditional Main Street and kitchen table priorities affecting our lives. Being more worried about Pride flags or kids’ pronouns than tough issues like property taxes, infrastructure, and the Garden State’s economy – is a bad sign for our great state.
Things aren’t perfect here, but why are some anti-LGBTQ politicians in the Republican Party looking to make our state culturally and politically more like Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas than the New Jersey we have known and loved? Especially when you consider that only about .06% of our state’s population of 9,500,000 is transgender, which is approximately 57,000 people. Hardly enough people for an invasion, takeover, or epidemic capable of being a real threat to America or Western Civilization as some pundits on the internet, social media or TV will have you believe.
Since long before this past Governor’s race, transgender New Jerseyans, as few as we are, have been portrayed as the scariest of threats, villains, and evil-doers by Republicans candidates and their consultants to hype up votes in more socially conservative communities – and particularly so, in minority communities. One would think we are more of a danger than China, Russia, or Iran.
Sadly, in this past Gubernatorial election, many voters again saw commercials or received push-poll phone calls and mailers from Republican campaigns to scare them about an already marginalized group of people in their community. Yep, you guessed it, transgender folks again. It is campaign tactics like these, and threats of anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ legislation by GOP candidates and elected officials that are creating a wave of concerned families with transgender loved ones considering moving from New Jersey to states that may be more safe.
This has also caused many transgender (and gay) people to recede from public life for protection, which emboldens both those who are bigoted and those who want to exploit others’ lack of knowledge of LGBTQ people for votes, money, and power. To add insult to injury, transgender Americans have also suffered scapegoating and blame by some national Democrats for their party’s losses in 2024.
I get it, transgender New Jerseyans like me are easy targets for consultants and campaigns because it doesn’t take much effort to vilify someone unfamiliar or unknown to a group of voters. And transgender people aren’t something most voters are thinking about every day, according to a poll by AtlasIntel, which shows transgender rights aren’t even in the top fifteen most important issues to voters, (pg. 16).
Unfortunately, campaign fear mongering has worked against transgender Americans, just as it worked against Black, Latino and others for decades and still does today in some quarters of our pluralistic society. Bigotry against any group is hard to change over time, but we have made major gains in New Jersey over the years.
That said, we have a ways to go and we sure do not want our Garden State to become a state notorious for anti-LGBTQ discrimination like other U.S. states have become. We should not be afraid of change or allow discomfort to prevent us from accepting others and minding our own business.
In the New Jersey I have always known, it is okay to think, “I may not understand you, but it’s Jersey versus the World. Are we in this together? Are you a good person?” We just want to know if the (blank) hits the fan in our town that we can count on you, like when everyone came together after Hurricane Sandy.
No one should be afraid of transgender people. Most importantly, our elected representatives and leaders in decision-making positions. Right now, Democrats in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly and their liberty-loving Republican colleagues have a chance to do the right thing and bring S3491/A4656, an important healthcare bill protecting transgender healthcare (and reproductive care), to committees and a vote during the lame duck session.
There are nineteen Senate co-sponsors for S3491 and thirty-six Assembly co-sponsors of A4656, which would codify protections for transgender medical care for New Jerseyans like me, our medical providers, and Americans fleeing much more culturally conservative states banning transgender medical care for young people regardless of their parents’ wishes and rights. New Jersey must remain a safe haven for transgender Americans already here and those coming from across the country.
Many New Jerseyans and their families hope that Senate leaders Scutari, Ruiz, and Vitale; as well as Assembly leaders Coughlin and Murphy will bring this bill up for committee and floor votes ASAP so Governor Murphy can sign it to ensure that I and others will continue having guaranteed access to medical care in our state. My further hope is that there will be a bi-partisan passage of this bill and that no Republicans will vote against protecting safe, proven, and medically necessary medical care from us.
As part of New Jersey’s identity and culture, we’re supposed to live up to that famous, inclusive slogan from former Governor Tom Kean, Sr. (and Brooke Shields), “New Jersey and You. Perfect Together.” Those words are emblematic of our identity and culture. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, Eagles fan or Giants fan, say Pork Roll or Taylor Ham, transgender or not – there is a place here for you.
So, Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature – it is now up to you. Let’s pass S3491/A4656 to codify transgender healthcare in New Jersey and work to begin stopping the political rhetoric towards transgender New Jerseyans which punches down at them, rather than try to protect and lift them up.
Jennifer Williams, a former Trenton Republican municipal chair, is serving her second term as a Trenton city councilwoman.
