Chase Strangio

In the past month, people have rushed to blame “identity politics” for Democrats’ defeat. And at least New York Times columnist Frank Bruni, Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost and Columbia University Professor Mark Lilla have explicitly suggested that a focus on the experiences of transgender people during the campaign somehow cost Hillary Clinton the US presidency. To use Bruni’s language, by focusing on such a “boutique” issue as transgender rights instead of issues implicating the economy, Democrats alienated voters (implicitly   white, heterosexual male voters) and ensured the party’s collapse at the polls.