一些民主党人跃跃欲试，要利用明年在国会可能取得的多数席位，推翻特朗普总统对美国跨性别者的攻击。另一些人则只想关注汽油价格。
Some Democrats are fired up to use their potential majorities in Congress next year and undo President Donald Trump’s attacks on transgender Americans. Others just want to focus on the cost of gas.
在中期选举之前，进步派立法者和国会候选人与在任和竞选中的温和派人士发生冲突，争论是否应推进包括保护跨性别者在内的立法议程——该群体的医疗保健、体育参与以及反歧视保护均遭到政府针对。
Ahead of the midterms, progressive lawmakers and congressional candidates are clashing with moderates in office and on the campaign trail over whether to pursue a legislative agenda that includes protecting trans people — whose health care, participation in athletics and protections against discrimination have been targeted by the administration.
“我们需要一个积极的纲领，保护并扩大LGBTQ人群的权利，”马萨诸塞州民主党参议员埃德·马基在一次采访中表示。
“We need to have an affirmative platform that protects and expands rights for LGBTQ people,” said Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey in an interview.
他属于近十位立法者和倡导者中的一员，这些人表示，他们希望民主党采取两管齐下的办法：通过立法，为跨性别者确立某些权利，并利用委员会议事权，迫使特朗普官员出席公开听证，就其破坏对跨性别者和非二元性别者保护的努力作证。
He is among nearly a dozen lawmakers and advocates who said they want Democrats to pursue a two-pronged approach: pass legislation to codify certain rights for trans individuals, and use committee gavels to compel public testimony from Trump officials on their efforts to undermine protections for trans and nonbinary people.
但解决可负担性问题，而非文化战争，一直是民主党夺回国会控制权的主导主题。许多民主党人认为，他们降低生活成本的承诺将是他们赢回众议院或参议院多数席位的原因。
But the need to tackle affordability, not culture war fights, has been the overriding theme of the Democrats’ push to retake control of Congress. Many Democrats believe that their promise to lower the cost of living will be the reason they win back majorities in the House or the Senate.
许多温和派人士担心，任何偏离这一承诺的转向都会分裂国会山新的民主党多数派，尤其是一些候选人在竞选中公开拒绝某些跨性别权利倡议。
Many centrists fear any pivot away from that pledge would splinter a new Democratic majority on Capitol Hill, especially with some candidates openly rejecting some trans rights initiatives during their campaigns.
“你必须关注人们在乎的事情，”众议员汤姆·苏奥齐（民主党-纽约州）在接受采访时说。“眼下就是负担能力问题，他们希望得到一些缓解。这才是我们应该谈论的。”
“You have to focus on what people care about,” Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) said in an interview. “Right now that’s affordability, and they want some relief. That’s what we should talk about.”
即将于今年退休的得克萨斯州温和派民主党众议员马克·维西表示，包括跨性别者权利在内的“文化议题”是“一旦[特朗普]下台后我们应该深入探讨的事情”。“只要他继续用关税和战争对市场造成负面影响，美国公众就会希望看到我们的党团聚焦于成本问题，”他说。
Rep. Marc Veasey, a moderate Texas Democrat who is retiring this year, said “cultural issues” including transgender rights are “something we should dive into once [Trump] is gone.”“The American public is going to want to see our caucus focus on costs as long as he continues to affect the markets negatively with his tariffs and wars,” he said.
进步派倡导团体及其在国会山的盟友表示，他们等不及了。他们主张，民主党人应当就司法部去年夏天决定传唤20多名曾提供性别肯定护理的医生和诊所、以获取可能识别患者身份的信息一事举行听证会——倡导者称，此举导致一些医院停止提供青少年性别肯定护理。
Progressive advocacy groups and their Hill allies say they can’t wait. Democrats, they argue, should hold hearings on the DOJ’s decision last summer to subpoena more than 20 doctors and clinics who’ve provided gender-affirming care to obtain potentially patient-identifying information, advocates say, leading some hospitals to stop providing youth gender affirming care.
他们还希望民主党人挑战教育部上个月正式撤销前总统乔·拜登任内设立的跨性别学生反歧视保护措施的做法。他们还在推动调查司法部对在押人员性别肯定护理的限制，以及反对将囚犯安置在与他们性别认同相符的人群中的政策——这一举措已面临法律挑战。
They also want Democrats to challenge the Education Department’s move last month to officially rescind anti-discrimination protections for transgender students instituted under former President Joe Biden. They’re pushing, too, for an investigation of the Justice Department’s restrictions on gender-affirming care for incarcerated people and policy against placing prisoners in populations consistent with their gender identity — a move which has faced legal challenges.
在立法方面，只要特朗普在任，民主党人就必然会遇到限制。总统反对LGBTQ+倡导者议程的基石——《平等法案》，该法案将修订民权法律，明确禁止性别认同歧视。该法案甚至可能无法获得足够票数来克服参议院的阻挠议事程序并送到特朗普的案头。
In terms of legislation, Democrats are sure to encounter limitations so long as long as Trump is in office. The president is opposed to the cornerstone piece of LGBTQ+ advocates’ agenda, the Equality Act, which would amend civil rights laws to explicitly prohibit gender identity discrimination. It might not even have the votes to overcome a Senate filibuster and get to Trump’s desk.
民主党同样肯定会在试图将支持跨性别政策附加到必须通过的立法载体（如政府支出法案或年度国防政策法案）时遭遇阻力。任何试图推翻或修改政府对2030年人口普查所提建议的尝试也是如此，这些建议包括一项删除有关性取向问题的提议。
Democrats likewise are sure to run into resistance in trying to attach pro-transgender policies to must-pass legislative vehicles, such as government spending bills or the annual defense policy package. The same goes for any attempts to overrule or modify the administration’s suggested changes to the 2030 Census, which include a proposal to remove questions about sexual orientation.
人权运动组织（Human Rights Campaign，一个支持LGBTQ+的民权倡导团体）全国新闻秘书拉米罗·萨尔米恩托（Ramiro Sarmiento）认为，这一现实不应成为阻碍。
That reality should not be a deterrent, argued Ramiro Sarmiento, national press secretary at the Human Rights Campaign, a pro-LGBTQ+ civil rights advocacy group.
“国会需要使用其拥有的每一项工具，来抵制联邦层面保护措施的拆除，”萨尔米恩托表示。
“Congress needs to use every tool it has to push back against the dismantling of protections at the federal level,” said Sarmiento.
他与美国公民自由联盟（ACLU）高级立法倡导者伊恩·汤普森（Ian Thompson）以及克里斯托弗街项目（Christopher Street Project，一个混合政治行动委员会和非营利组织，致力于在国会中为跨性别权利建立支持）的创始人兼执行主任泰勒·哈克（Tyler Hack）表示，他们的组织已开始与几位民主党人就可能采取的行动进行初步谈话，以扭转或对抗特朗普政府的反跨性别权利举措。
He, along with Ian Thompson, senior legislative advocate at the ACLU, and Tyler Hack, founder and executive director of the Christopher Street Project — a hybrid PAC and nonprofit focused on building support for transgender rights in Congress — said their organizations have already begun preliminary conversations with several Democrats about the moves they could make to reverse or combat anti-trans-rights initiatives by Trump administration.
这些民主党人包括长期支持LGBTQ+权利的马基（Markey）以及马里兰州众议员杰米·拉斯金（Jamie Raskin）和纽约州众议员亚历山德里亚·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯（Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez），还有进步候选人明尼苏达州的佩吉·弗拉根（Peggy Flanagan）和纽约州的克莱尔·瓦尔德兹（Claire Valdez）以及布拉德·兰德（Brad Lander）。
Those Democrats include longstanding LGBTQ+ rights champions like Markey and Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, plus progressive candidates like Minnesota’s Peggy Flanagan and New York’s Claire Valdez and Brad Lander.
哈克承认，跨性别保护问题并非“大多数美国人所思考的问题”，但他补充道：“不幸的是，这些正是白宫所思考的问题，国会有责任对其权力进行制约。”倡导者们表示，特朗普的行政命令和共和党议程对跨性别美国人及其家庭产生了重大影响，包括限制他们获得医疗保健以及反映其性别认同的身份证明文件的途径。这导致一些有跨性别子女的家庭计划离开该国。
Hack conceded that trans protection issues are not what “most Americans are thinking about” but added, “Unfortunately, they are the issues that the White House is thinking about, and it's the responsibility of Congress to be a check on their powers.”The advocates say Trump’s executive orders and the GOP agenda have had drastic impacts on transgender Americans and their families, including by limiting their access to health care and identification documents that reflect their gender identity. It’s led some families with trans children to make plans to leave the country.
“我认为我们在国会的角色，是为那些被唐纳德·特朗普和共和党人等恶霸欺负的‘小人物’挺身而出，”马基谈到民主党的义务时说道。
“I believe our role in Congress is to stand up for the little guys who are being picked on by bullies like Donald Trump and the Republicans,” Markey said about Democrats’ obligations.
他们面对的是一些根本不想卷入任何跨性别相关斗争的民主党人，因为共和党正猛烈抨击民主党脱离群众、搞“觉醒”文化。在几乎每一个关键战场选区，共和党的竞选广告都以民主党对手支持跨性别者权利为靶子进行攻击。
They’re going up against Democrats who want nothing to do with any transgender-related fight as Republicans pummel their party for being out of touch and “woke.”GOP ads in nearly every battleground race have targeted their Democratic opponents over their party’s support for trans rights.
这促使许多民主党人推出反击广告，例如资深俄亥俄州联邦众议员马西·卡普特近期播出的一则广告称“男孩不应参加女子体育比赛”。据《华盛顿太阳报》报道，阿拉斯加州民主党参议员候选人玛丽·佩尔托拉在最近的一次竞选活动中对选民表示，她“希望在下届国会，我们不必在跨性别任何议题上花费一秒钟时间进行讨论”。
That has prompted numerous Democrats to run rebuttal ads, such as veteran Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s recent spot stating “boys should not play in girls' sports.”Alaska Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola told voters at a recent campaign event her “hope is that we don’t have to spend one second on a conversation about trans anything” in the next Congress, according to a Washington Sun report.
一位资深众议院民主党人获准匿名谈论一次私下交谈，他回忆曾亲自请求少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯，如果民主党赢得众议院控制权，不要将重点放在跨性别议题或其他文化战争闪点上。
One senior House Democrat, who was granted anonymity to discuss a private conversation, recalled personally asking Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries not to focus on trans issues or other culture war flashpoints if the party wins the House.
杰弗里斯和参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默未就其在下届国会应对跨性别相关议题的计划回应置评请求。
Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer did not respond to requests for comment on their plans for tackling trans-related issues in the coming Congress.
倡导者认为，性别认同和平权问题实际上关乎民生利益，不能简单地被搁置一旁。
Advocates argue that issues of gender identity and equality are, in fact, pocketbook issues and cannot be simply shunted aside.
“当你制定政策，例如规定人们无法获得能准确反映其身份的驾照，或无法使用公共厕所时，你实际上是在告诉人们，他们不能工作、不能保住工作、也不能参与我国的公共生活，”美国公民自由联盟（ACLU）的汤普森说。“这会产生非常重大的经济后果。” 几位资深众议院民主党人——少数党党鞭、二号领导人凯瑟琳·克拉克，四号领导人、加利福尼亚州众议员泰德·刘，以及规则委员会民主党党团首席、马萨诸塞州众议员吉姆·麦戈文——在采访中表达了大同小异的观点。
“When you are putting in place, for example, policies that say that you can't get a driver's license that accurately reflects who you are, or that you can't use a public restroom, what you are telling people is they can't work, they can't hold a job or participate in the public life of our country,” the ACLU’s Thompson said. “Those have very significant economic consequences." Several senior House Democrats — Minority Whip Katherine Clark, the No. 2 leader, Rep. Ted Lieu of California, the No. 4 leader, and Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Rules Committee Democrat — said much the same in interviews.
“如果我们告诉人们，这个国家不再重视平等，要建设一个公平的经济就非常困难，”克拉克说。“你不能把这些问题孤立地看待。”
“If we are telling people that we no longer value equality in this country, it's really hard to build a fair economy,” Clark said. “You can't silo these issues out.”