“We’re going to purge the transgender craze from our schools and keep men out of women’s sports,” Trump said at his recent Madison Square Garden rally, drawing a roar of approval from the crowd of more than 20,000.

Although Trump’s emphasis on immigrants has often been overshadowed, his broadsides toward LGBTQ people have become more frequent and ominous in the final days of the campaign; It was intended to both mobilize his core supporters and persuade votes from more moderate voters who disagreed with Trump on other issues. important. This is part of an overall campaign in which Trump promotes his own brand of hyper-masculinity; most recently he referred to CNN host Anderson Cooper, who is gay, several times by a female name, “Allison Cooper.”

Harris largely ignored Trump’s attacks but walked back her characterization of Trump’s attitudes, noting that federal policy providing U.S. military personnel access to gender-affirming medical care and transgender surgeries was in place during Trump’s presidency.

“I will follow the law,” Harris said in an Oct. 17 interview with Fox News. “And that’s a law that Donald Trump actually abides by. You’re probably familiar with it by now. “This is a public report that under the Donald Trump administration, these surgeries were offered to people in the federal prison system on the basis of medical necessity.”

He added on “The Breakfast Club” podcast earlier this week that he was “living in a glass house” with Trump’s attacks. He compared the number of people involved: Two US soldiers resorted to transgender surgery, he said, and millions of people could be left without health insurance if Trump and Republicans are successful in their efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Polls show a divided electorate on transgender rights. Nearly half of Americans, 51 percent, say gender reassignment is morally wrong, according to a May Gallup poll. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans say transgender athletes should be allowed to compete only on sports teams that match their birth gender, according to a 2023 Gallup poll. But nearly 6 in 10 Americans oppose laws banning treatments and medical procedures that help transgender people conform to their gender identity, according to a May Gallup poll. About a third are in favor of such bans.

Civil rights advocates, meanwhile, are voicing concerns about what a second Trump administration would mean for LGBTQ rights, saying Trump’s campaign message already threatens the safety of transgender people no matter who emerges victorious.

Trump has promised to target transgender people if elected. He said he would ask Congress to pass a bill stating that there are “only two genders” and ban hormonal or surgical intervention on transgender minors in all 50 states.

Sarah Kate Ellis, president of LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, said Trump’s approach attacked “vulnerable people,” who make up about 1% of the population and are “already marginalized” by much of society.

“Why are we discussing medical care for trans people? Because there is a lack of understanding and a lack of humanization of who transgender people are,” Ellis said. “It’s not easy being transgender, waking up every morning with a body that doesn’t suit you, and encountering hostility instead of empathy. “This is the culture Trump has created.”

Writer and activist Charlotte Clymer added on social media platform “It’s demoralizing to know that you see it as inhumane.”

In fact, Trump’s campaign has spent nearly $35 million to run three ads since Sept. 1, based on statements Harris made in 2019 as a candidate for the Democratic 2020 presidential nomination. The clips show Harris confirming her support for federal policies that allow federal inmates to access medical care, including gender-affirming hormone treatments and potentially transgender surgery.

“It sounds crazy because it’s crazy,” the announcer says in an ad that aired nearly 28,000 times Thursday across presidential battlegrounds and on national television. “Kamala’s agenda is ‘they-them,’ not you,” the ad concludes, referencing gender-nonspecific pronouns.

“I support policies that ensure that federal prisoners and detainees can receive medically necessary care for gender transition, including surgical care, while they are incarcerated or detained,” Harris wrote in an ACLU survey during the 2019 presidential campaign.

He also worked as California attorney general to provide access to such care for the state’s prisoners. But Harris is right to point out that similar federal policies have been in place for both immigrant detainees and federal prisoners during Trump’s presidency.

At his rallies, Trump often addresses LGBTQ issues with generalizations and emotional appeals. He routinely berates U.S. military leaders for “being woke,” blaming Harris and President Joe Biden.

The fake video played on screens at Trump’s rallies sometimes alternates between scenes of intense military training with drill sergeants yelling at troops and scenes depicting what are supposed to be LGBTQ members of the military, each displaying exaggerated feminine influences. It is stated that the last scenes mentioned in the video reflect the US army under the command of Biden and Harris.

When Trump took the stage, many speakers had prepared the audience for the topic.

“We are in the midst of a national identity crisis. Things like faith in God, patriotism, hard work, family etc. have disappeared only to be replaced by ‘wokeness’ and transgenderism and other philosophies, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said in his speech at Madison Square Garden. “These are symptoms of a deeper void of purpose and meaning in our country, and right now we need to step forward and fill that void with our own vision.”

Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.