The re-election campaign for former President Donald Trump has spent over $19 million on two transphobic TV ads airing in swing states during NFL and college football games. The ads have already aired 55,000 times since October 1. The leading super PAC supporting Trump, Make America Great Again Inc., has also spent over $1.1 million airing a similar ad more than 6,000 times over the same time period, CBS News reported.While the ads attack Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris support of providing lifesaving care to trans inmates (something required by federal law), Harris pointed out in a recent Fox News interview that the Trump administration supported the same policy during his presidency. Related Supreme Court dismisses case against baker who refused to make trans womans cake The baker who infamously discriminated against a gay couple in 2012 just got away with discriminating again, judges wrote. Also, new polling suggests the massive spending and ad blitz may not play out in Trumps favor because most voters arent worried about gender-affirming care and are less likely to support transphobic political candidates. Your LGBTQ+ guide to Election 2024 Stay ahead of the 2024 Election with our newsletter that covers candidates, issues, and perspectives that matter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Trumps transphobic ad shows pictures of Harris next to a drag queen, a trans woman, and a nonbinary person. It then accuses Harris of supporting taxpayer-funded sex-changes for prisoners and illegal aliens a crude restatement of her 2019 ACLU questionnaire answer that all federal prisoners, including trans immigrants detained by border agents, deserve medically necessary care, which includes gender-affirming care and surgeries. Kamala is for they/them, the 30-second ad says. President Trump is for you. The super PACs ad similarly attacks Harris over her position on this issue.The Constitution requires U.S. prisons and detainment facilities to provide medically necessary care, and courts have upheld this requirement, though some facilities still deny it to inmates.During Harrishighly anticipated interviewwith Fox News,host Bret Baier played her the ad and asked if she is still in support of using taxpayer dollars to help prison inmates or detained illegal aliens transition to another gender. Harris responded, I will follow the law, and its a law that Donald Trump actually followed Under Donald Trumps administration, these surgeries were available to on a medical necessity basis to people in the federal prison system, and I think frankly that ad from the Trump campaign is a little bit of throwing stones when youre living in a glass house.A recent LGBTQ Nation fact check found that Federal Prison System budget documents from 2018 during Trumps presidency indeed indicatedthat trans detainees were entitled to medical care that may include pharmaceutical interventions (e.g., cross-gender hormone therapy), hair removal and surgery (if individualized assessment indicates surgical intervention is applicable).Gender-affirming care is medically necessary, according to leading medical associations. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Offices for Civil Rights says denial of coverage for gender-affirming careviolates the Americans with Disabilities Act.Earlier this year,federal courts ruled that gender-affirming care is medically necessary and must be included in state-funded health insurance plans. Responding to the ads, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) spokesperson Brandon Wolf said, Anti-trans attacks dont work. Time and time again this kind of fear-mongering has been a political loser, and the American people will see through it again in November.Polling suggests Wolf may be right. A recent Gallup poll found that only 38% of likely voters consider trans rights as extremely or very important to their vote. Polls in five battleground states conducted byThe New York Timesand Siena College show that the majority of Americans think society should accept transgender peoples gender identities.Recent HRC pollingshows that only 5% of voters say theyre concerned about gender-affirming care comparatively, 52% are more concerned about economic inflation raising the cost of living. Additionally, 61% said they wont support candidates who support banning gender-affirming care including 41% of Republicans. The HRCs polling also found that 70% of voters feel anti-LGBTQ+ bills have gone too far and that politicians have targeted trans people to divide Americans and maintain their political power.HRC president Kelley Robinson said transphobic ads didnt help Republicans win important races in 2022 and 2023, and such ads wont help the GOP this year either.It shows that Republicans are desperate right now, Robinson said. Instead of articulating how theyre going to make the economy better or our schools safer, theyre focused on sowing fear and chaos.Nevertheless, Trumps co-campaign manager Chris LaCivitatoldNBC News that the ads successfully hold Harris accountable for her position. Its the last thing on Earth they want to talk about, he said. So well talk about it for them. Transphobia is a major plank in the GOPs 2024 presidential campaignThe transphobic attack ad isnt surprising. Both Trump and his running mate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH)have liedabout Harris running mate, Minnesota Gov.Tim Walz(D),allowing his states government to kidnap children from unsupportive parents to change their gender. The claim is untrue, as Walz has never signed any such law or order, nor are state officials legally authorized to take trans kids away from unsupportive parents.Trump has also claimed that schools are conducting surgeries on trans youth without parental consent.This is also a lie.No schools are providing such surgeries, doctors typically refuse to provide such surgeries to minors, and doctors never provide gender-affirming surgery to minors without parental consent.Furthermore,the Republican National Platform pledgesto keep men out of womens sports and cut federal funding for any schools pushing radical gender ideology or inappropriate sexual or political content on our children.Chapter 9, Section 5 of the platform promises to end Left-wing gender insanity, stating, We will keep men out of womens sports, ban Taxpayer funding for sex change surgeries, and stop Taxpayer-funded Schools from promoting gender transition, reverse Bidens radical rewrite of Title IX Education Regulations, and restore protections for women and girls.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.