A Conservative Push to Make Trans Kids and School Sports the Next Battleground in the Culture War
The Kentucky governor’s race has turned into a kind of testing ground to see how transgender issues could rally support for President Trump.
ARLINGTON, Va. — From the 12th floor of a glass office tower in the Washington suburbs, a campaign to sway the governor’s race in Kentucky on Tuesday is being waged with an alarmist claim that has little to do with the race itself: If Democrats have their way, soon boys will be able to compete against girls in school sports.
This scenario, presented in a pair of ads that are appearing on computer screens and smartphones across Kentucky, is the work of a little-known group funded by anonymous donors called the American Principles Project, which in recent years has focused on fighting more familiar clashes in the culture wars over same-sex marriage and abortion rights.
The group is limiting its work to Kentucky for now, but strategists say it has bigger ambitions. It is effectively running a pilot program for the 2020 election that will help it determine how it could use the debate over transgender rights to rally conservative voters in support of President Trump.
The results could inform what type of campaigns social conservatives run in the future — and answer whether the delicate and deeply personal questions around gender identity are the next major wedge issue in American politics or, as recent experience suggests, something that most voters and politicians would rather not see politicized.
Terry Schilling, executive director of the American Principles Project, said conservative groups that focus on social issues other than abortion have been shying away from politics — and losing ground in recent years. “What we’re doing is trying to show Republicans how to win on these key issues,” he said.
Through online ads and text messages sent using phone numbers with local area codes, the group is trying to reach some 400,000 Kentuckians, many of whom identity as social conservatives but are not seen as reliable voters for the Republican candidate, Gov. Matt Bevin.
In one ad, called “Wrestler,” two high-school-age girls are shown facing off. “All any athlete wants is a fair shot in competition,” a female announcer says. The camera focuses in on the referee as he CONTINUE READING: A Conservative Push to Make Trans Kids and School Sports the Next Battleground in the Culture War - The New York Times