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treatment of trans students. Neither bill has
passed, but Roem believes the session offers an
“inkling” of what is to come if Republicans re-
gain control of the state senate and maintain the
house come November. “I am significantly wor-
ried that a lot more trans kids will kill or hurt
themselves,” she says, “or be hurt by another per-
son, before the pendulum swings back.”
She’s particularly alarmed by the lack of
corporate response. In contrast to the outcry in
2016 over North Carolina’s so-called bathroom
bill, no major companies have announced plans
to boycott any state over the latest anti-LGBTQ
laws. In Roem’s view, corporate America has
“sat on their damn hands.”
Now isN’t the time for Democrats to get
complacent, Roem says. Her advice: advocates
need to put pressure on corporate communi-
ties, ask them why they are doing business in
states where their employees or their employees’
families could be hurt, and show up to vote. As
for the LGBTQ youth targeted by these laws,
Roem’s message is simple: You have to care
about politics. Because whether or not you do,
politics cares about you.
As the midterms approach, Roem finds she
has company. The LGBTQ Victory Institute re-
ports that from 2019 to 2020, the number of
national and local LGBTQ elected officials in-
creased by 21%. Roem wants her political suc-
cess to continue serving as a road map for can-
didates from underrepresented groups looking
to make a run for office. She hopes she’s shown
that if you own your narrative and tell your story
before your opponents can, a metalhead trans
woman who can do a keg stand can also hold a
Democratic seat in a swing district in the South.
“We can turn the pendulum back,” Roem says.
“And nihilism doesn’t win campaigns. Hard work
does.” She likes to quote Motörhead: “Don’t let
them bastards grind you down.”
‘They’re
picking on
children.’
—DANICA ROEM
ALYSSA SCHUKAR FOR TIME
