‘FOLLOW THE MONEY’: Activist Donor’s Support Undermines Spanberger’s Move to the Center on Transgender Issues

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Virginia Democrat governor candidate Abigail Spanberger has presented herself as a moderate on transgender issues, claiming she supports parental input and local control, but a major donation from a transgender activist appears to give the lie to her trans triangulation.

“If you want to know who Abigail Spanberger is, follow the money,” Peyton Vogel, the press secretary for Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, Spanberger’s Republican opponent, told The Daily Signal in a statement Monday. “Is this why she can’t answer the straightforward question: Do men belong in girls’ sports, locker rooms, and bathrooms?”

During the gubernatorial debate against Earle-Sears on Oct. 9, Spanberger repeatedly refused to answer direct questions about whether men who identify as transgender should be able to access girls’ bathrooms and play on girls’ sports teams.

“I think it’s important that we have parents and teachers and administrators making decisions about their individual schools, not politicians,” Spanberger said.

This local control position appears to conflict with the Democrat’s record in Congress of sponsoring and repeatedly voting for H.R. 5, “The Equality Act,” which would amend federal civil rights legislation to force not just all schools in Virginia but throughout the country to allow men and boys who claim to identify as women into girls’ bathrooms and sports.

David Steinglass and his wife Elizabeth each gave $50,000 to Spanberger’s campaign on Sept. 25, according to campaign finance records. He had previously given $22,500 to the campaign.

Who Is David Steinglass?

Steinglass describes himself as a “donor activist for transgender rights” on his verified LinkedIn profile. Last year, he announced that after “26 years as a private equity investor,” he would dedicate himself “full-time to advancing the rights of transgender people.”

“First step has been to find a community of people for whom transgender rights are non-negotiable,” he wrote. “We are calling the group the TransAction Alliance and our focus is on identifying philanthropic and political funding gaps in supporting and lifting up the trans community and funding those gaps in conjunction with other individual donors, institutional funders, and a nascent giving circle of small-dollar donors.”

“We believe that the far right has over-reached in its demonization and persecution of transgender people and that most Americans agree with this sentiment,” he added.

The Whitman-Walker Institute

Steinglass serves on the board of the Whitman-Walker Institute, the policy arm of Whitman-Walker Health, a Washington, D.C., health institution that specializes in HIV/AIDS treatment and prioritizing LGBTQ messaging.

The Whitman-Walker Institute has supported transgender ideology at the expense of fairness in women’s sports, privacy in women’s bathrooms, and the long-term bodily integrity of children. In July 2024, the institute’s executive director, Kellan Barker, condemned laws restricting experimental medical interventions on kids, among other legislative efforts.

“There are new restrictions being proposed and enacted every day around how transgender people can move through the world, not just with regard to accessing medical care, but, for example, going to school, playing on a sports team,” Barker told NPR. He said state legislators passing such laws are “attacking kids to score political points.”

In 2021, Whitman-Walker Health joined the LGBTQ activist group PFLAG in filing a legal brief defending the Model Policies for Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools, a pro-transgender policy issued under then-Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who took office the next year, rescinded the policies and issued new ones requiring boys and girls to use bathrooms aligning with their sex. During the Oct. 9 debate, WAVY-TV’s Tom Schaad asked Spanberger whether she would rescind Youngkin’s policy, and she repeatedly declined to answer.

Whitman-Walker Health also filed a brief supporting Gavin Grimm, a girl who identifies as a boy who sued a Virginia school district for the right to use a boys’ restroom. The courts ruled in Grimm’s favor, but President Donald Trump has since reinterpreted federal law on these issues.

Whitman-Walker Health also testified in favor of a Washington, D.C., bill giving minors control over their own health care, and Whitman-Walker specifically mentioned the bill would likely “help transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or questioning minors when they are unable to get parental consent.”

Other Steinglass Activism

Steinglass’s LinkedIn profile also lists him as a member of Families United for Trans Rights, which supports political candidates who identify as transgender.

Steinglass also served as an executive producer for “State of Firsts,” a 2025 documentary celebrating Tim McBride, a congressman who identifies as female and goes by the name Sarah.

Spanberger’s campaign did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time.

The post ‘FOLLOW THE MONEY’: Activist Donor’s Support Undermines Spanberger’s Move to the Center on Transgender Issues appeared first on The Daily Signal.