MAGA 2024 Hate on Transgender Humans
Welcome, again, to election year 2024. Donald Trump wants his old job back, and drag queens are apparently standing in the way. Or maybe the concept of drag queens as monsters is being used as a recruiting tool.
It always cracks me up when I see MAGA supporters interviewed on TV telling reporters that they like the former president’s policies. A little voice inside of me is begging for the follow-up question, “what policies?,” knowing that the answers will inevitably be about something that didn’t happen.
The correct answer is that Trump has one overarching policy goal: me-me-me-me… …first… and always. What he does have are a gaggle of charlatans and hate monger followers who have unsavory ideas about how things should work. These people and their schemes must be turned back as part of sending the ex-president to Mar-a-Lago for good.
California may seem like an unlikely place for a showdown over hate until you remember that the ban on same sex marriages is still part of our state constitution. (It was overturned by the courts) With a little luck and your vote, Proposition 8 –which was approved by 52% of voters in the same year Barack Obama carried California with 61% approval– will be undone by voters in November.
Sixteen years later, who marries whom is no longer a divisive issue in most quarters. But that hasn’t stopped the right from using LGBTQ+ humans as a wedge issue.
Today, far-right activists are announcing a lawsuit against Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta over the summary and title language he issued for a ballot measure regarding transgender youth.
Defenders of the patriarchy have opened another front, hoping to stir up antagonisms amongst voters. Changing public attitudes about sexuality have prompted a right wing illusion of a world where children are “recruited” by drag queens for sex acts which then presumably makes them “turn.”
I should break here to mention that not all drag queens are Gay. Not all transgender humans are drag queens. The core issue for right wing revulsion is the concept of gender being a fluid thing and not the same as sexual expression.
This flies in the face of doctrine holding that the patriarchal order is “normal.” The act of sex is supposed to be limited to procreation; a tenet violated by a majority of humans, who are to be sorted by genitalia at birth into two categories.
In reality, drag queens and Gays in general are not the ones being arrested for pedophilia; authority figures with access to minors like religious leaders, police, and teachers are common culprits.
At issue in 2024 is a pending three-part initiative crafted by Protect Kids California including requiring schools to inform parents of gender identity crises in students, ban trans athletes from participation in school sports, and stopping sex change operations and chemical castrations on minors (a solution looking for a problem / be careful of what you wish for).
In reality, most of these procedures mentioned by anti trans types involve “correcting” the 1.7% of babies born with genital characteristics of both sexes. (The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and other scholars are now questioning the appropriateness of sex affirming surgery in children, which leaves anti-trans activists aghast at the possibility of inter-sex normalization.)
Here’s the story on youth transitions, via Axios:
Reality check: Trans youths who choose gender-affirming care usually start with social transition, meaning the young person presents in their preferred gender. They also may begin counseling.
Afterward, they may move on to hormone treatments. Gender-affirming surgeries might be offered to teens later; this is rare and on a case-by-case basis, evaluated by multiple health professionals.
Major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, consider gender-affirming care medically necessary and potentially lifesaving for transgender youths.
Transgender humans are being otherized by the far right, with drag queen performances being protested by the likes of the Proud Boys getting massive publicity. Five members of that groups’ leadership have been sent to prison for their role in fomenting the January 6th insurrection.
The anti-trans propaganda pushed by the suit-and-tie far right, as is true with many other causes, encourages militant action by more rough and tumble types. It wasn’t that long ago that drag performances were considered by the general public as vaudevillian entertainment.
Via the Washington Post:
Throughout most of the 20th century, Tennessee and other conservative-led states contemplating passing similar legislation, including South Carolina, Arkansas and Texas, held a long tradition of performing “womanless weddings.” These shows involved men, typically leading figures in their towns like bankers and business owners, dressed as women, exaggerating their figures with well-positioned padding and performing mock weddings.
Despite often being suggestive and sexual in nature, conservative organizations including Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, the American Legion, local chambers of commerce and church groups staged the shows as fundraisers. Far from communities seeing them as a threat to children, schools put on these performances as well, with costumes provided for boys by their sisters and girlfriends.
Drag queens have played a pivotal role in increasing visibility and advocating for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. Through their performances, activism, and participation in pride events, drag queens have become powerful symbols of LGBTQ+ empowerment.
They continue to serve as fundraisers extraordinaire for causes across the board, including efforts during the worst years of the AIDS/HIV crisis to feed and care for otherwise demonized victims.
Just as banning abortions is a step on the road to eliminating birth control, the war on trans humans is just an opening salvo in the war for authoritarian control.
Look around, there are signs everywhere; from student acts considered antisemitic being used by billionaire bros to mask aversion to diversity at Ivy League schools, to attacks on corporate diversity training, to promotion of a manufactured threat posed by housing first advocates.
Ida Bae Wells of the 1619 project called the pressures on Ivy league institutions for what they really are:
Let’s be real. This is an extension of what happened to me at UNC, and it is a glimpse into the future to come. Academic freedom is under attack. Racial justice programs are under attack. Black women will be made to pay. Our so-called allies too often lack any real courage.
They will be aided and abetted by mainstream media and “very reasonable people.”
In response to the firing of Harvard President Claudine Gay, right wing crusader Christopher Rufo posted:
These instances and many others are part of a much bigger picture fueled by falsehoods in the service of a future country where wealthy elites’ proclamations take the place of the rule of law.
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Wednesday News Shorts
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How We Win in 2024 By Dan Pfeiffer Via The Message Box
My operating theory of this election is that whichever side wins the information war will win the election. The 2024 election will take place in the most chaotic and unpredictable information environment that I have ever seen.
The digital and media landscape has shifted dramatically. Elon Musk rendered Twitter — once the place where political news was surfaced and shared — utterly unusable. Facebook, once the most dominant media platform in the world, moved away from politics and news.
People have turned away from political news since 2020. The reach and influence of traditional news organizations has dwindled. TikTok emerged as a major news source for younger voters, which poses all sorts of potential problems. It has never been more difficult for voters to follow the news or for politicians to get attention.
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RFK Jr Hires Jan 6 Rally Leader Via Mary L Trump at the Good in Us
Just when you thought Robert Kennedy Jr. couldn’t sink even lower, he just announced his new communications director is Del Bigtree… but there’s a problem for RFK.
When I saw the news, I recognized the name immediately: Bigtree is not only an anti-vaccine activist, but he was a speaker at the January 6 MAGA Freedom Rally.
Now, his secret is out:
A block from the Capitol, Del Bigtree took to the same stage as convicted seditionist/Oath Keeper Stewart Rhodes, just moments after Donald told a MAGA audience to “fight like hell.”
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Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello Has 3 Words For Fox Pundits Scared Of Political Music Via Huffpost (In response to Fox News whining about the Band Green Day adding an anti-MAGA phrase to American Idiot on New Year’s Eve.)
Morello responded to the clip on Twitter, formerly X, with 3 simple words: “Is that so?”
That sentiment was echoed by countless users who not only found the pearl-clutching on Fox hilarious, but utterly hypocritical. The conservative network has, after all, previously platformed right-wing artists like Ted Nugent and Kid Rock for their own hateful rhetoric.
“This same network gets analysis from Fabio and Paulie D,” wrote one user on X.
“The song was already (very unambiguously) about how much a republican and his supporters suck, I feel like I’m taking crazy pills,” wrote another about the “American Idiot” track. “Did they think it was a song about a random idiot going on adventures?”
