Wednesday, March 16, 2022

After attempting to erase LGBTQ mentions in schools and trying to jail affirming parents of trans kids, what is next for the anti-LGBTQ industry?

I'm wondering whether or not people will be smart enough to connect the transphobic drama in Texas, the 'Don't Say Gay' bill debacle in Florida and the several other instances of LGBGTQ Americans being targeted and undermined via the governmental and legislative process this year.

On the risk of sounding like a paranoid conspiracy theorist, I refuse to believe that these things sprang up spontaneously. These legislative and governmental processes are too meticulously crafted. Certain groups and persons took the utmost care in creating these bills with the goal of undermining LGBTQ rights.  It's certainly something to think about, as is their possible next step. Whoever they may be, my guess is that these folks won't stop with trying to erase mentions of LGBTQ people in elementary schools or trying to take trans kids away from their affirming parents. 

Perhaps this, maybe:


For the luckily uninitiated, this is Terry Schilling, head of a group called the Americans Principles Project. And as so many of us know, when any right-wing group comes on the scene with a name bragging about how pro-American or pro-morality it is,  LGBTQ folks just gained another enemy.

Terry and his group have been busy, if he is to be believed. Recently, he was bragging about how his group was instrumental in getting Abbott to issue his transphobic directive. In fact, Schilling claimed that his group spent $750,000 on the effort

“We put together a $750,000 grassroots advocacy campaign with the War Room support, and we put pressure on him right before the election,” Schilling said. “It wasn’t a coincidence that he did this. And Abbott basically instructed all of his state agencies to treat this as child abuse, and it’s now criminal to do this.” 

 Abbott, a champion of the conservative movement, has been accused of not being right wing enough by the Republican Party’s extreme fringes. Such attacks escalated ahead of Tuesday’s Republican gubernatorial primary, which Abbott easily won. In Schilling’s telling, Abbott has been insufficiently harsh on the LGBTQ community.

 Under Schilling’s leadership, APP—a religious-right organization that has made discriminating against trans kids its main endeavor—launched a Texas state chapter last year and targeted Abbott and other Republicans for not going far enough with the anti-trans legislation they passed. In February, APP released two ads attacking Abbott for failing to “protect our children.”

So if Schilling is to be believed, Texas families with trans children have literally been fearing knocks on their doors because of him. But it's not just about trans people. According to Media Matters, Schilling made the following remark about gay men

“Am I really a snowflake for not wanting to explain butt sex to my kids?”

I suspect that Schilling and his group will be appearing on a future SPLC listing of anti-LGBTQ hate groups. But for now,  I would pay at least a little attention to his attack on LGBTQ people who realize after they have entered heterosexual marriages that they need to be honest with themselves and their families.

Don't be surprised if what he wrote ends up in a less hysterical form on some state legislative bill.

1 comment:

Frank said...

Bermuda court recently reversed same-sex marriage. The "backlash" against LGBTQI people seems to be happening everywhere. What do these anti- people want and why? What is in it for them? I can see where politicians may thing it will get them votes, but people willing to give $705,000 to make criminals of parents who are providing support and nurturing care to their children is just insane. Trans folk have become an easy target, partly because their numbers are small compared to gays and lesbians and partly because most gays and lesbians are not motivated to stand up for their trans comrades. I'll be 74 next week and have fought the fight far too long. I thought we had made progress. How long before my marriage is dissolved and thrown away by some new law? I am so sick of republicans and christian fanatics/fascists.