UPDATE - Mr. "Protect the Kids" blocked me. Or maybe Facebook took care of it. I DID report him.
Friday, July 28 will be the first anniversary of my beloved mother's passing. As you can guess, I am not in a positive condition emotionally or spiritually.
My mother knew I was gay and she knew vaguely of my activism (my blogging, etc). We never really talked about it, but she gave me a lot of support, as all good mothers would give to their kids. One of my most cherished moments was being with her in the car when I received news that I had won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Blog in 2017.
But other than that, she was never really involved in the things I've done for the LGBTQ community. I never felt the need to "pull her in," so to speak. So, you will forgive me for posting the following (click on the image to make it larger):
Apparently, this poor soul right here on Facebook (Picture below.) seems to think that since I support gender-affirming care for trans kids, I support "mutilation" and that makes me a pedophile. Subsequently to him, that makes my beloved mother . . . well you can read it for yourself.
He also threatened to shoot me.
Mr "Protect the Kids" also called me a racial slur (THE RACIAL SLUR) but he deleted that message. I guess he figured he had standards. But he did post the following on his Facebook page:
As strange as it seems, I am not angry in the least. Nothing he said about my mother hurts me. His ramblings can't ever diminish what a wonderful woman she was and how much I miss her. And to be honest, if he did physically come after me and she was present at the time, she would have whipped his ass. And that's no exaggeration on my part - my mother once used a chair very adeptly to defend my older brother against a physical attack.
But I recognize the opportunity this moron gives me to make a point about all of this hatred directed towards the LGBTQ (particularly the trans community) as of late.
I don't know this man. I never met this man. He chose to engage with me because apparently, he read something I posted about trans kids which got him so upset that he felt the need come for me and my family. It wasn't enough for him to call me names or threaten to kill me. He actually took the time to mine through my material in a sad attempt to anger me. And he thought calling my late mother ugly names would garner an ugly reaction from me. Trash is what trash does.
That's hate my friend. It's evil, ugly, and so destructive that it's sad. And what's worse, he claims to be doing it for the sake of protecting kids.
But plainly speaking, he's the end result of all of that shit you hear from people like Matt Walsh, Michael Knowles, Chole Cole and groups like Moms for Liberty, Libs of TikTok and Gays Against Groomers. He owns the fertile mind of ignorance they exploit with their lies and horror stories about child mutilation, pedophilia, and grooming. He's the type of gullible fool they exploit for hits, social media status, and money. And he is the type of monster they empower to bombard us (especially trans people) with the venom like you just read above on a daily basis.
What's genuinely sad is that there are more like him out there. Lots more. So when you hear people like me talk about people like him or the groups which feed into his mentality, it's not an overreaction on our part. It probably doesn't even begin to scratch the surface.
The age-old lies, insults and deliberate misinformation about gays, lesbians, transgender individuals and any other persons not defined by the complete heterosexual binary identity continue to persist. Partly it is because there are so many ignorant and uneducatable people who will believe the crap they hear or read on the internet. If anything has changed it's that the internet has made it easier and faster to reach a lot more people and to do so at arms length or anonymously. A pie in the face of Anita Bryant got attention. It was tangible. I'm not sure there is an internet equivalent for Mike Karl or others of his ilk. Our compatriots need to get creative.
ReplyDeleteMr. McEwen, I'm so sorry that you had this experience. While I'm sad that we must deal with such people, it hurts so much more that this happened on the anniversary of your mother's passing. My mother died eight (8) years ago, & just yesterday I was wishing I could call her to relay a funny incident that only she would appreciate. I can only imagine how you must feel after recently losing her. Please know that your story resonated with me. You're in my thoughts and prayers. Hang tough!
ReplyDeleteWhite male conservatives are aching to be given the green light to murder LGBTQA+ persons. I am glad you are physically safe right now.
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