GOP presidential candidate Mike Pence sidesteps a question about protecting transgender Americans from violence

 

 When specifically asked what about what he would do as president to protect transgender Americans from violence, GOP presidential candidate Mike Pence gave an answer which completely ignored the question.

And while it shouldn't surprise anyone, it should get us all angry.

A mother of a transgender child broke down while confronting former Vice President Mike Pence about his LGBT policies during a NewsNation town hall on Wednesday. After Pence declared that as president he would “protect our kids from that radical gender ideology that’s taken hold in too many public schools,” moderator Leland Vittert called on a member of the audience, Melissa McCollister, to ask Pence a question. 

 McCollister, who could be seen crying, said: 

"Good evening, vice president. I am an LGBTQ member and I have trans individuals in my family. Recent anti-LGBTQ bills have been signed into law all around this United States, including here in Iowa. So far, in 2023, 15 transgender individuals and gender-nonconforming people have been murdered. The vast majority of those people have been Black and Latinx transgender women. It is very hard for me to ask these questions after just hearing what I heard. What is your policy plan to protect the transgender community, specifically Black and brown trans women from historically high levels of violence?"

This was Pence's answer: 

 Pence replied, “Well, Melissa, let me say I’m deeply grieved to hear about those tragic circumstances, and I hear your heart, and I’m moved by your emotion, I truly am,” before continuing: 

 "I’m a Bible-believing Christian. I have particular views of these matters and you have a different view of those, perhaps, but I want you to know I believe in the freedom of religion, I believe in the freedom of conscience, I believe in the right of every American to live, to work, to worship according to the dictates of their conscience and I’ll respect that. But I hope you also hear my heart on this. 

 For me, what adults do in their lives, decisions that they make, including transgender adults, is one thing, but for kids under the age of 18— there’s a reason why we don’t let you drive ’til you’re 16. In the state of Indiana, you can’t get a tattoo until after you’re 18, you can’t drink until after you’re 21, that’s because we understand that kids don’t fully understand the consequences of their actions … When it comes to surgical or chemical procedures, I just— I really believe that we’ve got to protect our kids from decisions that will affect them, the balance of their lives, while at the same time saying adults can make decisions according to the dictates of their own conscience." 

 Good Lord! That was a deliberate blow-off of her question.

 She didn't ask Pence about his personal beliefs. 

She didn't ask about gender-affirming healthcare.

And she certainly didn't ask for his thoughts and prayers.

She asked about action. She asked him what he would do to prevent violence against transgender Americans. 

How difficult would it have been for Pence say something generic about every American having the right to lead lives free of violence? How difficult would it have been for Pence to at least verbally denounced acts of violence against trans Americans?  

But no. Pence chose to repeat completely detached, obviously rehearsed (and very inaccurate) anti-trans talking points which have nothing to do with what McCloster asked. Pence claims to be a "Bible-believing Christian," but he can't give a constituent an honest answer or give her some assurance that he will protect her community from violence?  Excuse me? Mr. Pence, you are not running for Pastor of the United States. As president, you have a duty to protect all Americans from violence; not just the ones you deem worthy. And if you can't at least say that you would protect all Americans from violence, you need to drop out and let someone who will make that assurance take over.

Pence used his faith as a shield like the presidential candidate in the Stephen King novel, The Dead Zone, held up a child to dodge an assassin's bullet, but he didn't sidestep the question because he didn't have an answer. He sidestepped the question because he didn't want to give an answer. 

To remind folks, the question had nothing to do with his personal beliefs about transgender Americans. It had to do with how he would protect them from violence. And by his dodging, Pence gave us the unfortunate answer to the question.

Editor's note - This isn't the first time Pence has dodged direct questions when it comes to the rights and safety of LGBTQ people. In 2015 while he was Governor of Indiana, he was asked eight times by George Stephanopoulos​ of ABC's This Week if he opposed LGBTQ discrimination.

He would not give an answer:

Minnesota library won't ban LGBTQ-oriented book after community steps up

We have heard so many negative stories about libraries banning book. How about one with a happy ending for a change: This happened at the Carver County Library in Chaska, Minnesota:

It could have been a war of words, but instead it was a collective call from the community to keep a book on the shelves. "Gender Queer: a Memoir" By Maia Kobabe has become the most challenged book in the United States, according to the American Library Association. In July, a Waconia woman raised concerns about the book which detailed the author's gender identity journey. She then went on to file a request for removal which was at first denied, but after another appeal, the board discussed the book further during a meeting Tuesday night. Dozens packed the usually-empty meeting to make their voices heard on the issue. 

 . . . Erin Busse, the woman who advocated for its removal, did not speak during the meeting. During a meeting on Aug. 8, she described her concerns with the book saying, "This book is shameful and harmful, and to put it and allow it to be in the hands of children is sexual grooming." 

 Parents disagreed Tuesday. One resident said, "If you don't like it, don't read it. If it makes you uncomfortable, maybe you should examine why that is." 

This was the first time the Carver County Library Board considered removing a book. Nationwide, attempts are on the rise. The American Library Association says there were almost 1,300 demands to remove library books last year, the highest ever in its 20-year recording history.  In Minnesota, 22 demands were made with "Gender Queer" being the top title for removal. By the end of the meeting, the demand was unanimously denied by the board who had all read the book over the last month. "I was really quite amazed at how touching I found the book. I found it really, quite moving and also extremely informative," Secretary Frank Foss said. 

"Gender Queer" will remain in the adult-fiction section in Carver County.

This was nice. No noisy adults calling people groomers, no lies about "sexual instruction," no reading sexual book passages in order to shock people.  Just calm and rational discussions. This is what the book banners fear. And what we need more of. 

Below is the standing ovation the Carver County Library Board received when they voted to keep the 'Gender Queer'

Standing ovation for the Carver County Library Board after they voted to KEEP the book Gender Queer: a Memoir in circulation. It comes after a request for removal from a Carver County resident. More at 10pm @WCCO pic.twitter.com/pC1lr05Vt7

— Kirsten Mitchell (@Kirsten_TV) September 12, 2023

'GSA are giving LGBTQ+ students a place to fight for their rights' & other Wed midday news briefs

GSAs Are Giving LGBTQ+ Students a Place to Fight For Their Rights​ - Good cause they need it. Big time. 

The "Parental Rights" Fanatics Have Descended on LA - Mostly because these people right here who don't give a damn about kids, no matter what they claim. 

Florida City Declares Itself LGBTQ+ Sanctuary - This is good news. 

Will LGBTQ curriculum push Muslims, like conservative Christians, toward Republican Party? - The answer is more varied, but if I were members of the Muslim community, I would still be careful. Conservative Christians will stab you in the back and then claim that God told them to do it.

Happy 17th anniversary to Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters!!!

September is the birthday month of this blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters. Seventeen years ago, I created it as a way of announcing a self-published book of the same title.

The book - badly written and edited - died quickly but got me introduced to many folks. The blog, as it turns out, has lasted longer and has been monumentally successful. My entire goal was and continues to be calling out anti-LGBTQ tactics, lies, and junk science which threaten LGBTQ rights and health. I've seen a lot, gotten into a lot of national fights, lost some battles, and ultimately took part in a lot of national victories. And it has all been wonderfully brutal.

(Editor's note - for a good idea of how many fights I've been involved in, check out the 'Best of Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters Part 1 and 2' posts to the right)

I'm older now, my hair is grayer, my movements are slower, and I'm constantly besieged with primal doubts about this entire project.. Meanwhile, fake 'policy analysts' from religious right groups have been replaced by big money thinktanks funding a vast right-wing ecosystem with tendrils connected to so many parts of our government. Also, social media bloodsuckers . . . I mean influencers have been infesting the online world like computerized lice. They can always be counted on to amass an army of dumbasses via a distorted incident or mindless memes.

Now it's all directed to taking down the trans community. The anti-LGBTQ industry have gone after the community's rights, their safety, and their healthcare. Using the same tactics they've used in the past against the gay community - lies about kids being harmed, verbal  detransitioners (in my day, that type was called 'ex-gays,'), fake spokespeople, cherry-picked and junk science, and saturating the media with their narrative - the anti-LGBTQ industry have been pretty effective.

So what do we do? 

The first thing we do is to not be silent. To continue to tell our stories. Hell, continue to live our lives to the fullest. Don't allow fear to control us. Don't let these haters buffalo you. This is your country, your state, your city. You have a right to be here and a right to live.  And also, educate yourselves on the community. Don't assume that your definition of being an LGBTQ is the only one. Listen to each other before you talk.  Be vocal, especially in your community and to those elected officials who are supposed to be working for you. And help your trans brothers and sisters in any way that you can. When they come after one of us, they come after all of us.

And that's only a first step. But it's an important one which many of us don't do.

On the risk of sounding jaded, this is an old battle. The scapegoats are new and the techniques are new. But the tactics are still the same.  We've beaten it before and will do so again.

But it won't be pretty. None of our victories in the past have ever been pretty. But they've been victories. And sometimes that's all that matters.

'New CA law will block schools from banning LGBTQ+ books' & other Tue midday news briefs

A New California Law Will Soon Block Schools From Banning LGBTQ+ Books​ - I fully support this because of (see next news brief item) . . . 

Florida county banned a children’s book about a lion cub because 2 characters in it seem gay - . . . because of mess like this. 

Anti-trans activists rage at Pride flag boot sticker, only to discover it came from ‘gender critical’ store - Whoopsie. 

Statue in Michigan to honor first openly gay person elected to public office in the US - Haters will have to get over it.

The rights of trans kids are being ignored in the argument about 'parental rights'' & other Mon midday news briefs

Trans kids need right protections: It’s a privilege, not a right, to know your kid’s gender identity - People refuse to acknowledge that some trans kids are put in danger if their parents find out their gender identity. But it is a sad reality which NEEDS to be included in the 'parents' rights' conversation.

This drag performer called bingo at her local county fair for years. Then came the backlash.​ - This one has a happy ending. The backlash don't seem to be lasting. 

Worrisome new study on HIV stigma finds Gen Z has a lot of work to do - Yep. 

Queer History Lecture Prompts Vengeance From Alabama GOP - Trying to so hard to erase our history and not WHO gets hurt by it.

Former employee claims anti-LGBTQ group fired him for reporting alleged sexual harassment by another male employee. Now he is suing them.

The American Family Association has made a name for itself over the years with its attacks on the LGBTQ community. Now the group is being sued by a former employee who claims it looked the other while he was sexually harassed by another male leader.

From Religion News Service:

A former vice president of the American Family Association, a Mississippi-based conservative group that promotes “the biblical ethic of decency in American society,” has sued the religious-right group, accusing leaders of firing him after he reported alleged sexual harassment and financial irregularities.

 In a complaint filed Tuesday (Sept. 5), Robert Chambers, former vice president of policy and legislative affairs for AFA from 2015 to 2022, alleges that another staffer, Ron Cook, made repeated sexual advances toward him, beginning in January of 2022. 

 Those advances allegedly included grabbing hold of Chambers’ face and ear and making comments about masturbation, according to the complaint. “I see you’re really good with that wrist action,” the complaint alleges that Cook told Chambers. “You’d really like me to take you and get a hold of you.” 

 Chambers claims he was fired for reporting the harassment. The complaint alleges that AFA and its leaders violated federal law by retaliating against him as a whistleblower, creating a hostile work environment, unlawfully terminating him and slandering him. 

 The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, names Cook, along with AFA President Tim Wildmon, several of Wildmon’s family members who are on AFA’s staff, AFA Vice President Ed Vitagliano and others. AFA denies all of Chambers’ claims.

 AFA did not respond to a question asking if Cook was still employed at AFA. Cook’s LinkedIn profile describes him as AFA’s director of localization. His Facebook page describes him as a former director of localization. Cook declined to comment by text.

In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center called AFA a hate group for its various false claims about the LGBTQ community:

The AFA has been extremely vocal over the years in its opposition to LGBT rights, marriage equality and allowing gay men and lesbians to serve in the military. The group’s arguments are filled with claims that equate homosexuality with pedophilia and argue that there’s a “homosexual agenda” afoot that is set to bring about the downfall of American (and ultimately, Western) civilization. In one October 2004 article, the AFA Journal suggested that gay influences are leading to a “grotesque culture” that will include “quick encounters in the middle school boys’ restroom.” 

For years, until 2010, the AFA had a section on its website that supposedly exposed “The Homosexual Agenda.” There, a reader could find articles and other AFA publications that claimed LGBT people were trying to force the acceptance of homosexuality on children through sex education programs in schools; condemned companies like Disney for supporting LGBT rights and programming; and, also until 2010, featured a particularly noxious booklet the AFA had published in 1994. 

That booklet, Homosexuality in America: Exposing the Myths, included the bogus research of thoroughly discredited psychologist Paul Cameron as a source. One of the publication’s authors, Richard Howe, used Cameron’s “research” to claim that LGBT people don’t live as long as heterosexuals, that they’re more promiscuous and that the “disgusting details of the homosexual lifestyle explain why so many diseases are present in the homosexual community.” Another claim was that “prominent homosexual leaders and publications have voiced support for pedophilia, incest, sadomasochism, and even bestiality.”