Conservative pundit's latest attack on trans youth underscores bigots' shift from homophobia to transphobia

 

Matt Walsh

Wednesday evening I read something in Media Matters which nauseated the hell out of me:

The bestselling “LGBTQ+ Book” on Amazon is Johnny the Walrus -- a hateful picture book by The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh that compares the gender identities of trans youth to a young boy who imagines he is a walrus. Amazon mislabeled the book into its LGBTQ+ Books section and, as a result, is promoting harmful anti-trans views to its consumers interested in LGBTQ stories. 

Walsh is a prominent podcast host at The Daily Wire, a right-wing media outlet and a cesspool of bigotry and hatred which frequently targets the LGBTQ community. Walsh himself has

a long record of espousing extreme anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, including falsely comparing best practice medical care for trans youth to “molestation and rape” and calling doctors who serve trans youth “pedophiles” -- and now he has used Amazon’s mislabeling to claim he is an “LGBT author” and “one of the leading LGBT voices in the country.” 

 Johnny the Walrus is an anti-trans allegory that compares a child imagining that he is a walrus to society affirming and accepting trans youth, including by providing lifesaving, best practice medical care when kids go through puberty. In reality, research shows that transgender youth are best able to succeed when their teachers and families accept and affirm their gender identity, which has been proven to reduce their risk of experiencing depression, homelessness, and suicidal ideation.

Supposedly this book is a top seller. Don't be fooled by that. I bet that just like they do to get their books on best seller lists, conservatives probably bought copies of this mess in bulk. And I also doubt the reviews are genuine. 

But more to the point, as Media Matters pointed out in the excerpt I provided, there is plenty of accurate information out there regarding trans children and it all contradicts Walsh's inferences. But Walsh isn't interested in giving out facts. He is only interested in trolling, passing along lies, and exploiting fears. And not just him. As the excerpt tells, he is getting plenty of help from Fox News and others in the conservative industry in amplifying this mess.

Walsh and his cohorts are yet another bit of proof of how the parameters of anti-LGBTQ bigotry have shifted.  As society is becoming somewhat more at ease with gays, these bloodsuckers are now targeting the trans community with the same tactics they used against gays, particularly the implication that the so-called 'trans ideology' is a danger to children. We saw this earlier this year with a trashy, discredited book from hack journalist and author Abigail Shrier.

It's relatively easy to distract people from facts by appealing to their egos and prejudices. Goodness knows that us gays have had to deal with it in the past:

As have so many other targeted groups:

It never changes. Only the targets who are selected by their vulnerability.

'Wonder Woman finally getting queer romance in new DC comic' & other Wed midday news briefs

Wonder Woman Is Getting the Queer Romance She Deserves in New DC Comic - It certainly took them long enough. I can just hear certain people whining about "wokeness" when it comes to Wonder Woman. Good. 

This country just became the 31st nation to legalize same-sex marriage - Way to go, Chile! 

$2.2 million settlement for family of transgender woman who died in Georgia men's prison - Give it up, turn it loose! The money, that is. 

Leading Free-Market Policy Network Enabling Anti-LGBTQ Hate - We need to talk about ALEC.

Former CA highway patrolman wins $2 million settlement in anti-gay lawsuit

In spite of what some people may think, LGBTQ folks can do any job we set out to do, including that of police officers. Some may stereotype us as weak, but as the case below proves, it is the homophobes who are weak. Ex-California highway patrol officer Jay Brome's successful lawsuit against his former employer proves that point. To the tune of $2 million.  

His victory took place in  October but based upon how Brome was harassed, this entire situation needs more attention focused on it.

From Q Voice News: 

Brome was a CHP officer from 1996 to 2015, when he took medical leave due to the stress of the homophobia he encountered. It began when he was in the police academy and continued throughout his CHP career. 

“There was bullying or name-calling — ‘fag,’ ‘gay,’’’ Brome told The Sacramento Bee in 2018. “I had an instructor that told me … to take my skirt off and start acting like a man.”

 At one point at the academy, according to his lawsuit, a fellow cadet aimed a training gun at his head and said, “I know you’re gay, tell me you’re gay or I’ll pull the trigger.” 

And as the article points out, once Brome graduated from the academy, things got worse. Exceedingly worse.

'Seventh-grader dies by suicide after being told he'd go to hell for being gay' & other Tue midday news briefs

Seventh-grader dies by suicide after being told he'd go to hell for being gay - Breaks my heart and really p!sses me off. After all of that nonsense about Critical Race Theory and supposedly gay pornography books in school libraries shoved down our throats, we get nothing but crickets for this. THIS is more important, but apparently right-wing think tanks aren't funding the survival of our kids

Florida Dept. of Education yanks anti-bullying resources from website - Who else but that SOB DeSantis? 

A 74-Year-Old Man Was Arrested For Threatening To Shoot And Bomb LGBTQ Groups And Attack NYC Pride - For crying out loud!

Federal Court To South Carolina: Fulton Doesn’t Do What You Think It Does - South Carolina thought SCOTUS gave them an avenue to practice anti-LGBTQ discrimination. Guess what? 

Bob Dole dies at 98; anti-LGBTQ record is part of his legacy - Sorry, Bob.

Hilariously fake Christmas card accidentally reveals Donald Trump's true personality

Time for something frivolous and funny. Earlier today, the Christmas card above was sent out on Twitter supposedly from former president Donald Trump. 

After much, much derision and vulgar comments (I even contributed a "Winter White House, my black ass!!"), it was determined that the card was a fake. 

Damn.

Oh well. A fake Christmas card for a fake president.  Even better - it matches his personality.  Donald Trump has always been a surly dick

'Strip searches, trauma, isolation: Trans men describe life behind bars' & other Mon midday news briefs

Strip searches, trauma, isolation: Trans men describe life behind bars - No matter what, everyone deserves to be treated like the human beings they are.

Multiple NFL players are supporting LGBTQ-friendly causes on the field this weekend​ - Good for them! Visibility for our kids is always a positive thing.

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson Says Fauci ‘Overhyped’ COVID-19 Like He Did AIDS - Sen. Johnson, a couple of folks would like to have a word with you . . . 

Maggie Gallagher lost the fight against marriage equality, but is now back with another anti-LGBTQ group - Repost from last night because the return of that awful Maggie Gallagher needs to be big news. 

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's LGBTQ comments could cost the GOP, some Republicans say - That would be lovely because this man as governor scares the heck out of me. Heck, him as dogcatcher scares me.

Maggie Gallagher lost the fight against marriage equality, but is now back with another anti-LGBTQ group

Since losing the fight against marriage equality, Maggie Gallagher has stayed somewhat out of sight. But now, she's back with a new anti-LGBTQ group.

Last week,  People for the American Way's Right-Wing Watch alerted me to the return of an old enemy of LGBTQ equality:

The anti-LGBTQ American Principles Project has launched its first state chapter in the Lone Star State with the goal of mobilizing conservative Texas families in politics and fighting so-called “gender ideology” in schools. APP Texas’ first targets aren’t Democrats however; they’re Republicans. Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican legislators passed anti-trans legislation this fall that APP President Terry Schilling says doesn’t go far enough in discriminating against trans people.

Abbott signed House Bill 25 into law on Oct. 25, effectively preventing trans kids from playing on teams that correspond to their gender identity. The law requires kids to play on the sports teams corresponding to the sex assigned to them on their birth certificates, but it only applies to K-12 schools and does not include Texas colleges. That’s likely a result of an NCAA statement made this spring. In April, as scores of anti-trans bills were introduced in state houses across the country, the NCAA released a statement supporting trans athletes and said the collegiate conference would only have games and tournaments in states “where hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination.”

 In other words, the American Principles Project is going to be another one of those dreary 'traditional values' groups attempting to denigrate and stigmatize LGBTQ people (as if we don't have enough of those.) I caught a quick look at its webpage and saw a familiar face in its listing of staff members.

Maggie Gallagher is a senior fellow at American Principles Project, and a co-author of the APP reports, Building a Winning GOP Coalition: The Lessons of 2012 and The Case for Politics: Why Conservatives Must Invest Seriously in Politics. She has been a thought leader on life, religious liberty, and especially marriage for more than 25 years. Ms. Gallagher is the author of four books on marriage, including The Case for Marriage with University of Chicago Prof. Linda J. Waite, and her latest book, Debating Same-Sex Marriage, which she co-authored with Prof. John Corvino. 

After founding and running a think tank on marriage — the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy — Ms. Gallagher went on to co-found the National Organization for Marriage in 2007, which The Washington Post called the “pre-eminent organization” fighting the imposition of same-sex marriage. Her Weekly Standard piece “Banned in Boston” launched a national debate over the religious liberty consequences of same-sex marriage.

Allow me to give a short summary of just who Maggie Gallagher is in light of her return.

For those who don't know, Gallagher was the public figure and face against marriage equality during those tumultuous fight. She was very good in forming narratives against marriage equality, particularly the one which claimed that those who opposed it were the victims because they were being 'unfairly cast as victims' simply because of their religious beliefs. And she portrayed herself as someone who supposedly had no problems with LGBTQ people, but was concerned about how we were supposedly going to harm the " long standing traditional meaning" of marriage. Her side had a lot of success in winning statewide ordinances against marriage equality AND anti-discrimination ordinances. 

And she loved gloating about it:

Flashback: When #Oregon native Maggie Gallagher gloated that “it’s really fun to win.” She is absolutely right!!! http://t.co/icGhrEjo2e

— Jeremy Hooper (@goodasyou) May 19, 2014

But the success began to trickle away and part of it was due to Gallagher herself.