Georgia version of 'Don't Say Gay' bill dies in committee. Done for 2023 legislative session

Will wonders ever cease?

From The Georgia Recorder:

A watered-down version of a bill opponents called Georgia’s version of “Don’t Say Gay” legislation appears dead in the water after failing in a crucial Senate committee Wednesday. The first version of the bill would have restricted schools, camp counselors and other authority figures from answering children’s questions about gender identity or sexual orientation. 

The latest version would have required all local boards of education to develop a policy for dealing with parental involvement and child privacy related to issues of gender identity. It also would have required all private schools or camps that planned to instruct children on issues of gender identity to get parental signatures first, with exemptions for religious schools or camps. A violation could have led to withholding of funds for a public school or loss of accreditation for a private school.

 . .  .Even the Georgia Baptist Convention opposed the bill. Lobbyist Mike Griffin said he appreciates the goal of encouraging parental involvement. “However, we have heard from many folks including our legal partners and activists from around the state on this issue with this bill, and we believe that this bill has dramatic unintended consequences for parental rights and for children in public schools as well,” he said. “Those concerns have not all been addressed, and so as it stands, we’re concerned with this bill, although we certainly share the motivation of the sponsors.” 

 Members of the Republican-controlled committee appeared to feel the same way. A motion to table the bill passed nearly unanimously, with Majority Leader Steve Gooch of Dahlonega the only one opposed.

'Mom says anti-trans law forces her to drive 4 hours across state lines to take her child to doctor' & other Wed midday news briefs

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Daily Wire host claims there can't be a genocide against trans people because they aren't 'a legitimate category of being'

Michael Knowles

Recently, Daily Wire host (and failed actor) Michael Knowles said transgenderism should be "banned." His comments caught a lot of deserved criticisms. Many pointed out that dehumanizing people by labeling them as abstract concepts makes it disturbingly easy to do them harm.

In other words, folks pointed out that Knowles was implying genocide. 

Knowles certainly didn't take the criticism well. In another video, he tried to "explain" what he meant but proceeded to dig deeper into the hole he made for himself. So deep in fact that he figuratively hit a sewer line which spewed its contents all over him.

To summarize his long-winded tangent -  he said you can't commit genocide against trans people because "they aren't a legitimate category of being."

In another chilling rant about the 1.6 million trans Americans, Daily Wire host Michael Knowles says that "there can't be a genocide" of trans people because "It's not a legitimate category of being... They're laboring under a delusion. And so we need to correct that delusion." pic.twitter.com/9BmrmZjWGR

— Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) February 28, 2023

Another person watching this clip pointed out the chilling truth behind it and Knowles's initial statement. Knowles is in fact rationalizing harming trans people and in the backdrop of many state lawmakers trying to pass anti-trans legislation across the country, it would be a mistake to take what he is saying lightly.

He reminds me of that eerie scene in the movie 'Silence of the Lambs' in which the serial killer deliberately doesn't talk directly to his kidnapped victim and refers to her as "it." In doing so, he doesn't have to acknowledge that she is a human being who he intends to murder.

I'm certainly not accusing Knowles of being a body-skinning serial killer. To me, he's much worse. He's a coward egging on others to do the dirty work while making excuses for them.

Related post - "We Must Ban Transgenderism Entirely" - Republican Operatives Increasingly Say The Quiet Part Out Loud

'Daily Wire host: 'You have to ban transgenderism entirely'' & other Tue midday news briefs

Daily Wire host: “You have to ban transgenderism entirely”​ - Trans people is not an "ism." This is so vile and it underscores why trans Americans are so scared right now. You would be scared to if people dehumanize you and then talk about "banning" you. And these folks aren't even shy about openly declaring it.

Dwayne Wade & Gabrielle Union powerfully call for Black trans rights at NAACP Awards - THANK YOU!! 

Number of Black LGBTQ+ Elected Leaders Surges in America: Report - Wonderful! 

Rand Paul’s wife is losing her sh*t on Twitter right now over some drag queens she invented in her mind - Gurrrrrrrrrrl?!

Tenn Gov Bill Lee's high school drag picture resurfaces as he pledges to sign anti-drag bill

Tenn Gov Bill Lee wants to sign bill into law which automatically make drag illegal to be performed in front of minors. But a high school picture of him in drag contradicts his anti-drag narrative.

The Tennessee state legislature just passed a bill which would categorize drag as sexually explicit and thus make it illegal to be performed on public property and in front of minors. Supporters of the bill claim that it is to keep children from being "sexualized." Opponents point out that the bill automatically categorizes drag performances and drag queens as sexually explicit even if they are g-rated, such as the Drag Queen Story Hour event.

 Tennessee Gov Bill Lee said that he will sign the bill into law. But there is an irony to the situation.

He's appeared in drag before. And in high school.

From Independent UK via AOL:

An image appearing to show Tennessee Governor Bill Lee in drag in 1977 has surfaced as the state looks set to impose a new anti-drag law. “As Tennessee moves forward to ban drag, enjoy a high school yearbook picture of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee in drag (Franklin High yearbook 1977, page 165),” a Reddit user wrote in a post on the subreddit Political Humor, sharing a picture of what seems to be Mr Lee in a photo above the caption “Hard Luck Woman”. 

 The image was widely shared on social media with users arguing that Republicans are hypocrites on the issue, mentioning that more recent images also depict New York Republican Representative George Santos in drag as the party attempts to utilise the issue in the so-called culture war. 

 Democrat Christopher Hale wrote on Twitter: “Tennessee Governor Bill Lee is set to sign a bill that bans and criminalizes drag across the Volunteer State. Under this law, Governor Lee himself would face prosecution and jail time for his decision to dress up as a ‘hard luck woman’ in high school. Nice legs though!” 

 Gov Lee was confronted  about the photo by a reporter from an online publication The Tennessee Holler   Instead of addressing the hypocrisy of the entire legislative exercise, he clung to the tired  right-wing canard of  "protecting the children,"

👀 WATCH: “Do you remember dressing in drag in 1977? Is it only illegal when gay people do it?” @GovBillLee didn’t appreciate that we printed out the FRANKLIN HIGH YEARBOOK PHOTO — but did not deny it’s him. Meanwhile he’s about to make drag a felony by signing an absurd law.🤔 pic.twitter.com/C7YQcQyis3

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) February 27, 2023

Nevertheless, as The Daily Dot points out, the hypocrisy of Lee wanting to sign a bill categorizing drag as sexually explicit even though the past picture of him in drag clearly refutes that notion was duly noted after the picture's release.

photo taken from The Daily Dot.

'Trans teen says school board trustee made him feel 'unsafe' because of personal comments about genitals' & other Mon midday news briefs

Transgender student ‘violated, dehumanized’ by Frisco trustee Marvin Lowe: complaint​ - This is disgusting and unfortunately it shouldn't surprise anyone. 

Christians could sue people who call them homophobic if this GOP bill passes - Our opposition has this ugly but delightful habit of not stopping themselves from going too far. 

7.2 Percent of U.S. Adults Identify as LGBTQ+: Gallup Poll - Which is probably why the anti-LGBTQ industry has been in such a frenzy. 

Florida GOP introduces “Reverse Woke Act” to require companies to cover de-transition care - Florida. Again.

Mississippi lawmaker called out for making false claims about trans teen surgeries

Those of us who've tracked anti-LGBTQ lies over the years have seen this happen numerous times -  anecdotal stories about kids being harmed in some way by LGBTQ culture turning out to be completely false. 

From Mississippi Today on Friday:

Sen. Joey Fillingane, defending a controversial bill that would ban gender-affirming care for trans minors, said on the Senate floor Tuesday he’d recently spoken with a Hattiesburg-based plastic surgeon who told him he’d performed gender-confirmation surgery on 17-year-old trans kids. That plastic surgeon, contacted Wednesday by Mississippi Today, says he didn’t tell Fillingane that and wants the senator to recant his statement.

 . . . Fillingane presented the bill to the Senate. He took many by surprise when he said he’d talked to “plastic surgeons in Hattiesburg” who told him they had “on occasion” performed gender-confirmation surgeries on 17-year-olds with parental consent. 

 . . . Dr. Paul Talbot, who founded the Plastic Surgery Center of Hattiesburg in 1998, told Mississippi Today he is the surgeon Fillingane talked to. He recalled the recent conversation with Fillingane — which took place after the men ran into each other at Revolution Fitness in Hattiesburg — differently. “It was a two-minute conversation,” Talbot said. “I was on one elliptical, he was on the other.” While they were exercising, Talbot said he told Fillingane he has taken on trans adults as clients but has never performed surgery on trans kids. “I’ve never done anybody (trans) under the age of 18,” Talbot told Mississippi Today. “He must’ve misheard that because no, we’ve never done that. Never had someone ask me under 18 to do it.”

Aside from this part, the article relates just how difficult it to for trans Mississipians to receive treatment in the first place.  In addition, the article brings up a good point when it comes to cosmetic surgery for trans Americans in comparison to cosmetic surgery for cis Americans:

The gender binary is not as clear-cut as some Mississippians might think, Talbot said. He thinks of cosmetic procedures for cis people as on the same spectrum as those for trans people. “Typically once you have them draped out in the operating room ready to do surgery, I couldn’t tell if it’s a boy or girl lying on the table,” he said. 

There’s no difference, he said, when it comes to the actual procedure: A mastectomy for a cis woman is performed exactly the same way as “top surgery” on a trans man. Still, in Mississippi and across the country, trans people face more barriers in obtaining the same procedures that cis people can get with little questions asked.