4th grader shames GOP Texas senators who have been "attacking me since Pre-K"

[DonViejo]

"I do not like spending my free time asking adults to make good choices."

By Bil Browning Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Ten-year-old Kai Shappley testified in front of the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday and schooled the legislators on how to be better adults. Shappley spoke against a proposed law that would brand her mother as a child abuser for supporting her daughter.

“I do not like spending my free time asking adults to make good choices,” she said. “Texas legislators have been attacking me since Pre-K. I am in fourth grade now.” Shappley sharply rebuked state Sen. Charles Perry (R) who tried to cloak his bigotry in religious beliefs.

“God created us all in his own image,” he told the committee. “We went outside that creation by our own accord and suffer with some of the consequences of being outside his will since the garden. This is another one of those issues that we find ourselves entangled in that unfortunately, the damage is to our most precious, precious being our children, not our personal lineage, but all of God’s children and the children in this state.”

“God made me. God loves me for who I am, and God does not make mistakes,” Shappley responded.

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Link to tweet

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full article
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/04/4th-grader-shames-gop-texas-senators-attacking-since-pre-k/

[Thomas Hurt]

1. Christofascists just love to think they are God-like and speak for God.

[Ms. Toad]

2. Kai, and her mother, identify as Christian.

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/a43702/transgender-child-kimberly-shappley/

I was raised as a devout, conservative Christian with strong Republican values in the South. It's a place where being different can not only be unforgiving, but unsafe. I was, and am, an active member of our local church. I used to lead a small ministry teaching Bible study, and I didn't support or condone those living the LGBTQ lifestyle. That was just part of the Christian makeup I'd been brought up to believe. I knew I'd instill those same principles in my children.

. . .

fter that, I started studying for a long time just about Jesus, getting to know more about His nature and character. I also read and reread His interactions with the Pharisees. The religious people of the Bible were always using scripture to justify their hateful actions, and Jesus consistently stepped in and asked them to view the scripture from the perspective of loving the person. So that's what I started to do. Online, I found a secret Facebook community of Christian moms of LGBTQ kids. It's a beautiful group with a combined total of more than 2,000 moms now. I found women who would pray with me and for me. I found a group of the least judgmental and loving Christian women I have met. They make me brave. I felt like I was armed with a new understanding of scripture. I had the support of other moms like me, who had been through the same thing I was going through.

. . .

I have surrounded my family with transgender men and women who are leaders in the community. They encourage Kai to be proud of who she is and where she comes from. We're building a stronger community together. When Kai was finally allowed to be her true self, she blossomed. I put princess panties in her drawer and she fell to the ground, hugging those panties and sobbing, saying, "Thank you, Mommy, thank you." Within a few short weeks of letting her transition, she was no longer lying, no bed-wetting, no more nightmares. I now have a happy, healthy, outgoing, loving, beautiful, sweet little girl who loves Jesus and loves her brothers.

[Hekate]

3. Thank you, Ms. Toad. That is a very moving essay. nt

[Thomas Hurt]

4. I did not say Kai and her mother were christofascists.

[Ms. Toad]

5. A lot of people on DU who use that phrase apply it to all Christians. n/t

[calimary]

6. "...and the children shall lead."

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. Wow, I hope this clip makes State wide TV news

[BobTheSubgenius]

8. How can they POSSIBLY look people - especially children - and tell them they are not worthy.

Not worthy of love, not worthy of govt. or other institutional services, not worthy of "their God's" grace? It must be soul-crushing to hear it, and it's proof that the speaker's soul and humanity have long since withered into a single, shrivelled black lump.

[hamsterjill]

9. That child is amazing!

So proud to see this in Texas! Sorry that Kai had to testify, but so happy to see the strength and resolve.

[crickets]

11. Agreed! What a wonderful, eloquent young girl. I'm all teary now. nt

[bringthePaine]

10. legislator spews fairytale horseshit, loses every point to exemplary 10-year-old👏

[MLAA]

12. When their service no questions for her, her reply was perfect

‘Seriously, none of y’all want to know more about me?’

[gratuitous]

15. Of course they don't

You start getting to know the object of your bigotry, you may make the mistake - fatal to your prejudice - of getting to know a person instead of concocting a caricature.

[MLAA]

18. Right on

[orleans]

13. here's the link to the short movie

about 17 minutes
https://www.them.us/story/aclu-film-series-transgender

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

14. What I want to know is exactly how the "Christians" who attack the transgendered

Are affected by them in any way. "We find the transgendered offensive" doesn't cut it -- after all, I find their bigotry offensive.

[GoodRaisin]

16. They aren't.

They just need to meddle into the affairs of others.

[SWBTATTReg]

17. So, the repugs in TX are up to their nefarious tricks and attacking families in TX, laboring under..

some nefarious and pathetic rationale.

I got a feeling IMHO that god has a special place for these idiots that strive w/ their every breath, to find something wrong w/ literally anyone and everyone that doesn't breath the air they breath, that doesn't eat the same food that they do, that doesn't believe or act the same way as they do, etc.

In short, these republican 'worthies' (I get sick when I say this) have to lie, blow up/magnify non-issues, distort, etc. in order to push their red buttons issues w/ their voters. What are the chances that when the bathroom issue was raging before (separate bathroom for transg. people or making them go to the bathroom of their birth gender), that any of these repug thugs would ever run across such a person? The percentages of Americans identifying themselves as transg. is fairly small, a very insignificant % of Americans, and yet, guess where the republicans are? In subcommittees all across this land of ours moaning and bitching about these relatively insignificant issues (of course not for those transg. people who are unfortunately having to put up w/ such abuse from repugs).

Somehow, I think that god has a psalm about treating these people as you would want to be treated in turn. I think that repugs have forgotten what god stands for (or worse).