A short history the far right's use of LGBT lives and liberal vulnerabilities to win elections
Back around 2004, there was a multi-faceted attack on same gender marriage:
Right wing groups realized that liberals care about freedom of religion - so they started the scare campaign that if same gender marriage were legal that churches would be forced to marry people in violation of their religious tenets. This is, of course, absolutely false. Catholic churches refuse to marry couples who were previously married catholics with a secular divorce, and many churches refuse to marry individuals who are not members of their faith community. Just because the law recognizes my right to marry does not force a faith community to perform the ceremony, any more than it forces the Catholic church to marry a previously divorced catholic. There were other campaigns - but this was, by far, the most effective among liberals. I had to spend hours convincing liberal friends - who had always supported my right to marry - that we shouldn't just settle for some form of marriage-light, rather than risking impinging on religious freedom.
Simultaneously, they teed up ballot initiatives and constitutional amendments to make same gender marriage doubly and triply prohibited. Nearly all states had gender-specific marriage laws already, so the initiatives to expressly forbid it by initiative or constitutional amendment were completely redundant, or doubly redundant if - as in Ohio - they had already passed an express law and chose to add a third prohibition (a constitutional amendment) on top of.
They had a massive campaign to drive church-goers to the polls (as a leader in my faith community I received lots of targeted communications giving me literature to pass out to my congregation to urge them to register to vote and to go to the polls in November 2004). The unstated goal for this cynical - completely redundant - use of my marriage was that once at the polls, those voters were disproportionately inclined to vote for George Bush.
They chose this issue specifically because (1) they knew that not all democrats were united on it and (2) they knew they could increase the liberal opposition to same gender marriage by the campaign that I started with. That meant that neither Kerry, nor any other candidate, could oppose these ballot initiatives because of alienating the existing or newly converted anti-marriage democrats. It also meant that I had to lend my support (door knocking, phone calling, etc.) to someone who publicly opposed my marriage - or risk losing the Supreme Court.
And then - the icing on the cake - the day after the election tons of folks on DU piled on LGBT folks for losing the election because we theoretically couldn't wait our turn for our sparkly pony - when it was not us who drummed up the completely redundant campaign to discriminate against our marriages. And - every LGBT person I know made the same choice I did - to remain silent in the face of the attack on our lives because no matter what we did the ballot initiatives were going to pass, but we needed to hold the Supreme Court.
They are doing it again - and some folks on DU (and elsewhere) are falling for it, again.
The issues of trans women using women's restrooms popped up yesterday, today it's the anti-trans athletes, and forcing trans teens to wait until adulthood to start medical transition was a hot topic not too long ago.
These are all issues manufactured by the right wing, framed in a way to entice liberal support (keeping women safe from rape, supporting cis women in athletes, protecting children who are too young to make decisions from themselves and indulgent parents)
Mark my words - they will be on the ballot as ballot initiatives or constitutional amendments in 2022, when retaining the house and senate will be critical. They will use the churches to get new voters for these initiatives/amendments who - while they are to spit on my trans friends will vote for the most conservative candidates around.
And we will help them again by falling for their sucker campaigns and carrying their water for them.
1. The gender marker on the door of a bathroom has not yet stopped a rapist. (Hmm . . . I really want to go in there and find a rape victim, but I guess I can't because the door says I'm not allowed. Give me a break.) Allowing trans women to use the bathroom that matches their identity is a far safer alternative for them than forcing them to use the men's bathroom, and does nothing to increase the risk in women's bathrooms.
2. The trans population is relatively small (less than 1%), and the trans athlete population is far smaller. The much-hyped possibility that a trans woman athlete will usurp the place of a cis woman is just that - hype. Further - there is a wide variation in both chromosomes and naturally occurring testosterone levels in the population presumed to be cis female. Gonna make laws governing their participation in sports too? Are you going to make every female athlete submit to a chromosome test and a testosterone level test to protect "truly" cis women?
3. For trans women, especially, going through puberty in the presence of male hormones makes permanent masculinizing changes that damage self-image and make transition at an older age far more costly and involved process, if part of the individual's goal is to be read as female by others. (My high school sweetheart had costly facial feminization surgery in her 50s, because one of her most significant fears in transitioning was that she would never be seen as anything but a freakish male in bad drag.) Suicidal thoughts and attempts are a significant issue in the trans teen populations - and comfort in one's own skin contributes to that issue. Puberty blockers are a decision best left to the trans individual and their doctors.
Please - stop carrying right wingwater in the current gambit to use LGBT lives, again, to win elections (in this case the house and senate)
**I will not be responding, in this thread to anyone who attemps to justify potty bills, supports baning trans women from participating in women's sports, or opposes the right for parents and trans teens to make their own decisons on pubery blocking medication.**
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