This post is for those that mistakenly thought these anti-drag bills were about protecting kids from sexualized burlesque type shows. The law is written very clearly to stop men from dressing like women and women from dressing like men in public. That was the intent from the beginning of this anti-drag queens stuff, the republicans just had to frame it as protecting kids from sex to get the public to accept it. Hugs
It’s aimed at banning minors from “sexually oriented performance,” which the bill initially defined as a “male performer exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male.” If the bill becomes law, drag performers could face a criminal misdemeanor charge if they perform in front of children or on public property, and venues that host drag performances could face penalties up to $10,000.
“This legislature has spent more time targeting queer people than gun violence.”
A Texas drag performer was escorted out of a public hearing on one of the state’s anti-drag bills.
As NBC affiliate KXAN reports, the Texas House of Representatives State Affairs committee held a public hearing on Wednesday to discuss S.B. 12, which was passed by the state senate last month. It’s aimed at banning minors from “sexually oriented performance,” which the bill initially defined as a “male performer exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male.” If the bill becomes law, drag performers could face a criminal misdemeanor charge if they perform in front of children or on public property, and venues that host drag performances could face penalties up to $10,000.
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He used to rail against drag queens performing in front of kids. Now one of his colleagues said he’s the “type of man who steals innocence.”
At Wednesday’s hearing, the committee was considering removing any mention of drag from S.B. 12.
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Austin drag performer Brigitte Bandit was one of nearly 400 people who signed up to testify, the overwhelming majority of them opposing the bill, according to KXAN. Bandit appeared before the committee in a dress bearing the names of the victims of the Uvalde and Allen mass shootings to argue that the real danger facing the state’s children is gun violence, not drag queens.
“This legislature has spent more time targeting queer people than gun violence, even following yet another mass shooting in our state,” she tweeted on Wednesday.
After reportedly speaking 15 seconds over her allotted time, Bandit was escorted out of the hearing by security.
while wearing the names of the victims of the Uvalde and Allen shootings and after waiting 13 hours to speak, I was escorted out by police for testifying seconds over my allotted time to address the real harm that threatens TX kids: gun violence, not drag queens. pic.twitter.com/nyQiEg20n9
“It is mentally and physically painful to feel like you are trapped in the wrong body. Going through puberty for the wrong sex is like having your body betray you on a daily basis. The only treatment we have found to be effective and give our daughter hope again is hormone therapy. The difference we have experienced is night and day and there is no going back. Taking away this crucial medical care is inhumane and a violation of our rights. We will fight this law for our daughter and every other family whose rights are being trampled.”
While the wave of anti-trans legislation has been hard to witness, we are seeing the beginning of the fight back in the courts. Gender affirming care bans are challenged in 9 states now.
States where gender affirming care bans are being challenged in court. ———————————————————————————— Please support my independent reporting and activism on transgender legislation by subscribing. You help me keep this going and keep people informed.
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Amid a surge in anti-trans legislation in the US, attorneys prepared to mount a strong response. Their counterattack has finally arrived. In recent months, lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Department of Justice, National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Lambda Legal, and several other organizations have contested laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth in states nationwide. Success stories are emerging, as seen in Missouri, where a temporary restraining order has blocked the ban. With seven states facing lawsuits challenging such bans added in the last few months, the total number of states being sued over gender-affirming care prohibitions now stands at nine.
Many of these lawsuits are spearheaded by the ACLU, a prominent force in the fight against gender-affirming care bans. In seven out of nine states facing legal action, the ACLU serves as a primary organization representing the plaintiffs. Florida and Alabama stand as the exceptions, with Southern Legal Counsel, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the Justice Department, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights leading the challenges there. The NCLR and other organizations have also been active and serve as co-leads in states like Kentucky. The ACLU has played a significant role in opposing these discriminatory laws this year.
Earlier, the organization’s Deputy Director of Transgender Justice, Chase Strangio, delivered a powerful testimony against an anti-trans bill in Tennessee. In his testimony, he confidently asserted, “Tennessee will not be able to defend these laws.”
See his testimony here:
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Shortly after the Tennessee bill was passed, the ACLU challenged it in court on behalf of a 15 year old transgender girl. In a press release from the ACLU, the girl, whose name is not shared, stated,
“I don’t even want to think about having to go back to the dark place I was in before I was able to come out and access the care that my doctors have prescribed for me. I want this law to be struck down so that I can continue to receive the care I need, in conversation with my parents and my doctors, and have the freedom to live my life and do the things I enjoy.”
The ACLU is attempting to ensure that the law meets that fate.
Today, Montana became the latest state to face a lawsuit over its gender-affirming care ban. Montana has emerged as a hotspot for some of the harshest anti-trans laws and actions this year. With a gender-affirming care ban, drag ban, prohibition of gender markers on driver’s licenses combined with a rigid definition of sex that excludes transgender individuals, and the expulsion of the state’s first trans woman representative from the House floor, Montana has become a focal point for legal observers. The lawsuit is supported by prominent organizations, including ACLU Montana, Lambda Legal, and Perkins Coie, who are all committed to combating anti-trans measures in the state.
Jessica van Garderen, mother of a trans daughter in Montana and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, was quoted in a joint statement:
“It is mentally and physically painful to feel like you are trapped in the wrong body. Going through puberty for the wrong sex is like having your body betray you on a daily basis. The only treatment we have found to be effective and give our daughter hope again is hormone therapy. The difference we have experienced is night and day and there is no going back. Taking away this crucial medical care is inhumane and a violation of our rights. We will fight this law for our daughter and every other family whose rights are being trampled.”
There is ample reason to believe these lawsuits will succeed. So far, legal challenges against gender-affirming care bans and anti-trans policies have been effective. Bolstered by the recent Supreme Court precedent in Bostock v. Clayton County, judges recognize that discrimination against transgender individuals constitutes sex discrimination and is prohibited under US law. Such policies also infringe on transgender people’s due process and equal protection rights.
In Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas, courts have enjoined gender-affirming care bans and child abuse enforcement measures. Recently in Missouri, a series of bans and restrictions targeting even adults were blocked, and this injunction will remain in place for at least two months while the case is under deliberation. It is clear that judges have shown little tolerance for anti-trans legislation.
States where lawsuits on gender affirming care bans have been filed include the following:
As the legislative season dies down, the narrative around transgender legislation is likely to slowly shift. Fewer laws will be passed targeting the community, although some states with legislative cycles that run throughout the year will continue to demand coverage. The focus will shift toward a massive, nationwide mobilization of constitutional lawyers dedicated to dismantling the anti-trans legislation that has proliferated this year. Considering their previous successes, news of victorious lawsuits should uplift the community during this phase. This period commences now.
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Republicans refuse to allow anyone to speak against what they want to do, even if that person is a fellow republican. This is because they demand to rule the public, not to serve the public. They demand power so they can use that power to force all others to follow their conservative religious dictates. And this is happening all over the country, as we have seen. Hugs
It happened again. Representative Chris Sander, a gay Republican, raised his hand to speak on a bill. Republicans instead chose to silence opposition and did not allow him to speak.
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The Republican Party has repeatedly barred discussion on LGBTQ+ bills this year. Despite holding supermajorities in numerous instances, they have frequently silenced oppositional voices. Notably, in Oklahoma, GOP members censured Representative Mauree Turner, a Black, nonbinary representative. In Kentucky, an attempt was made to hold a hearing without any Democratic representatives. This was announced during a lunch break when microphones were turned off. A recent incident in Montana saw transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr ejected from the house floor and silenced simply for speaking to the harm these bills cause, preventing her from commenting on anti-trans bills. Today, in Missouri, the GOP restricted Democrats to 15 minutes of debate against a bill prohibiting gender-affirming care for trans youth. During the vote, gay Republican Rep. Chris Sander was denied the opportunity to speak against the bill despite signaling his intent, keeping his hand raised for the entirety of the vote.
The bill itself, SB49, bans gender affirming care for transgender youth. Though it grandfathers youth already receiving treatment in, there will be many trans youth on waitlists who will be entirely shut out. It also bans Medicaid coverage for transgender adults and surgery for transgender incarcerated individuals. All of these provisions are separate from the ongoing attempt by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s decision to limit most care for transgender adults, banning many of them from transitioning – that decision is currently blocked in court awaiting a final decision.
In a scene eerily familiar to many people who have paid attention to floor debates over anti-trans legislation, Missouri House Speaker, Rep. Dean Plocher, enacted a motion that restricted Democrats to a meager 15 minutes of total discourse on the bill. This appeared to be a calculated move to expedite the bill’s passage with minimal opposition. House Minority Leader, Representative Crystal Quade, used some of her time to denounce this tactic, arguing it silenced representatives’ speech and, in effect, muffled the voice of the citizenry they represent. This contention closely mirrors a recent incident in Montana involving Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who faced silencing and exile when the house speaker there denied her the right to speak.
That comparison would quickly grow stronger as a Republican, Representative Chris Sander, raised his own hand to speak. Local reporter Emily Manley reported that he was never called on despite continually keeping his hand raised. Because Republicans have a choice as to whether they acknowledge their own party member, they opted to not do so.
You can see Rep. Quade’s initial criticism of the GOP’s silencing tactics and Rep. Sander’s hand raised in this video:
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Christian conspiracy theorist Sean Feucht freely admits “we want Christians to be writing the laws of the land”
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“We want Christians to be writing the laws of the land according to the Word of God,” writes Christian Nationalist Sean Feucht in a new piece for Charisma. Rather than disavow the label as something pejorative and unfair, he’s fully leaning into the notion that Christians like him should be in charge of government and creating rules that benefit only his tribe.
Sean Feucht, Christian Nationalist
To which I can only say… great. Thank you for admitting it. It’s always helpful when Christian Nationalists openly admit their desire to live in a theocracy.
It’s not Feucht’s first time doing this, either. He’s spent the past few months echoing this extreme rhetoric to the people showing up at his events, often alongside right-wing politicians and organizations.
The issue here isn’t that he’s a Christian who thinks society would be better off adopting Christian beliefs. That’s basically how all religions work. What’s troubling about his comments is that Feucht (which aptly rhymes with “exploit”) believes his specific brand of Christianity should become law and that everyone who disagrees isn’t just wrong, but an enemy of his fantasy world.
That’s not me saying it. I’m just paraphrasing what he’s already said:
Perspective changes when the political issues of the age are properly framed into a spiritual context. The transgender movement? Rebellion against, “male and female He created them.” Homosexuality? Rebellion against, “a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”
We have seen a clear unveiling of the secular progressive agenda over America: abortion on demand up until the moment of birth, the normalization of pedophilia and child sexualization and the castration of perfectly healthy children in the name of “gender-affirming care.” This the fruit of anti-Christian leaders employing and legislating dark agendas over our nation.
It is not controversial for us to boldly declare that we want Christians to be writing the laws of the land according to the Word of God.
What’s unsaid in his piece is who would suffer at the hands of this Christian ruling class.
There is no place for Muslims, Jews, Hindus, or atheists in his ideal world. They could exist, sure, but their religious needs would never be treated on the same level as a Christian’s wants.
There would be no room for progressive Christians, either. Feucht doesn’t see them as real Christians, anyway. People who are LGBTQ wouldn’t be tolerated. Preachers’ daughters in need of an abortion would be screwed. Those who went outside the boundaries he’s created in his mind would automatically be declared “groomers.”
In that sense, he’s repeating what conspiracy theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenesaid last year: “We should be Christian nationalists.” She even sold shirts to that effect:
This isn’t a bad apple or two. This is a spoiled orchard.
And yet this may be even more frightening coming from the perpetually paranoid Feucht. By pretending to be persecuted, he convinced a bunch of followers to join him in COVID super-spreader concerts in the name of Christ during the height of the pandemic.
It’s bad enough that we have Republican politicians using Jesus as justification for thoughtless legislation. It’s appalling, though, to have powerful conservatives, amplified by propaganda outlets, claim that the problem with America is that we don’t have enough of those politicians.
But at least there’s a fair way to describe them: They are Christian Nationalists. They are theocrats who claim to be patriots while torching the Constitution. They are people who see what’s happening in Islamic nations and, rather than being horrified, get jealous. Their religious delusions should be countered and criticized by all decent people, and yet there are plenty of Christian pastors who refuse to say anything negative about people like Feucht from their pulpit. They are more than willing to let other Christians hijack their faith for political ends. If they’re too cowardly to say anything useful, it’s all the more reason for sensible Christians to ditch their churches entirely.
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A clear easy to understand explanation of the difference between sex and gender, and how transitioning makes the body intersex. Which doesn’t determine gender. Also I like how he gives the medical information about how all fetus templates have the ability to be both sexes or somewhere between, and he asks how a trans woman and a cis woman who can not produce children are both still women. Hugs
It has progressed to crazy town the rights’ obsession with gender stereotypes. Don’t they get that kids don’t care about what people in the 1950s were forced to endure in gender roles? Kids like bright colors and manufactures like to use the same patterns for each gender as it saves them money. These people have to get over the idea that somehow putting a 2 year old in a pink onesie is going to make them gay or trans. This is taking the culture gender war to extremes and a really weird place. Hugs
Brigitte BanditPhoto: Screenshot/TikTok
Scottie's Playtime 