Such an excellent article. The more of us who understand the bait and switch tactics used to distract, divide, dehumanize, and disempower us, the greater our empowerment to be empathetic and kind, caring and connected, compassionate and wise, and devoted to acting upon a highest good for us all. — Molly
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Americans voted for Republicans because they were promised a better economy, cheaper eggs, security, and the romanticized promise of becoming “great again.”
Therefore, MAGA Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina - a self-described feminist and rape survivor, who voted for a man held liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Caroll and who brags about grabbing women by the pussy - has introduced a measure to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms in the U.S. Capitol.
This is in response to the election of Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware who is transgender. What better way to show your family values, compassionate Christianity, and generosity than to maliciously target a transgender member of Congress? Yet, shockingly, Mace, who is a self-professed champion of women’s rights, has not come to the aid of the young woman who alleges she was sex trafficked by Rep. Matt Gaetz when she was a minor. She ignores all the women who allege that Trump sexually assaulted them. She is mute when it comes to condemning Fox host Pete Hegseth’s alleged history of sexual assault.
Odd, it’s almost as if Rep. Mace and Republicans don’t care about protecting young women and girls at all from predatory males and grooming. Every allegation against Democrats seems to be a confession.
For her part, Rep. McBride responded with dignity, grace, and compassion - you know, like a Christian.
But the Trans, Waj! What about the Trans! Think of the kids!
I am 44 years old. I grew up in the Bay Area about 50 minutes away from San Francisco, home of a vibrant LGBTQ+ community. During my days at UC Berkeley, I once went to the old Halloween parade that took place near Castro street with thousands of people, including straight folks, students, LGBTQ+ folks, and visitors who wanted to just take in the vibrant party scene. No trans people attacked me or turned me into LGBTQ+. Nope, I was and remain a boring heterosexual male who now drives a minivan and shops at Costco.
I’ve gone to Pakistan several times, specifically Karachi, an energetic and chaotic home to more than 20 million diverse people, including hijra, a term used for the transgender, intersex, and eunuch community. In Karachi, you can go to Friday’s prayer, leave the mosque and see women in hijab, men with beards, young students, and four or five transgender people all mingling and co-existing - and nobody cares. (BTW, Pakistan is one of a handful of countries that has a transgender category on government documents.) I saw many hijra as a kid and they never attacked me and seeing them in public never once made me consider, “You know? I should become hijra.”
All of this is to say I have some gray hair, some mileage, and I’ve seen and experienced some things, including near death experiences, kindness from strangers, some ugly Islamophobia, assault by the IDF in Jerusalem, tear gas in Istanbul from Turkish police, and a random dog attack in an elevator. I’ve traveled around the world. I’ve touched 6 of the 7 continents. I have been forced to use many public restrooms.
The one thing that has never happened is a trans person personally hurting me, my family, or my livelihood. They have never popped up next to me in a bathroom urinal and said, “Boo!” They have never tried to make a pass on me. They never punched me in the face. They have never said anything hateful or racist to me. They never proposed a Muslim ban. They never took away women’s rights. They never said, “I think Islam hates us.” (That was Trump.)
In fact, most of the time, they just mind their own business. I’ve even sat on a couple of panels with trans individuals and interviewed them when I was hosting at Al Jazeera America and for SXSW. My wife has never been harassed by trans people and my children so far have no trauma from that community as well. Last time I checked, trans people weren’t part of a violent insurrection against our democracy or part of a MAGA gang that took a shit on desks at the US Capitol and tried to assassinate our elected officials.
But, who knows? Maybe I’m an outlier. I engaged in Thomas Friedman journalism and asked Trump voters on Twitter and Blu Sky if they could identify a single, specific incident in their personal life in which trans people harmed them. It’s been two days and so far nada. Nothing. I also asked people who generally vote Democrat but think “the Trans issue” is one of the biggest crises facing America right now - not fascism, climate change, the price of eggs, mass shootings - if they could give me one example. None. Nothing.
Yet, still this country, and specifically the GOP, persists in targeting, fear-mongering, and demonizing one of the most marginalized communities in the United States of America which represents less than 1% of the population.
But this is nothing new. Every election cycle the GOP focuses on one minority group and creates a fictional, hyperbolic narrative about how they represent a threat to the majority, our security, and our well-being. Every election cycle, we keep falling for it. It’s a reboot. Back in the day, Sharia was about to take over America. The Muslims have been allegedly invading us since 9-11. It was a “caravan of invaders” in 2018, and after the election, magically, right-wing media completely forgot about the threat and barely mentioned it again. It was Mexican “rapists” in 2016 and Haitians eating our pets in 2024.
However, Republicans realized the Trans phantom menace was a winning issue ever since Governor Youngkin ran on “parent’s choice” and anti-DEI and anti-CRT bullshit and focused on lies that students were being groomed and indoctrinated. In 2021, I warned Democrats that this was a trial run for a national fear-mongering campaign that would be cynically used by Republicans for the 2024 elections. I know because it’s the exact same playbook they used in 2010 and 2012 against Muslims. Overnight, a non-issue of “sharia” became an international sensation after a concentrated, manufactured campaign by the entire right-wing hype machine ahead of the 2010 midterms. Within 6 months, people who had no idea what Sharia was were protesting that it had to be banned. Sound familiar? It happened with CRT and “woke”. We can’t define it but we have to ban it.
Republicans spent more than $143 million on anti-trans hysteria this election cycle with ads appearing during NFL football games. Sadly, it worked like gangbusters.
White supremacy, and specifically the GOP, play on grievances, rage, and divide and conquer. They’re excellent as an oppositional party that pours gasoline on our problems, but they offer no solutions. They are a terrible governing party. They win by pitting Black people against Latinos, Latinos against gays, POC against Muslims, white workers and POC workers, and on and on. “You’re suffering because that group is taking away your jobs and your security,” they say, while cackling as their assortment of rich, white men and women pillage our country and take all the resources for themselves.
Sadly, many POC and marginalized communities keep falling for the bait and switch. Unfortunately, we can’t undo the damage, but we can decide to say, “Enough,” and stop piling on the trans community who are simply seeking to live their life with peace and security.
Instead, let’s focus our attention, energy, and righteous anger against the real enemy: the GOP and its broligarchy seeking a right-wing authoritarian government that will plunder the country to line their own pockets as the rest of us stay confused, scared, and exhausted.
(Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware)
Please go here for the original article: https://thelefthook.substack.com/p/how-will-bullying-trans-people-get
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