16 Comments
Dec 20, 2023Liked by Erin Reed

They're not even trying to pretend this isn't Christian fundamentalist bigotry anymore. Hopefully Rep Pace's comments get used against him in the inevitable court challenge if this bill becomes law.

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Dec 20, 2023·edited Dec 20, 2023

If I lived in one of these states, I'd say that they violate my religious rights. And I don't mean the trolling Satanic Temple, but as a Jew.

See, the Talmud has not two, but *eight* genders (albeit on a binary axis). They are:

1. Male

2. Female

3. Both

4. Neither

5. MtF naturally

6. MtF artificially

7. FtM naturally

8. FtM artificially

So saying gender is immutable from birth violates my religious freedom.

If you think that religion can't contradict science, first of all, you should ask these transphobic legislators what they think about evolution, and also, you should ask real medical scientists (i.e. doctors) what they know about transgender people.

But I have my doubts.

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Dec 20, 2023Liked by Erin Reed

It’s so disgusting this unrelenting hatred and attack on trans people. I get so discouraged about it. There’s got to be something to turn these hateful people around. Thank you Erin for your leadership and dedication to help right these horrible laws.

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founding

Indoctrinating kids with hate and intolerance. A new line has been crossed

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I have a bone to pick and I think this is important: We too often translate the words of the bigots and know-nothings into a more passive, a more neutral, voice - such as, here: Pace didn't tell Dr. O’Brien that "it is 'cruel' to affirm transgender people," he said "it's cruel to affirm mental illness rather than treat [it]."

That is, he didn't just refuse to affirm, he actively denounced. He declared being transgender, indeed the very idea of being transgender, a "mental illness" in need of "treatment."

We - community members and allies alike - need to be equally direct in our language. Not ranting insults or arm-waving sneers but hard, cold words: Jordan Pace is wholly incompetent to make the judgments he made, with no more standing, training, or backing in science fact than some bottom-of-the-barrel Flat Earther.

And we should continue to be that direct. Remember the scene from December 6 when physicians testified on an anti-LGBTQ+ bill in Ohio, saying "You trust us on every other condition. Please, trust us on this one?" We should say the same but even more bluntly, telling legislatures (and those beyond), "Listen to the people who know what they are talking about. Because you don't."

Three footnotes:

1. I don't dismiss the value of mockery, humor, and ridicule as weapons. But they should always, as I have said many times, employ the rapier, not the bludgeon.

2. I checked Pace's campaign bio and there is no hint of any training in any field of science.

3. This spring, Pace was among those who backed a failed attempt to have getting an abortion subject to the death penalty.

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Funny.... I don't recall being born into a theocratic nation.... Just kidding, we always have been. I gotta say, all this hate isn't very Christ-like of them...

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Ugh. My mother lives in SC and my trans child wants to go visit her. I just can't. Gonna have to keep coming to us, Grandma.

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Maybe jackass Pace should repent, let’s give him plenty of time to do it on the unemployment line

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Missy Pace should keep her nose out of other peoples' business.

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