LGBTQ+ Rights and America

"I only see love!"

I Reject Your Reality in real time.

There's also the tactic of not directly saying that you hate a marginalized group, but just endlessly "ask questions" about it.

This is the thing Jesse Singal does. He is 100% anti-trans. But because his whole angle is basically "are children being forced to be trans? I am going to talk to parents of trans people to find out! What do you mean I should talk to the actual trans people, they aren't going to validate my positio- ...uh, I mean they're not necessarily going to be able to tell that they got brainwashed, that's right!" it creates a level of plausible deniability that a lot of people jump on.

The thing is, I think he's probably tricked himself into thinking he's not anti-trans, but all he's managed to do is cause a ton of damage and empower people who are a lot more willing to be open and upfront about it.

You can see this tactic used against basically any marginalized group, where the person sounds reasonable, but you realize they're only talking to people who are already suspicious and negative about said marginalized group. or they're complete idiots like Matt Walsh who manages to make himself look like a complete blithering moron in his own documentary

Edited by Zendervai on Apr 17th 2023 at 11:52:14 AM

Ugh, I really hate that kind of weasel word passive aggressive bullshit. Give me direct aggressive bigotry any day over that garbage — at least that kind of bigot is more honest about it.

It's more insidious.

It allows them to frame the conversation as them "just asking questions" and so if the people they're targeting speak out, it gives them the opening to present the marginalized group as fanatical, unreasonable, and dangerous.

Especially since most people — mainly those who don't have to worry about being targeted anyway — care more about tone than anything. They'll respond better to seemingly polite "questions" intended to cast doubt on whether some people should exist, and get upset at said people when they get understandably pissed in response.

“Why do the woke crowds get so mad when I ask them to die? I think they’re advocating genocide!”

It's all just DARVO tactics.

With the anti-trans group though, it's kind of interesting how, uh, bad some of them are at it. I mentioned Matt Walsh and like...he did that "what is a woman" documentary and the primary throughline in that is that he appears to have never heard of anything, ever, and every single person he talks to seems way smarter than he does. He can't even really counter anyone, it's just "but you don't have a one sentence definition, therefore you're wrong." Like, he makes Philomena Cunk look well informed and serious.

You also get terfs in the UK who don't seem to understand the approach, so they slip up and reveal a deep dislike of all queer people.

The primary person doing it in the US is absolutely Jesse Singal though, and his reputation seems to be getting worse and worse among his readers, which is interesting. It looks like he's doing less and less vetting and his most recent thing resulted in him violating HIPAA regulations (he can get super sued over that) and exposing a clinic employee who legally needs to be fired and who, as far as I can tell, was basically immediately fired the instant Singal published his article.

Edited by Zendervai on Apr 17th 2023 at 4:19:06 AM

I know it was last page, but the word choice was deliberate, and yes, that's exactly what I meant.

Edited by Perseus on Apr 18th 2023 at 5:32:48 AM

Finally after getting away with a ton of BS Matt Walsh has been demonetized on You Tube due to his deranged crusade after Dylan for the single Bud Light ad.

One of the Pick Mes of The Daily Wire Brett Cooper was also banned from tiktok.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Apr 19th 2023 at 4:01:43 AM

Major reactionary content creators are always backed by far-right billionaires. I highly doubt that Walsh is any different. Which in practice means that demonetization is toothless.

As long as Youtube isn't banning him they're defacto enabling his hate.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Apr 19th 2023 at 4:45:00 AM

Protestors also showed up against Knowles for being allowed to speak at the University of Pittsburgh yesterday.

Daily Wire claims he had to be evacuated.

Florida Gay Pride Parade Canceled After Anti-Drag Show Law Passes

A pride event in Port St. Lucie was cancelled in anticipation of an anti-drag law that's expected to be signed into law by Ron Desantis that would threaten any event where children are in attendance that have "lewd" performances with fines and loss of food/liquor licenses.

I hope Disney can hurt Desantis's wallet, it is the only thing he'll listen to. He won't listen to reason or respond to anybody asking for compassion.

Just something I want to ask regarding all the new, hateful efforts to ban trans kids from competing as their gender, because my mom thinks it isn't a bad things because trans girls have an innate advantage against cisgender girls: what is a good rebuttal to use?

Because the only thing I could say to her was something along the lines of 'we've gone done another step on the road to erase trans people' and she just decided to stop talking and sounded mad. I like my parents, and I think they're good people, but I want to make a point to them.

That's the best argument you can make, going into the weeds of research isn't going to accomplish anything and from what I've seen it's not actually clear one way or another if trans women do have an unfair advantage.

You were right to emphasize that it's just a weapon to murder trans people. Another argument you might consider using is that players have biological advantages all the time, Michael Phelps was a literal mutant who had a massive advantage over other swimmers due to his biology, and there are many other examples. Point out that we tolerate intrinsic advantages all the time but now people are suddenly having an absolutist attitude about the issue when it applies to trans women (and some black women with chromosomal abnormalities- but that's a different topic). It's a massive red herring.

Thank you.

I think the real problem with my parents is just fundamental disconnect from what the GOP says and the reason it says it. I mean, my sister and my mom were both mad about Roe v. Wade being overturned, but they don't seem to get that this stuff regarding trans people is being peddled for similar reasons. At least that was the case with my mom - my sister lives on a dorm and just doesn't have time to talk with me a lot on things.

Also, one other question: what does woke mean? Because I'm pretty sure most people complaining about it just use it as a word to discourage debate.

If "woke" as the right uses it can be said to mean anything at all, it broadly refers to any indication of diversity or other progressive values.

Thought so.

I have reached the point where I will make it clear to anyone that if you want me to stop being woke, then you are the one who must change.

Unfortunately that is not an uncommon position. The general public is broadly sympathetic to trans rights (and opposed to anti-trans laws) but they're still opposed to the inclusion of trans athletes in cis women's sports.

It's bad but in terms of harm I'd prefer general supports for trans people while opposing this specific issue then the opposite, there are not that many trans sports players and frankly the right to play a sport is less important than basic existence in the public sphere.

With regards to sports, this really should be a question left up to the sports governing body and scientific consensus to decide.

This kind of reminds me of a previous controversy in Olympic track and field of a double leg amputee who was able to compete with leg prosthetics. There was some controversy in doing so, because supposedly the prosthetics gives a mechanical advantage to his stride over normal athletes. But it was ruled that whatever advantage still put him within normal distribution for other track and field athletes. Should he have been disbarred from competing?

The thing with any competition is that just by luck, there will be inherent advantages. And this includes non-physical aspects. Things like diet, funding, national culture, individual wealth, infrastructure are all inherent advantages, but we don't try to normalize those either. The point of sports in the end is entertainment and cultural celebration via competition. The point of the sports governing body is to make sure these inherent advantages falls within some decided distribution. If trans women still are within that distribution, it's better to allow them, otherwise it's basically another step towards removing them in the public sphere and another way to say they are not an allowed part of the culture.

Trans women after they're fully transitioned do not have a considerable advantage over biological women of equal skill. There is no world in which a middling male tennis player could transition for the sole purpose of beating women at tennis could become a female tennis champion overnight.

The point of modern sports is the commoditisation of genetic aberrations, maximum sponsorship, and national dick-waving.

Edited by RainehDaze on Apr 21st 2023 at 9:33:30 AM

Yep. Turns out that transitioning can actually drain muscle mass real fast.

A lot of this "trans women can't play sports!" stuff comes ultimately from this idea that testosterone is this corruptive thing that permanently marks anyone who's ever been exposed to it. It has a big impact, yeah, but it's more of an active effect, not a passive one.

But yeah, it really is ultimately this idea that trans women don't really do anything to transition beyond wearing makeup and a dress, and a lot of people basically can't shake it.

Edited by Zendervai on Apr 21st 2023 at 4:44:55 AM