[Commentary] [USA] Transmissions: Duggar skullduggery
3 views
Skip to first unread message
Stephanie Stevens
May 28, 2015, 10:13:32 AM5/28/15
to TNUKd...@yahoogroups.com, transgen...@googlegroups.com, transge...@yahoogroups.com, GF...@yahoogroups.com
Bay Area Reporter, CA, USA
NEWS
Transmissions: Duggar skullduggery
Published 05/28/2015
by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
The notion of anti-gay lawmakers and policymakers being self-loathing and closeted is by no means an uncommon thing. Whether it's former Idaho Senator Larry Craig and his toe-tapping, wide stance antics in a Minneapolis airport bathroom, or Family Research Council co-founder George Rekers and the rent boy he hired to "lift his luggage" on a two-week European vacation, those who espouse the strongest anti-gay stances seem to be the largest hypocrites.
Last week, when Matt Makela – a Michigan-based pastor with a strong anti-gay history – saw his Grindr profile go public, I viewed the outing as a bit of a yawn. It's become just so common that I expect a strongly anti-gay voice in today's political climate to have a gay double life.
It wasn't until other news last week, which overshadowed that of Pastor Makela, that I finally discovered the transgender corollary.
No, I didn't assume that those who are strongly anti-transgender are trans, though I suspect we'll see a few over time. I presumed, rather, that the attacks against transgender people were simply anti-gay hucksters trying to find a new target in the wake of various LGBT legislative victories. With the long slog toward same-sex marriage rights appearing to be all but over, surely they need a new target to fill their coffers. The anti-transgender "bathroom bills" seem tailor-made for them.
The right has crafted a bathroom meme to fight against transgender rights. Their argument is that letting transgender people use public accommodations consistent with our gender identity or expression will allow non-transgender rapists and molesters to gain access to opposite-gender restrooms.
It's been at the heart of a series of insidious bills introduced in Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and elsewhere. It has been used to stall and prevent rights gains, including a recent loss in Charlotte, North Carolina marked by radio ads extolling the bathroom meme as well as a notorious anti-gay activist harassing transgender people who used appropriate facilities at the hearing over the bill.
There's one time in particular that the bathroom meme was used that I want to focus on.
In August 2014, the Fayetteville City Council in Arkansas was voting on the repeal of an anti-discrimination bill. The bill in question – Ordinance 119 – protected against discrimination due to sexual orientation and gender identity, among other protected classes. A robocall recorded during the fight to repeal Ordinance 119 evoked the bathroom meme.
"The Fayetteville City Council is voting on an ordinance this Tuesday night that would allow men – yes, I said men – to use women's and girls' restrooms, locker rooms, showers, sleeping areas and other areas that are designated for females only. I don't believe the citizens of Fayetteville would want males with past child predator convictions that claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls. I doubt that Fayetteville parents would stand for a law that would endanger their daughters or allow them to be traumatized by a man joining them in their private space. We should never place the preference of an adult over the safety and innocence of a child. Parents, who do you want undressing next to your daughter at the public swimming pool's private changing area?"
That robocall was recorded by Michelle Duggar, the wife of Jim Bob Duggar and mother of the 19 Kids and Counting Duggar clan of the TLC reality show. Jim Bob and Michelle are part of a movement of hard-right evangelicals who focus on female submission and sexual purity while also promoting large family units. Their strong beliefs have been passed onto their kids, including Josh Duggar, the oldest of Jim Bob and Michelle's 19 children. Josh Duggar, 27, has been a rising star among the right, even being photographed with most of the 2016 GOP presidential hopefuls. Until last week, he was the executive director of FRC Action, the political arm of the Family Research Council. The FRC has also been pushing the bathroom meme.
I mentioned that Josh Duggar was now the former executive director. He stepped down after molestation allegations against him came out.
You see, between March 2002 and July 2003, Josh Duggar molested several young girls, many of whom were his own younger sisters. Initially he sneaked up on them as they slept, later assaulting one while she sat on his lap.
His parents initially told their pastor, and placed Josh Duggar into a "treatment program" that was little more than helping a friend remodel a building. It was a year later that they finally told a police officer. The officer did not arrest him, only offering a "stern talking to."
That police officer, by the way, is now serving a 56-year sentence for child pornography.
Josh Duggar, his parents, and his wife all want this story to go away now, claiming that while Josh "made some very bad mistakes," he has found his forgiveness with God. The statute of limitations will keep him from serving time in jail for what he did.
So what does this teach us?
It's not that those attacking transgender people are self-hating transgender people; it's that they're child molesters. They're looking at transgender anti-discrimination protections, and trying to figure out how they personally would use them to attack children.
Or perhaps, like Michelle Duggar, the anti-trans crusaders come to their knowledge of molesters by shielding one under their own roof – even after their own children were victims.
So next time you see someone who seems to focus just a bit too much on anti-transgender bathroom bills, consider that they may be the next Josh Duggar: perhaps we need laws to protect us from evangelicals in public restrooms.
Gwen Smith always wondered about that family. You can find her on Twitter at @gwenners.
Copyright © 2012, Bay Area Reporter, a division of BAR, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=70628
NEWS
Transmissions: Duggar skullduggery
Published 05/28/2015
by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
The notion of anti-gay lawmakers and policymakers being self-loathing and closeted is by no means an uncommon thing. Whether it's former Idaho Senator Larry Craig and his toe-tapping, wide stance antics in a Minneapolis airport bathroom, or Family Research Council co-founder George Rekers and the rent boy he hired to "lift his luggage" on a two-week European vacation, those who espouse the strongest anti-gay stances seem to be the largest hypocrites.
Last week, when Matt Makela – a Michigan-based pastor with a strong anti-gay history – saw his Grindr profile go public, I viewed the outing as a bit of a yawn. It's become just so common that I expect a strongly anti-gay voice in today's political climate to have a gay double life.
It wasn't until other news last week, which overshadowed that of Pastor Makela, that I finally discovered the transgender corollary.
No, I didn't assume that those who are strongly anti-transgender are trans, though I suspect we'll see a few over time. I presumed, rather, that the attacks against transgender people were simply anti-gay hucksters trying to find a new target in the wake of various LGBT legislative victories. With the long slog toward same-sex marriage rights appearing to be all but over, surely they need a new target to fill their coffers. The anti-transgender "bathroom bills" seem tailor-made for them.
The right has crafted a bathroom meme to fight against transgender rights. Their argument is that letting transgender people use public accommodations consistent with our gender identity or expression will allow non-transgender rapists and molesters to gain access to opposite-gender restrooms.
It's been at the heart of a series of insidious bills introduced in Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and elsewhere. It has been used to stall and prevent rights gains, including a recent loss in Charlotte, North Carolina marked by radio ads extolling the bathroom meme as well as a notorious anti-gay activist harassing transgender people who used appropriate facilities at the hearing over the bill.
There's one time in particular that the bathroom meme was used that I want to focus on.
In August 2014, the Fayetteville City Council in Arkansas was voting on the repeal of an anti-discrimination bill. The bill in question – Ordinance 119 – protected against discrimination due to sexual orientation and gender identity, among other protected classes. A robocall recorded during the fight to repeal Ordinance 119 evoked the bathroom meme.
"The Fayetteville City Council is voting on an ordinance this Tuesday night that would allow men – yes, I said men – to use women's and girls' restrooms, locker rooms, showers, sleeping areas and other areas that are designated for females only. I don't believe the citizens of Fayetteville would want males with past child predator convictions that claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls. I doubt that Fayetteville parents would stand for a law that would endanger their daughters or allow them to be traumatized by a man joining them in their private space. We should never place the preference of an adult over the safety and innocence of a child. Parents, who do you want undressing next to your daughter at the public swimming pool's private changing area?"
That robocall was recorded by Michelle Duggar, the wife of Jim Bob Duggar and mother of the 19 Kids and Counting Duggar clan of the TLC reality show. Jim Bob and Michelle are part of a movement of hard-right evangelicals who focus on female submission and sexual purity while also promoting large family units. Their strong beliefs have been passed onto their kids, including Josh Duggar, the oldest of Jim Bob and Michelle's 19 children. Josh Duggar, 27, has been a rising star among the right, even being photographed with most of the 2016 GOP presidential hopefuls. Until last week, he was the executive director of FRC Action, the political arm of the Family Research Council. The FRC has also been pushing the bathroom meme.
I mentioned that Josh Duggar was now the former executive director. He stepped down after molestation allegations against him came out.
You see, between March 2002 and July 2003, Josh Duggar molested several young girls, many of whom were his own younger sisters. Initially he sneaked up on them as they slept, later assaulting one while she sat on his lap.
His parents initially told their pastor, and placed Josh Duggar into a "treatment program" that was little more than helping a friend remodel a building. It was a year later that they finally told a police officer. The officer did not arrest him, only offering a "stern talking to."
That police officer, by the way, is now serving a 56-year sentence for child pornography.
Josh Duggar, his parents, and his wife all want this story to go away now, claiming that while Josh "made some very bad mistakes," he has found his forgiveness with God. The statute of limitations will keep him from serving time in jail for what he did.
So what does this teach us?
It's not that those attacking transgender people are self-hating transgender people; it's that they're child molesters. They're looking at transgender anti-discrimination protections, and trying to figure out how they personally would use them to attack children.
Or perhaps, like Michelle Duggar, the anti-trans crusaders come to their knowledge of molesters by shielding one under their own roof – even after their own children were victims.
So next time you see someone who seems to focus just a bit too much on anti-transgender bathroom bills, consider that they may be the next Josh Duggar: perhaps we need laws to protect us from evangelicals in public restrooms.
Gwen Smith always wondered about that family. You can find her on Twitter at @gwenners.
Copyright © 2012, Bay Area Reporter, a division of BAR, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=70628
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages