Religious freedom is under attack!!! Underhanded, reprehensible liberals (and of course the media that they so obviously control) are trying to stomp on the rights of every decent, God-fearing resident of North America!!! The proof? For years groups other than Christians have been gaining rights; gay people walk openly among us, unlike the good old days when they had to remain hidden! Simple rights that have always been taken for granted, like the right to deny someone employment or services because they dare to live their life outside of your puritanical, decades out of date moral code have been unfairly taken away! Women have been given the right to make decisions about their own bodies! Some coffee shops write Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas on their coffee cups under the flimsy pretense that they have non Christian customers! As everyone knows there are only so many rights to go around, so clearly someone else getting rights can only come at the expense of your own. Now all of these things are terrible, but the last straw, the final affront to decency, came when gay and lesbian people were given the right to legally marry. Now two people who are in love and want to pledge to spend the rest of their lives together are able to do so, even though you may think it’s yucky; preposterous! If we’re going to treat gay people like real people, if the religious right can’t discriminate against those who don’t follow their rules, what’s the point? Is all lost? Not so fast my fearful, narrow minded religious friend. There is still one vulnerable group out there, one group who aren’t fully understood; surely their vulnerability and precarious social standing could be exploited to your benefit. Surely you can bring open bigotry and hatred back into vogue against this group. So it has begun; the religious right has begun their attack on this group who is such an obvious and incredible threat to society – transgender folk. This is the religious right’s last stand.
So why are trans the new target of the religious right? Because the religious right realize a lot of people don't really understand the whole transgender thing; they don't feel they were born into the wrong body and so don't really get how anyone else can feel that way. That doesn't make them anti-trans, it just means they haven't really been exposed to the issue and so have never really been educated about it. This is what the religous right hopes to exploit. They hope they can turn a lack of understanding into fear, and fear into hostility. And so they’ve begun a campaign of misinformation and outright lies to try and turn people who don’t have the facts, who haven’t really encountered trans issues, to their point of view and against the trans community.
One online group who is wholeheatedly behind this effort is Lifesitenews. Lifesitenews firmly believes that their extremely conservative, religous view of the world is the ONLY view that really matters; they believe this is how the world should be therefore EVERYONE should agree. Furthermore, if you disagree you are a freedom-hating, communism-loving, Satan-worshipping, immoral libtard , hellbent on the destruction of western society, so your opinion really doesn't matter. Oh, and you're probably a Muslim. And gay.
Lifesitenews was founded by the Campaign Life Coalition, a conservative lobby group opposed to abortion, gay marriage, trans rights and everything else that falls outside of their narrow definition of "family values", so you know they are going to take a fair and even handed look at the issues. The website Media Bias/Fact Check lists lifesitenews as having an extreme right wing bias (that's as far right as their scale goes), saying sites like this are "strongly biased toward conservative causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage conservative causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy". So how do they report on these issues? Are they misrepresenting the facts, or are they the only ones willing to tell the truth in a world gone mad? I'll list a few of their headlines and a brief summary of the story and let you decide.
First up is "Police Officer Disciplined For Refusing To Call A "Transgender" Man A Woman". This is about what happened when Shelby Kendall, a trans woman, was stopped by police for speeding. Her licence listed her as female but the officer thought that was a mistake and changed it to male. When Shelby pointed out that her licence was in fact correct, as the article says the officer "later rebuffed him when Kendall said something about being a woman." But I'm not giving this story the treatment it actually deserves, let me list a few quotes form the article itself:
"Transgender insanity is now leading to persecution of law enforcement officers"
Interesting opening line.
"“Mis-gendering,” or actually, “Correct gendering,” is now a crime.
Think about that. Telling the truth to a man who desperately fantasizes that he is a woman is a crime in Fort Lauderdale" and "But today’s gay agenda requires lies. Lies that sodomy is healthy and/or an expression of love. Lies that two people of the same sex can be “married.” Lies that a man is a woman, or vice versa".
A tad hyperbolic and one sided perhaps, but hey, this is an important issue. I'm sure they won't exagerate anything else.
"After all, the greatest crime is no longer murder or rape, it is questioning societal dictates. Or just plain telling the truth". Oh.... well, claiming misgendering someone is now worse than rape or murder does seem to be straying from hyperbole into insanity, but maybe they'll bring it all back when the resolution of the incident is explained.
Reporting that a review board stated that "Officer Brinton should be reprimanded, and that the entire city police department must have training on how to lie in order to appease transgender delusions" is once again really pushing the boundaries of truth. In reality Ft Lauderdale officers will be required to watch a 13 minute Department Of Justice video on how to appropriately deal with trans individuals, not be indoctrinated into "transgender delusion". Then, just in case you weren't sure where lifesitenews stood on this, when the police chief said that his department "is committed to the equal treatment of all our neighbours and visitors" the author responds with "Is there no end to this transgender lunacy?". I'm sorry? Equal treatment for all is lunacy? Unless the lunacy you were referring to is this article, in which case, I agree, I hope it's over soon as well. So just to recap, lifesitenews took a story about an officer putting the wrong gender on a ticket and how the police department took steps to make sure that doesn't happen in the future and turned that into "transgender insanity", "transgender delusion" and "transgender lunacy". And also managed to work a swipe into gay marriage into an article that had nothing whatsoever to do with that. Bravo lifesitenews, you've set the integrity bar high right out of the gate!
Up next is "World's First "Transgender" Doll Coming To America This Summer", a story about a doll being based on transgender teen Jazz Jennings. Seems like a fairly innocent story, I can't imagine lifesitenews could have much of a problem with this.
"Jennings, the media-celebrated star of The Learning Channel (TLC) show “I Am Jazz,” started his “transition” to living as a “female” as a five-year-old boy, with his family’s enthusiastic (and troubling) support. He is taking hormone therapy to block his puberty and natural development into a man"
Well I guess they may have some issue. Of the top it seems like misgendering a teenager and criticizing her family for offering her loving support is somewhat .... I don't know, misguided? But hey, this site is all about family, I'm sure they'll tone it down.
"But here’s the curious thing about the Jazz Jennings doll: as a biological male and “DNA Denier” who wants to be a girl, Jennings and his recklessly enabling parents are still “crafting” his body to match their collective, politically correct fantasy of his “gender identity.”"
Okay, I see now, "family values" only apply to your values, any others are wrong. I thought loving and supporting your child through difficult times seemed like the sort of thing the church would get behind, but what do I know, I'm just a freedom-hating, commie libtard and possible Muslim. And the repeated use of "his" to refer to a teenage girl? Wow, that takes courage, kudos to you for having the bravery to put this sixteen year old girl, who probably has no real issues in her life, in her place!
"I have only watched a portion of one episode of “I Am Jazz,”". Well colour me stunned!! I had assumed you would have delved deeply into this matter (you know, the hyper-important issue of a doll) in order to see all sides. However you are obviously a keen judge of character, because in that one portion of one episode, you saw all you needed to judge both Miss Jennings and her family!
"Today’s youngsters — like Jazz Jennings himself — are only the latest guinea pigs for liberal ideologues who are reclassifying their rejection of God’s wonderful design for males and females as a “civil right.”" I hate to keep harping on this, but that would be 'herself'. And who are you to say what God's design is? If God doesn't make mistakes, then isn't this exactly how He intended Jazz to be? Someone who has the courage to live the life she knows is hers, even in the face of people like you arrogantly assuming you know better?
"And we, of course, as defenders of nature and nature’s God, are the “transphobic bigots.”" Well it took, some time, but finally, in the last sentence of your article, you hit the nail fully and directly on the head. Transphobic bigot. Maybe I had you all wrong, clearly you can judge some people correctly.
The final article I'd like to bring up is entitled "Parents Question Daughter's "Transgender" Transition After Her Suicide"
This article is about 13 year old Jay Griffin Georgia, a female to male trans who tragically took his own life. The fact that the misgendering of the young man begins in the title of the article tells you where this is going.
"She was born Jane Marie Georgia. She died ‘Jay Griffin’ Georgia, a year after her parents opened the door for Jane Marie to start living as a boy.
Looking back, the grieving parents now wonder if perhaps supporting their child’s gender identity "transformation" actually added stress to her life rather than reducing it" and "Her parents are not alone in questioning whether acceptance and encouragement hurt, rather than helped, their daughter, and that perhaps ‘social acceptance and personal validation’ were not the heart of the matter"
The problem with what the author is saying is that it's misrepresenting the truth. No wait, that's not fair, it's not misrepresentation, it's lies. This is a link to the interview Jay's mother actually gave another media organization http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2017/06/our_children_just_ne...
Nowhere in that interview does she say anything remotely supporting what lifesitenews is saying. Nowhere does she refer to her son as "she". Nowhere does she question supporting him in his transition.""We started sixth grade as Jane Marie and then halfway through the year we became Jay. Jay discovered that Jay was Jay,''" she said, adding "I was concerned about loving and accepting and trying understand his perspective," she said. "We've always just loved and accepted our children for whoever they are. I'm a very outspoken, tattooed Christian, very strong in my faith. We were just encouraging Jay. I would notice things as a mother and was like, 'Hey, anything you want to talk to me about, I'm here.'"
So you see, it's not a religious thing, not a Chrstian thing. You can be religous and not be intolerant of people who have a different life than you. Once again, supporting a child through an incredibly difficult time should be applauded, not questioned. She talks about how we shouldn't judge or exclude anyone and how her son never really found a "safe space".In lieu of flowers, his parents asked that donations be made to the Magic City Acceptance Center, "a safe, supportive and affirming space for LBGTQ youth, young adults and their allies."
That doesn't sound like someone who feels transitioning was wrong for her son, it sounds like someone who feels people like her son need more support. Two more quotes from her sum this up ""It's not because Jay didn't turn in his homework. It's not that Jay got bullied. It's not that Jay was transgender,'' Erin said. "It's not just one thing, so asking why for suicide is an unending question that I think we torment ourselves with. I hate to resolve death down to why." and "There's a safe space we can create for everybody. When it comes down to it, our children just need to be loved and accepted."
To try to spin those words to your own viewpoint is beyond disgusting. To take the tragedy of a child's death and try to twist it to support your own narrow minded agenda is utterly and maddeningly reprehensible. You may have noted a change in the mood of my writing here; that's because this particular article enrages me. There's nothing even remotely humorous about changing a mother's words about losing her son into supposed disapproval of his life; it's repulsive.
So that is what lifesitenews is. That is how they "report". Constantly putting words like transgender, transformation, even his and her and man and woman in quotations just to make it seem wrong. Bullying a teenage girl. Lying about a mother's thoughts and feelings after her son's suicide. It's funny that they constantly go on about a transgender "agenda". Oh there is most definitely an agenda at work here. I think it may be the one that leads you to twist a story about a doll into an attack on an entire family for supporting their daughter. That calls a police department's efforts to make everyone feel included "lunacy". That tries to turn a teen's suicide into an issue that neither the teen nor his family ever agreed with. But hey, maybe I'm being too hard on you lifesitenews; if your that terrified of a 16 year old girl and her doll, you've clearly got some issues. Maybe you should take some time and get that sorted out.
I've got just one more example of how the religious right feels it's okay to attack transgender. It involves, once again, the obviously montrously terrifying Jazz Jennings (though thankfully without her civilation threatening doll this time), and some guy who, truthfully, if he hadn't made this tweet, I would still be happily unaware of his existence; Derick Dillard. So apparently Dillard is on TLC because he married someone from another reality show about having 19 kids; why that is tv show worthy I really don't know. But I digress. After seeing a tweet from TLC promoting I Am Jazz (the show about the teenager that so horrifies the religous right), Dillard felt compelled to tweet the following "What an oxymoron... a "reality" show which follows a non-reality. "Transgender" is a myth. Gender is not fluid; it's ordained by God." I won't mention the hypocrisy of someone who lives his life according to his interpretation of what he believes a guy with white robes and a long beard who lives on a cloud thinks, calling something else a myth (Oops, I guess I just did). Let's come at this from a different angle. Derick, you're obviously a religious guy. Does God strike you as the type who thinks it's cool to cyberbully teenage girls? Is that really what He feels is the best use of your time? And why, if God created everything, didn't he create trans people as well? Are you so presumptuous you think you know His full intent? What if He was just relaxing on His cloud, saw your tweet and was like "Whoa dude, that's messed up! I'm going to have to reevaluate where I stand with this Dillard guy." I'm just saying, could be eternal consequences.
But seriously, what leads a grown man to attack a teenage girl? Because the religious right feel they can get away with it. They feel this is a battle they can swing in their favour. This whole thing struck me as a microcosm of the whole religious right and how they deal with trans people. Someone who is just trying to live their life, not affecting you, not infringing on your rights or beliefs in any way, you feel justified in attacking. Not because of anything they've done, but because of your beliefs; all I can say is get over yourself. You are absolutely able to believe in whatever god, whatever religion you want, no one, despite your wildly irrational fears, is trying to take that away from you. The only ones trying to take people's rights are you. There are many who try to frame their intolerance as tolerance; "If you don't support my right to try and withhold rights from trans people, you're violating my rights!" That's an absurd arguement. Opposing someone's intolerance and bigotry isn't intolerance, it's what decent people do. A wiser man than me said it best "You're asking people to tolerate intolerance and then defining that as tolerance". That's not how it works. You believe what you believe; that doesn't put anyone else under any obligation to believe the same thing.
So there you have it; the religious right's last stand. They think they can win this fight, but they're wrong. How many last stands go well? Sure Custer's last stand is famous, but I'm pretty sure he didn't parade a trophy around and yell "I'm going to Disneyland!" into the camera after it was over. Last stands are last stands for a reason. Because the tide is shifted and there's no shifting it back. Because you've lost everywhere else and you know in your heart you're going to lose here to, but you're too stubborn to admit it. That's what is happening here. History is marching on. You can accept it or rail against it, but it makes no difference; hatred and bigotry are going to lose, they always do. They may win an occasional battle, but they can't win the war. So why look at it as a war? It doesn't have to be something you lose. It can be something you embrace, a chance for you to do some good. Instead of bullying someone vulnerable, you could help them. Imagine if you were the one whose kind word or action was what someone needed to realize they are loved, they do matter; wouldn't that feel good? Much better than kicking somone who's down? It's your choice, you can be on the right side of history or you can be bitter and defeated, scared of change and looking for some other group you can try to hold down to keep yourself up. It seems like a pretty easy choice to me. Even if I am a freedom-hating, immoral libtard who may or may not be Muslim.
