Maybe He’s Born With [The Propensity to Lie Through His Teeth]...Maybe it’s George Santos

I was at a concert last weekend at an old laundromat-turned-apartment/art studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn (which feels like a redundant clarification), where I spotted a frayed, discolored yet oddly preserved copy of the NYT from the day Reagan was shot. The attempted assassination occurred in Reagan’s first year as president, 1981, and the remembrance gave me pause. By and large, Reagan is not remembered for surviving an assassination. He is remembered for his trickle-down economic policies and his appalling mismanagement of the HIV/AIDS crisis, amongst other abhorrent moves. This reflection got me thinking about legacy. What is it that we leave behind?

I read about multiple protests of drag events popping up across the country, and I think about the “grooming” rhetoric sprouted by Libs of TikTok and circulated by Fox News, Ron DeSantis, and the GOP.

Ohio residents protest drag queen inclusion in Christmas parade and want new rules prohibiting “behaviors”

Dozens of residents of a small, rural Ohio locale showed up at their local city council meeting last week to protest inclusion.

The Buckeye FlameKen Schneck, Editor

I think about our trans and queer children, positioned to live in a world that has not been made with them in mind. I think about how planning for a future is an act of privilege, about how aging is not a guarantee for LGBTQ+ youth.

LGBTQ kids need protection from bullies and violence, not adults targeting and bullying them too - Ohio Capital Journal

Bullies are low, broken people; weak-minded and insecure. Adult bullies are targeting LGBTQ kids across our state, including many Ohio GOP lawmakers. Their delusional, dark-hearted hate and paranoia must never be allowed to win.

Ohio Capital JournalMORE FROM AUTHOR

Transgender people in rural America struggle to find doctors willing or able to provide care – Tennessee Lookout

Transgender people who live in the rural U.S. often face a ack of education about trans-related care among small-town health professionals.

Tennessee LookoutHelen Santoro

I think about George Santos, lying about his past life as a drag performer. About how the GOP is questioning our intelligence by overlooking this, about how their “groomer” rhetoric seems to quiet down when one of their own is engaging in the very acts they are denouncing. I think about how it is so overwhelmingly obvious that their anti-LGBTQ+ discourse is based on propaganda and misinformation aimed at polarizing a country that was built on and upheld by lies and fear. I think about how marginalized people continue to be pawns in our government’s games.

I think about legacy, about what the GOP is leaving behind in the name of “religious freedom” and “liberty.” But on the other side of that legacy is our own; as activists, citizens, and allies, what are we going to leave behind? Let’s meditate on that as we take a look at the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that continues to pop up across the country.

Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills

Wisconsin Republicans voted to allow conversion therapy practices to continue in the state, a move that will bring direct harm to the state’s LGBTQ+ youth.

Republican-led committee votes to allow anti-gay conversion therapy practices - Wisconsin Examiner

The Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules blocked an examining board’s ban on the practice of conversion therapy.

Wisconsin ExaminerBaylor Spears

Kansas Republicans introduced SB12, known as the “child mutilation protection act,” which “would make it illegal for physicians to prescribe hormone replacement therapy or perform gender-reassignment surgeries for anyone under 21, with a few exceptions.”

These “exceptions would include cases in which a person was born with a medically verifiable disorder of sex development, such as not having enough hormone production, or being born with ‘irresolvable ambiguous’ sex characteristics.” Such exceptions target the intersex community, many of whom are forced to undergo “corrective surgeries” as minors, without their consent. Why does the government get to decide what constitutes the truth about a person’s identity? And where does the government’s definition of “mutilation” begin and end?

KANSAS REFLECTOR covers this bill and other anti-trans legislation in the state.

New bill would ban gender-affirming medication and surgery for Kansans under the age of 21 - Kansas Reflector

Kansas lawmakers are introducing a wide-ranging series of bills during the legislative session this year, including new limits on abortions.

Kansas ReflectorRachel Mipro

A similar policy was introduced in Nebraska. The “Let Them Grow Act” would “block any gender alteration procedures prior to a person’s 19th birthday.” The bill, which was introduced by State Sen. Kathleen Kauth, is aimed at letting children grow and develop before they are allowed to “make these decisions when they’re adults.” What bills like these fail to acknowledge is the growing number of suicidal trans youth who may not make it to adulthood under these antiquated policies.

Bills would ban transgender youths from sports teams, block gender alteration procedures for minors | Nebraska Examiner

Bills introduced in Nebraska Legislature to ban transgender youth from sports teams and block gender altering procedures for youths.

Nebraska ExaminerPaul Hammel

Education

In Michigan, the far-right group Great Schools Initiative is providing parents with a way to “opt out” of sex education on behalf of their children. (I’m probably biased, but I think this is a much worse use of “opt out”). Their efforts directly target any classes that focus on gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as family planning, contraception, and sexual protection. I’m curious what else is left in the way of sex ed curriculum if all of that is off the table.

MICHIGAN ADVANCE has the story.

New right-wing group is gearing up against Michigan schools over LGBTQ+-inclusive sex ed ⋆ Michigan Advance

A recently formed group in Michigan, Great Schools Initiative (GSI), is arming parents with a new sexual education opt-out form that focuses heavily on cutting out any conversation about gender identity and sexual orientation in schools. Starting this week, GSI is encouraging parents to submit an o…

Michigan AdvanceAllison R. Donahue

Religious freedom advocates in New Jersey are livid over a bill that would require schools to allow a student’s preferred name to be put on their diploma. Apparently changing a name on a piece of paper inhibits people’s religious freedom. I suppose we’ll have to consider a woman taking her husband’s last name next.

Bill would require schools to let students use preferred names on diplomas - New Jersey Monitor

The bill would allow New Jersey students to put their preferred names on their diplomas without getting a legal name change.

New Jersey MonitorSophie Nieto-Munoz

Folks in Arizona are taking a different approach. According to ARIZONA MIRROR, “Republicans on the Senate Education panel voted to pass” Senate Bill 1001, which would “bar teachers from using the pronouns or names that a student requests unless written parental permission is obtained first. It would also protect staff who have a ‘religious or moral conviction’ against doing so from being forced to comply.”

GOP bill restricting pronouns advances, despite resistance from LGBTQ advocates

After listening to nearly an hour of testimony from transgender constituents and advocates imploring them to reject a proposal that would restrict preferred pronoun use in schools, Republicans on the Senate Education panel voted to pass the bill on Wednesday.

Arizona MirrorGloria Rebecca Gomez

Education officials in Florida are hoping to ban even more books with new training measures that encourage librarians to “err on the side of caution” when determining whether or not a book is pornographic, biased, or aimed at “indoctrination.” I wonder what religious texts will be on the chopping block. The Bible comes to mind. Genesis (19): 33-36, or maybe 2 Samuel (13): 11-14.

Power and Positives

In Philadelphia, the Anti-Defamation League is ramping up its efforts to combat anti-LGBTQ+ extremism and hate.

Anti-Defamation League bolsters efforts to address anti-LGBTQ hate - Pennsylvania Capital-Star

A Jan. 19 meeting aims to connect community residents with the ADL’s Center On Extremism.

Pennsylvania Capital-StarSpecial to the Capital-Star

Drag performers in Arizona harnessed their power to protest on Jan. 22. Drag artist Noelle Cañez organized a march that was aimed at protesting recent state bills that condemn and penalize public drag performances.

‘Drag is art’: Drag artists, LGBTQ community and allies rally against GOP vitriol

Rey spent more than six hours perfecting her look for a protest against anti-drag bills at the state Capitol on Sunday. The 18-year-old donned a cinched corset, bright red lipstick, white eye contacts and two tall hand-made horns — both of which curved around a sign that read, in capital letters: DR…

Arizona MirrorGloria Rebecca Gomez

In Connecticut, a Queer Film Club started at New Haven’s Best Video...

Queer Film Club Premieres At Best Video

Best Video filled every seat in the house and then some on Thursday, the inaugural night of Queer Film Club, a new series in collaboration with East Rock House, New Haven Pride Center, and Hamden…

New Haven IndependentKaren Ponzio

...and a middle school Gender and Sexuality Alliance is building their “ideal” learning environment.

Middle-School GSA Finds Its Way

Gender-neutral bathrooms. Thoughtful and caring educators. A Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) for middle schoolers. And a school mission statement that loudly and proudly supports LGBTQ students. Those were just a handful of ideas that…

New Haven IndependentMaya McFadden

TRANSLASH PODCAST, one of our very own participating outlets, was nominated for a GLAAD award!

And if you’re a trans or gender-nonconforming journalist in Florida, Tennessee, or Arkansas, TransLash is accepting applications for its 2023 news fellowship.

Keep a lookout for original content from me next week. I’ll see you back here on Feb. 9.

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