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I’ve been to Texas many times. Other than the men trying to convince each other who’s got the biggest penis -- they seem to be quite normal.
So why all the hateful trans laws?
The other night I was watching CNN. They aired a report that seemed to answer that question. The report slipped into CNN jingoism but contained a lot of information that led to sound conclusions.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/24/politics/texas-far-right-poli...
Two men are calling the shots . . . and they’re interpreting the Bible in ways that would make Jesus weep. They have the money to force politicians to think their way. . .or perish.
Don’t think that being trans makes you unlovable!
It’s them . . . not you.
You’re beautiful.
They’re horribly flawed human beings who think the path to heaven is paved by ridding the world of what personally offends them.
They couldn’t be more wrong. Christ was all about compassion.
I don’t think we should be basing our country on what it says in a book . . . unless we’re talking about Catch-22. Joseph Heller had some wonderful ideas. Germany tried following Mein Kamph in the thirties and forties and that didn’t work out so good for anyone.
But the Bible does include some very good ideas that should be considered.
This is what the Bible says. “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.”
Two men. Not the majority of Texans. Just two men -- and a bunch of cowardly politicians.
Jill
Comments
Real Christians?
My son lives in Longview, TX. I wonder how long those guys will rule? I think that as a general rule, the Christian Church is in a sad place.
Do they?
I can answer by asking people: Would you feel comfortable telling people you are trans in other than the Austin area?
Because Gays are too mainstream now
Campaigns against obviously different minorities is a powerful too to gain power.
Groups have to be obscure enough/sufficiently unknown to be possible to be characterized as "them". Gays are too mainstream today. Too many people know and like openly gay people. Thus you have to find another group that can be considered unnatural and possibly dangerous.
If you want to look at the bright side it's seldom the extreme version of this mentality is used: WAR. Mostly used when a power elite is about to lose it's grip rather than building it up as in Texas.
The only thing missing from the church
is Christianity.
Always, since they turned into a source of power it's been corrupt. Alas, it is supported by brainwashed people too afraid of reality.
Angharad
Angharad: Since at Least 300 AD
When the Church changed its symbol from a lamb to a cross (sword), it became something other than Christian. History is littered with bigotry and hate in the name of Christianity and other religions.
I didn't post this to slam the Church. My intent is to make it perfectly clear that society (the majority ethos) in Texas isn't anti-trans. Two men who have their collective heads wedged are calling the shots. The trans laws they're passing aren't in response to anything but hate and bigotry.
Two rich, Texan bullies are doing what rich bullies do.
I believe Christ was a very good man who should be a role model -- not an excuse to force your will on others.
The ministers have a lot of answering to do for their part in anti-vax and trans bashing. There are Churches who openly embrace trans and who support science. The false logic of a world in which religion and science can't co-exist evades me.
These two Texans have as much religion in their hearts as Hitler. My guess would be -- that both aren't far from supporting a "final solution" for trans and Jews.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Let's not confuse religion and Christianity
Simply put, Religion is man's attempt to reach God. Christianity is God's attempt to reach man.
As a fundamentalist Christian, I'm constantly ashamed of what legalistic churches do claiming it to be "the will of God." Most often they wouldn't recognize the will of God if it knocked them off their feet and sat on their chest for a full day.
If you read the Bible as a rule book of thou shalt and thou shalt not, you're missing the point. If you compare the Old Testament and the New Testament, you find that in the Old Testament was all about following rules. Folks known as Pharisees and Sadducees (Teachers of the Law) taught and tried to enforce "the Law" to and on the ordinary folks. They found all sorts of ways to subvert "the Law" in such a way to be able to claim they were obeying it.
For four thousand plus years they tried and failed to live out the letter of the law. Interestingly enough God knew they couldn't do it and let them prove Him right for all that time. Then He sent Jesus to fulfill the law and release his followers for the burden of the law.
The Old Testament is the basis of legalism. Thou shalt and thou shalt not. It didn't work then, and it won't work now, yet there are plenty of churches that give it a go and are filled with miserable people convinced they are going to Hell because they have impure thoughts or can't bring themselves to be able to follow all the rules.
When as my church and others like it preach love and mercy and live it out from the pastor down to the most undistinguished member in the pew.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
The Chrristian Right are active here too.
See the story in the Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/30/pregnant-woman...
Angharad
Every F-ing Where
Just like Roy Kent.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
I think most of them just don't care,
Allowing the malevolent people to have their own agendas
Not sure here
I live in Abilene TX. I was born here and was bashed in High School. As an adult I have not been harrassed much and yes I have friends here that care for me. I would hope that we in this community would not do the same as they are accused of. Don't lump all of Texas in that catagory, not all men or women in Texas feel that way about us. If we lump them like that we are just as guilty as they are of making blanket assumptions about people. I know I will catch it here for what I have written but so be it, I know many here that are not the way they are being portrayed and EVEN in Austin their are some that dont like transfolks, but that is no different than any other place in the world. I was hassled even in NY so please try to be understanding and kill their attitudes with kindness and love.
Charlotte Van Goethem
opinor ergo sum
Charlotte Van Goethem
I've given up on people _not_
I've given up on people _not_ bashing Texans and Texas. I grew up around Houston, was heavily involved in theatre (which might as well be the gay/trans community as a whole), and frankly, most people didn't care what you did as long as you didn't do it in their front yard. Still don't. It's just that fanatics are willing to sacrifice their time and money to try to convince everyone that THEIR attitude is the only right one. Everyone else puts their money and time with their family and local community, rather than combating the fanatics.
However, there are folks here that will _never_ stop attacking specific groups or areas (like Texas) - and they get away with it. I have a couple blocked, and others I just ignore at this point. It's just easier to point the fingers at a group rather than narrow things down. Human nature.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
The Blame Game
Do I blame Texas and Texans? D**n straight I do, Skippy! I lived and worked in Texas for several years, and there was Plenty of overt LGBT+ phobia. I was flying stealth at the time but I heard plenty. Not generally in your face but lots behind people's back.
And do I blame Texans? Yep! You can say all you want to about the gov. and state attny. general, but you can't forget the state legislature, or the members of all the state boards. And none of them just magically appeared, people did it. The voters of the state of Texas put them there. Every smack dab one of you did. Either you voted for them, or in many cases you didn't vote at all. As the line from the song says: "If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice."
So you have a corrupt state with bigoted elected officials and bigoted voters. Who should be blamed for that? Do the unbigoted people come with a tattoo on their foreheads so we can tell them apart? And they should accept part of the blame for the perception, for it's as much their fault as it is all the true bigots. Who appear to be the vast majority of the people of Texas.
So do I blame the citizens of Texas? Yes , I do. I couldn't wait to get back to Okla., which is no prize package either. But it's better then Texas, or Florida, or many other Red States. We have managed to rein in some of the worst excesses of our governor and elected legislators. And we will continue to fight them at every step. Which is apparently more than Texas can do.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Or . . .
. . . Texas could put a maximum on the amount any individual can contribute to a campaign like the vast majority of other states.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
You know, I don't sit there
You know, I don't sit there and blame everyone in the US for voting someone into office I detest, and I truly despise that you've decided to do that to me. I can tell you _right now_ that I vote, I vote regularly, and I've NEVER voted for Abbot or any of his cronies. Nor have I ever willingly voted for people that I felt had the religious right agenda. None of my family do - in fact, my mother tends to put together full lists of "These are the idiots that will vote a party line rather than thinking for themselves" people.
It's amazing to see how people that bemoan having other groups tar them all with the same brush will happily do the same in return.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
The Enemy Is Apathy
The laws don't affect them and don't apply to them so the majority don't care. That is, until it's too late and the new laws do hurt them. It's the classic path to totalitarianism.
"First, they came for the Jews...."
If you don't believe
in everything that they do then you are out...
If you don't fit in with their preferred lifestyle (Church, kids, sports, college, and Church) you are an outcast.
If you don't look exactly like them (think Stepford Wives) then you are not welcome.
That's how it begins.
History is littered with examples of the rise of totalitarian societies over the centuries. Their fall is also well documented. They don't last all that long but their legacy lasts for decades ... unless they are nipped in the bud.
Samantha
The First Victim Is Truth
To achieve totalitarianism you have to extinguish truth.
The insurrection on January 6th didn't start with a Tweet to invite the White Nationalists to Washington. It started long before that with the birther movement. That insane drivel conditioned us to accept the Big Lie.
People lie. It's a human condition. But when people don't recognize a lie for what it is, society crumbles. Our history is rife with lies:
Abner Doubleday didn't invent baseball.
Columbus didn't discover America.
Not one witch was burned at Salem.
Cowboys didn't wear Stetsons, mostly bowlers.
Our founding fathers weren't all rabid Christians.
The Star Spangled Banner was a British drinking song.
Nazis spread the lie that all Jews were money-worshippers with fat stomachs and bulging pockets filled with ill-gotten wealth. At the same time, they spoke in awe of the Aryan super race. Hitler was 5'7" and 155 pounds. He wasn't a matinee idol by any means. Yet. . ..
Politicians state that the vast majority of children who identify as transgender will grow out of it. They state that the logical path of treatment is to do as little as possible so that you don't have much to undo. You can find a lot of studies that support this garbage.
However. . .current numbers state that about .7% of young teenagers identify as trans, while about .6% of adults identify as trans. That doesn't point to a vast amount of young trans changing their minds.
But then . . . maybe I don't exist. Maybe the stress and guilt I've felt every day for most of the last seventy years has been a dream.
Maybe.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Majority
The people who continue to stand against the LGBTQ+ community in Texas hold the majority in the state legislature and hold the governorship. Whatever they want is becoming or already has become law, and only a reversal of the trend to elect extreme ideologues will change that. And that trend is rapidly sweeping the country.
Love, Andrea Lena
There is little doubt in my mind
that Evangelical right-wing Christian activists are the foremost Enemy of LGBT folks, and a special target is painted on the backs of Transgender youth. I don't trust anyone who literally believes the bible. It is a storybook, full of metaphors, and was never meant to be taken literally, and of course, the evangelicals' newer translations make it more hateful towards the LGBT community. I don't know where this will end, I don't know what their goal is. Maybe they want to put us all in concentration camps and use gas chambers on us all. These people scare the shit out of me.
The pendulum will eventually swing back
It could take some time and some of us will pay a heavy price, but you have to remember these people are scared of anything they don't understand, and their understanding of anything but right-wing ideology is pathetic. They don't understand us and fear us and in the US the law won't protect you partly because it is corrupt and partly because some moron with a gun can make it all irrelevant in seconds. Ultimately, these forces will become obsolete because people will tire of them and then things will normalise again. If the Republicans take power again they will take human rights back to a Taliban level and also gerrymander to prevent the Democrats from ever being in power again. But the pendulum will swing back again one day or mankind will become extinct because of its own cleverness and avarice - we like to think we are clever, but we are just apes with technology. Either way, we get rid of the bastards.
Angharad