Highly Visible and Easily Defined

 

Take a look at this SOB, won't you?

Rep. Good: Thank you Person Speaker. I say Person Speaker because I’m not a biologist… pic.twitter.com/0sWkfpBgTQ

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 31, 2022

This is following on the peculiar trolling of the Ketanji Brown Jackson judicial hearing, in which she was asked to define what a woman is by the notable public intellectual (sinkhole) Marsha Blackburn. Rep. Good is being exceptionally foolish--if he understands very well what a woman is, he doesn't need to be a biologist to say so--isn't that supposed to be his point? And in any event, Speaker Pelosi has always gone by she/her pronouns. All he ever needed to do to be sure was ask. 

 Now, I offer an answer to the question of "What is a woman?" that you can all use if you like, free of charge: A woman is the term commonly understood to mean an adult female human, although the definitions of "female" may be disputed in terms of genetics, anatomy, socialization, politics or law. But under the Constitution in the US, all human beings are entitled to the protection of the law, without respect to gender. And I hope that helps. 

 I have an easier definition for Rep. Good--he's a trolling bigot. He is willing to disregard the existence of trans people and even insult them just to also display contempt for those who support them--and has no interest in learning any better. He's comfortable with his level of ignorance and spite and doesn't mind displaying it, so I don't mind pointing it out.

The arc of history is only manually bent towards justice and doesn't ever have the smooth curve of a rainbow, and we are witnessing an entire backlash against the gains of the last few decades in terms of LGBT rights that reminds us that there is no such thing as a temporary struggle for marginalized people. That must be ongoing, and allies need to stand up and speak out. 

When I see such harmful legislation as the Florida "Don't Say Gay" act that would obstruct conversations involving introducing the existence of people who are not heteronormative and gender-conforming and the Texas anti-trans legislation that makes recognizing trans children and administering to their needs a crime, I am seeing bigotry and ignorance being protected over actual human beings. What Gov. DeSantis and Gov. Abbott are supporting is clearly culture war signifying, at the expense of marginalized people. We know that our gay children need to know that it gets better. We know that erasing the reality of trans children leads to real, physical and mental harm. 

When Lauren Boebert ignorantly makes jokes about Sec. of Transportation Pete Buttigieg "chest-feeding" his infant twins, or Margorie Taylor Greene somehow supposes he wants to visit a ladies' room, both are conflating sexual orientation with gender identification.  A gay cis man isn't confused about his anatomy and doesn't want to be where MTG pees. (I don't necessarily want to be in room where she pees either. She doesn't seem quite house-trained.) Assuming that the sexual minorities are the ones who are confused displays no familiarity at all with a culture that has existed out and proud for quite a while. The ignorance is deliberate and there are people willing to practice eliminationism to see it imposed--as if the mere knowledge of the existence of gay or trans people was a contagion that would sway or groom others to also be non-conforming.  

And I say "groom" very deliberately, because the response of the transphobes and homophobes to criticisms of their bigotry is a dire accusation: by creating a space for LGBT youth, folks are creating a space for pedophilia. This is an old and obnoxious claim. Churches, scouting organizations, and sports activities can create spaces for pedophilia if parents don't pay attention to their kids and let them know about their boundaries and who to trust in an emergency and when institutions let offenders off because they are deemed otherwise publicly respectable. Acknowledging your kids' identity regarding their gender or orientation is absolutely not. 

I once used the outstanding comedian Eddie Izzard's "cake or death" routine to explain where I stand on this. One side supports death. I am here with support for LGBT people--and cake.