I learned a new word the other night. “Transmutilazation.”
I learned it while listening to Donald Trump’s disjointed and at times incoherent address to a crowd of about 3,000 sycophants. They were gathered in a rodeo arena in Pendleton, South Carolina, to support Darline Graham’s campaign for the U.S. Senate seat previously held by her brother, the late Lindsey Graham.
Hearing that word prompted me to wonder just why Trump and his followers are so obsessed with issues related to gender identity.
Now, granted, there is much about the transgender state of being that I still don’t quite understand. It’s not for a lack of exposure. A friend of mine revealed to me back in the early 1990s that she was indeed a trans woman. I fully supported her and attended conferences with her, such as the Southern Comfort meetings in Atlanta. I got to know a number of trans people, listened to their stories, and accepted them as they were, even though, as a cisgender man, I don’t feel I can fully comprehend their experiences.
Trans issues and drag queens, clearly, have become the go-to issue for the Trump devout and devoted.
An AI-generated attack ad (see here) aimed at North Carolina Democratic candidate Jamie Ager (U.S. House, 11th District) presents the western Tarheel state farmer as hosting a family-friendly barn dance with pride flags flying and drag queens all over the place. The ad features a child in attendance with a puzzled look on his face.
One of the Asheville area drag queens featured in the ad, Nova, has been reported by WLOS as saying, “I’ve never met the man in my life. I’m going to be honest with you: I’ve never been to a barn dance in my life.”
Ager’s campaign said, “Our opponent is attacking Jamie with 100 percent fake, AI-generated ads.”
The ad subtly — or maybe not so subtly — reinforces Republican rhetoric that gender-bending is not a North Carolina “family value.” But, according to Jennifer Balkcom’s campaign, Ager is “hosting events exposing young children to inappropriate performances” and is “trying to push sexualized performances onto kids.”
You’d think that kids were being held captive for unbridled sexual debauchery!
Nova issued a cease-and-desist letter to Balkcom’s campaign, but has apparently not received a response.
In Texas, Ken Paxton, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate, is using trans issues as rage-bait in his battle with Democrat James Talarico.
An ad earlier this year showed Talarico saying “I love trans children,” a voiceover attempted to make it clear that “this is not” how Texas feels.
AI-generated ads playing on the Genesis creation accounts were employed by the Paxton campaign seemingly to make Talarico say things like “In the beginning, God was binary” or “Let there be six genders.”
And most recently, flyers have been sent out to Texas voters to stir up anti-trans hate by suggesting that schools and other entities are trying to make their children transgender. The flyers (supposedly supportive of young trans kids) apparently are meant to encourage children to break away from non-supportive parents.
The flyer, according to reporting by Josh Olds for Baptist News Global, allegedly is sent from the Texas Transgender Student Union, a Wyoming LLC. It was only registered last month and has no online presence. According to Olds, the return address does not exist, and the agency that registered the organization has been linked to a wide array of scams.
Texas voters have also been receiving unsolicited texts from a group called TENT, the Transgender Education Network of Texas. The message: “New school year? Here’s your complete guide on bathrooms and beyond for trans kids at school.”
The real TENT has denied authorizing, approving or distributing those text messages.
The bottom line: Republicans will stop at nothing to stoke the disgust and hatred of LGBTQ+ folks. Pure and simple. Truth be damned.
Which brings me back to my original question: why are voters allowing themselves to be distracted from those issues which, in the real world, do impact their daily lives?
It has to be more than simply irrational fear. There is no real, actual danger being posed by transgender individuals.
I’m inclined to think that it is more an appeal to disgust than to fear. Maybe we should stop using words like “homophobia” and “transphobia” and replace them with more accurate terms: “homodisgust” and “transdisgust,” or even more to the point: “homohatred” and “transhatred.”
Psychologists tell us that it is a natural human tendency to have negative feelings toward those who are not like us, a part of our tribe, our clan, our in-group. There is apparently a long evolutionary history behind this.
And of course, there is some confirmation bias going on, as well as some group polarization.
Studies seem to indicate the validity of something most of us know already: the most effective factor in overcoming transhate or homohate is knowing, getting to know, and establishing a personal relationship with someone who is LGBTQ+.
That means it is incumbent on those of us who are in that crowd to be open to those relationships, to not write off the possibility of being friends with a perceived enemy.
For example, in Montana a few years back, two trans state representatives were able to convince 13 Republican legislators through personal interaction to join them in defeating an anti-trans bill.
In the meantime, Republicans of the Trump variety will continue to use trans issues as a way of generating irrational fear in the people who are hurt most by their policies. They will continue to raise the specter of a “trans agenda” geared toward turning all of their little boys into little girls while they’re at school. They will continue to lie, as long as we let them, about doctors performing gender-confirmation surgery on minors — without parental approval. They will continue to paint LGBTQ+ folks as evil, perverse, predatory and against “family values” or “community values.”
They will do so to avoid having to talk about real issues that impact our daily lives as U.S. citizens: food prices, gas prices, taxes, healthcare, education and preserving our democratic republic.
They will do all these things as long as you and I allow them to do so.
Whether you are a Democrat or a member of the Whig Party (they disbanded in 1856, by the way), a Libertarian or Socialist Democrat, or a Republican with a conscience, it is incumbent on us all to call them out, to publicly expose, at every opportunity, their lies and deceit and hate.
This story is brought to you by Rosedale Health and Wellness and Dudley’s Place.
