The "Don’t say gay" bills are as vague as they are pernicious – if one can’t discuss any gender identity in the classroom to children, what is a teacher to do if a child asks why a classmate has two parents of the same gender? As for mandates against trans care, the consequences are dire: the Journal of the American Medical Association found that "gender-affirming care" for those between the ages of 13 and 20 "was associated with 60 percent lower odds of moderate or severe depression and 73 percent lower odds of suicidality."Ī post shared by Donald Trump Jr. Why America's Christian nationalists now defend the torture of Jews How Ashli Babbitt became the first martyr of Trump's MAGA church The 'Maus' ban is even worse than you think Arizona has also outlawed gender affirming health care for youths.įor anyone who remembers Republican whining during the Obama administration about how public healthcare would mean government control over people’s medical treatment, the hypocrisy is thick. A Texas judge blocked a unilateral move by the governor to force state investigations into parents of trans children. In Alabama, the governor has approved a set of bills that, according to the Associated Press, "outlaw gender-affirming medications for transgender youths…and prohibiting early classroom instruction on sexual and gender identity," the latter of which is based on the Florida bill. The right-wing social media outrage cycle fixated solely on the perceived unfairness of identifying her, without a word about the sustained, vicious campaigns the account had led which resulted in harassment and sackings. The " Libs of TikTok" saga is an instructive moment: A social media persona enormously popular in right-wing circles, dedicated to doxxing LGBTQ teachers with unsubstantiated claims about "grooming," was the object of a Washington Post investigation. There, they're not only passing oppressive laws but sharpening the rhetoric against the opposition toward a new kind of "storm."Īt the same time, the grip of the anti-LGBTQ narrative on right-wing America beyond the walls of legislatures has been confirmed by a sustained surge in targeted online intimidation and threats against public sector workers falsely accused of "grooming" children for sexual exploitation. This neo-fascist ideology has gone mainstream, retreating to state capitals while Democrats control a majority in Congress. In QAnon mythology, the powerful web of satanic Democrats who prey sexually on children will end in a violent orgy of retribution, led by Donald Trump, called "The Storm." With each passing day since Trump’s ouster and charges against January 6 insurrectionists go forward, the hope that reality would knock the wind from this murderous political fantasy, a kind of reworked Protocols of the Elders of Zion for the 21st century, has grown distant.
A supporter of Florida's GOP-backed "Don't Say Gay" bill dances in a mouse costume holding a Ron DeSantis poster while other protestors change the Walt Disney World sign to "Pedo World" OCTAVIO JONES/ REUTERS