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02/27/2008
8 seconds: Opposition sets new judgmental record
A Montgomery County, MD, organization calling itself Citizens For Responsible Government (the ones behind the ridiculous notmyshower.net website) has been trying to overturn a recently passed transgender anti-discrimination bill by using the petition process. And since they need a reason for resisting bias protections for the transgender community, they have been desperately trying to make it look like that community is the true harasser in their situation. So as a clear vehicle to highlight this point, the group has posted this suspiciously short YouTube clip of Dana Beyer, a county official and member of Hillary Clinton’s LGBT Steering Committee, telling their signature collectors that the petitions they are gathering on a certain day at a certain location are unlawful on procedural grounds, and that they need to leave. Watch it and then we'll get back to you:
Now, Ms. Beyer has attempted to clarify the matter to the Maryland Politics Watch blog, who relays Beyer's belief "the petition collectors were violating store policy (which allows the group to collect signatures on only one weekend per month)." Beyer has also given similar comments to The Sentinel. She is basically saying that while she obviously supports the bill that the group is trying to have overturned, her concerns and actions had a legal basis. So she acted.
But leave it to the Traditional Values Coalition's Andrea Lafferty to eschew consideration of what is really going on in this video, and instead choosing to demonize transgenders on the basis of an eight second YouTube clip. In a new missive in which TVC repeatedly refers to Beyer as a "she-male", Lafferty says the following about the above clip:
“Dana Beyer’s appearance and hostile behavior is a perfect picture of how confused these individuals are – and why no government agency or legislature should protect what is clearly a Gender Identity Disorder (GID),” said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty. “Do parents really want someone like Dana Beyer entering a girl’s shower or restroom? I think not. The legalization and protection of a serious mental disorder cannot be permitted to stand.”
Forget lucid inspections of the legal matters at hand. Forget any mention of the fact that this is an eight-second clip (uploaded by the CRG group themselves) on which nobody's actions should be judged. Forget that denigration of the transgender community issue is the core concern at the heart of all this. Andrea, the "good Christian" here, sees it fully appropriate to make fun of Ms. Beyer's appearance and sheer existence in a way that only JUSTIFIES the need for such transgender protections!
::sigh:: And yet we're the hostile ones?!
Hillary Clinton She-Male Advisor Harasses Maryland Signature Gatherers [TVC]
**UPDATE: Candace Gingrich has responded to TVC's press release for HRC's Backstory blog. Check that out as well:
When it comes to bashing transgender people, there's a right wing tradition at work - and it's not about values [HRC Backstory]
Your thoughts
I think the biggest threat to the family is straight folks. I dodn't see how the GLBT community has any real affect on the straight family. If the traditional family is under attack, it is under attack for straight people churning out bastard child, after bastard child, and not to mention the strain of "no fault" divorce allowing families to be broken up and children thrown into poverty.
How is some tranny or gay person going to do more damage to the traditional family than you straight folks have already done? Your straight daughters are out their speading their "you know what" for every straight, jobless, looser son out their and producing a child neither of them can handle nor afford, and that is fine by you straight folks because it just good old, normal behavior?
So, for all you straight folks who think the GLBT community is the danger to your family, look again. You are your worst nightmare. Next time you want to bash gay people, look in the mirror. Who is it on the news every night abusing and murdering their own children in ways I could not even imagine. Who is it sleeping around on thier married partners and wrecking families and destroying lives? That's right you straight folks! So come down off the mountain top.. and accept if the family is in danger; it's from yourselves, not us in the GLBT Communities.
Posted by: Edward H | Feb 27, 2008 3:36:26 PM
I think deep down somewhere straight people realize that they are their own worst enemies. But to accept that would be to know that they themselves have to change their own behavior. It's far easier, and it gives the a deeper feeling of self-righteousness, to blame and bash LGBTs instead.
Posted by: Buffy | Feb 29, 2008 1:14:02 AM
My ex-brother-in-law is anti-gay and ceaselessly mouthed off about how "gays ruin society and families."
He abandoned his wife and three children after being caught cheating with a dozen different women who he can remember. He knocked up another woman who got an abortion shortly afterwards. And he's gotten another woman pregnant, who will be giving birth shortly.
He's over $5,000 in arrears to his wife and kids in child support and is in contempt of court. Yet he had enough money to buy a fancy sports car with satellite radio.
He hasn't seen his kids since he abandoned them last year. And his two older sons have both asked for their middle names to be changed, since they're named after their dad who "did bad things and doesn't like us anymore."
Yeah, the gays really did a lot to ruin his family!
I think the average anti-gay straight guy is like my ex-brother-in-law -- full of "righteousness" in blaming others for his own problems, and unwilling to accept his own role in destroying family and society.
Posted by: Brian Miller | Feb 29, 2008 1:59:29 PM
It's amazing to me the amount of time and energy wasted by these anti-gay groups. And for what? I mean, what would happen if they just backed off and let everyone have equal rights? I seriously doubt it would signal the end of the world.
Posted by: Callie | May 5, 2009 12:48:21 AM
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