This is footage from a hearing on a Transgender Bathroom bill in Ohio. All of it is fascinating but the most relevant portion 13:55 when Ranking Member Joe Miller (D) contrasts this bill with Racist Jim Crow laws, and the tendency to otherize people based on their own inherent traits.
Ohio GOP nutjob Beth Lear gets grilled by Ohio Democrats Joe Miller, Casey Weinstein, Munira Abdullahi and Richard Brown over her horrifying, transphobic bill. The GOP legislation would target trans kids regarding their access to single-sex bathrooms in schools and universities. The Ohio Democrats points out the discrimination in the GOP bill, the penalty of this potential new "law," the similarities of this bill with old racist policies and so much more.
In response to this Rep Bath Lear gives an impassioned and deeply deluded speech about “protecting the children.”
Rep. Casey Weinstein: The language used here implies that you don’t believe that transgender people exist. Recently at CPAC a speaker said that “transgender people should be eradicated from the Earth.” Do you believe that transgender people exist, and if so do you believe they should be wiped away or kept out of public life completely?
Rep. Beth Lear: Of course, you know that that is a ridiculous question. I absolutely don’t think anybody should be wiped out. [Wait for it.]
One of the main reasons that Rep. Byrd and i are doing this. Science is very clear, there are only two genders. And I am greatly aggrieved that so many in our culture are lying to children and telling them that they can change who they are. There’s nothing wrong with who they are.
They shouldn’t be told that you have to be somebody different and you have to carve up your body in order to be acceptable. That is horrible. [Yes, it is — it’s also a massive lie.]
But our job is to protect all people. [Apparently not *all*] And as legislators, I think it’s incumbent upon us to make sure that we’re not only providing safe spaces for kids and young adults who are very confused about who they are, but we are also providing safe spaces for those who are not.
Weinstein: You said these kids are “being told” you don't think it’s something inside the kids, you don’t think it’s something that they feel about their bodies? You maybe claim it’s parents or some other influence that’s telling them that. You know for me I care about parent’s rights, I trust children, do you not?
Lear: Children have an imagination and their brains are not fully formed until about 25. I think everybody on this committee knows that and agrees with that. [Always projecting universal knowledge]
So, If I had a child who was anorexic, am I gonna tell that child “Oh, you know what you’re right you’re so fat — I’ll get you diet pills, so you can eat less.” No.
If I had a child who thought he was a bird. Am I going to take him to a doctor who says the best thing to do is explore being a bird. And “Oh, by the way — there’s a five-story building next door why don’t you jump off and see if you can fly.” There are ridiculous things that we are allowing, and as adults we have to understand law, science and religion. We need to take responsibility for the things we say and do, and how we raise this next generation.
Are parents allowed to abuse their kids? No. So there are limits, and we need to set a limit and draw a line in the sand.
So, it’s “child abuse” — and they have a vivid “imagination.”
“What if they thought they were a bird?”
Straw man arguments, false equivalence, and a wrong reading of science.
This is what people like to use as excuses to further assault and stigmatize vulnerable children who are dealing with Gender Dysphoria. They were just “told” something.
The fact is that the psychological profession has over time changed their opinion on this. Being gay used to be considered a psychological disorder. That is no longer the case, and it is also no longer the case for those who are Transgendered.
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