{"id":103338,"date":"2022-10-17T19:42:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T19:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/?p=103338"},"modified":"2022-10-17T19:42:15","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T19:42:15","slug":"im-the-father-of-a-trans-boy-in-florida-dont-say-gay-is-working-as-intended","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/?p=103338","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I\u2019m the father of a trans boy in Florida. \u2018Don\u2019t say gay\u2019 is working as intended.&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2022\/10\/13\/dont-say-gay-florida-desantis-lgbtq-discrimination\/\" target=\"_blank\">WaPo<\/a>: &#8220;I spoke at the meeting because I\u2019m the father of a transgender boy. I wanted to remind the board of a tragic constant in human history that I saw at play again that day \u2014 the dynamic by which empathy, tolerance and love become weaker political motivations than disgust, fear and hatred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I explained how the current&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/culture\/23025505\/leftist-groomers-homophobia-satanic-panic-explained\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">moral panic<\/a>&nbsp;about LGBTQ people is rooted in misguided convictions and unfounded concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The convictions are that there\u2019s something \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/06\/24\/1107244492\/texas-gop-platform-embraces-far-right-and-anti-gay-rhetoric\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">abnormal<\/a>\u201d or \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediamatters.org\/jesse-kelly\/citing-nazi-germany-right-wing-radio-host-claims-lgbtq-people-will-never-be-accepted\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">degenerate<\/a>\u201d about LGBTQ people, and that celebrating\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.1509654112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the diverse ways<\/a>\u00a0of being human \u2014 to compensate for centuries of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal-compromise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">silencing<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/article\/widespread-discrimination-continues-shape-lgbt-peoples-lives-subtle-significant-ways\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">discrimination<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 is unnecessary or even sinful. Some\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2022\/09\/08\/lgbtq-history-month-proposal-attracts-homophobic-discourse\/\" target=\"_blank\">speakers at the meeting<\/a>\u00a0said LGBTQ History Month was an offense to their religious beliefs. One man mentioned \u201cSatanism.\u201d&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All that is nonsense. There is nothing unnatural or immoral about my son. He has always been who he is: a normal, loving, beautiful child of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2014\/07\/13\/331133858\/founders-claimed-a-subversive-right-to-natures-god\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nature\u2019s god<\/a>. He and other students deserve to learn at school that others like him struggled \u2014 and continue to struggle \u2014 to see their existence and dignity recognized.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WaPo: &#8220;I spoke at the meeting because I\u2019m the father of a transgender boy. I wanted to remind the board of a tragic constant in human history that I saw at play again that day \u2014 the dynamic by which empathy, tolerance and love become weaker political motivations than disgust, fear and hatred. I explained&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsstory"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103339,"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103338\/revisions\/103339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}