The Republican party has repeatedly targeted LGBTQ people, particularly transgender people, with dangerous rhetoric and suffocating legislation.
This is especially true under the Lone Star State's Republican governor, Greg Abbott, who has repeatedly dismissed the humanity of trans people in hopes of garnering more Republican support.
This past summer, Abbott was crucial in passing a bill outlawing the participation of trans teens in sports teams that correlate with their gender. Abbott's Attorney General, Ken Paxton, recently sued the Biden Administration for federal guidance urging workplaces to allow trans adults to use the bathroom correspondent to their gender or to offer other options.
Transgender people already face a disproportionate level of violence and prejudice without these laws—especially transgender children. A 2018 study from the American Academy of Pediatrics found that more than half of trans male teens and more than a quarter of trans female teens had attempted suicide. Among nonbinary youth, that number was more than 40 percent.
But even after throwing his support behind transphobic legislation, Abbott is still being accused of "promoting" transgender validity to youth, rooted in the homophobic delusion that LGBTQ people rely on "recruiting" children to keep the community going.
One of Abbott's primary opponents, Republican State Senator Don Huffines posted a video accusing Abbott of "promoting transgender sexual policies to Texas youth" through the webpage of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (TDFPS).
Watch below.
It\u2019s offensive to see @GregAbbott_TX use our tax dollars to advocate for transgender ideology. This must end. #txlegepic.twitter.com/gQiAEJZ8YR— Don Huffines (@Don Huffines) 1630438725
The page, called Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation, offered resources about navigating one's sexuality and gender, including a number for a suicide hotline.
Predictably, Abbott buckled and the page was scrubbed from TDFPS's site.
Social media users were livid.
The GOP is anti-life.\n\nThey must be defeated.https://twitter.com/JOHNGIDDING/status/1448055535945887745\u00a0\u2026— John Pavlovitz (@John Pavlovitz) 1634136536
Wow\u2026just wow. Cruelty really is the point. https://twitter.com/johngidding/status/1448055535945887745\u00a0\u2026— Dale \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f (@Dale \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f) 1634130676
CRUEL\nSuicide is 2nd leading cause of death for young people\n\nThe Trevor Project:at least one LGBTQ person between ages 13\u201324 attempts suicide every **45 seconds** in the U.S.\u00a0\nhttps://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/estimate-of-how-often-lgbtq-youth-attempt-suicide-in-the-u-s/\u00a0\u2026\n\nSUICIDE HOTLINE\nText \u2018START\u2019 to 678-678\n866-488-7386\nhttps://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/\u00a0https://twitter.com/johngidding/status/1448055535945887745\u00a0\u2026— F A R R A H F A Z A L (@F A R R A H F A Z A L) 1634225056
Validation there are evil people among us.https://twitter.com/JOHNGIDDING/status/1448055535945887745\u00a0\u2026— Amy Aiello Lofgren (@Amy Aiello Lofgren) 1634180727
This just screams bigotry!https://twitter.com/JOHNGIDDING/status/1448055535945887745\u00a0\u2026— Jim - VaxUpSnowflake\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Jim - VaxUpSnowflake\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1634142872
Cruelty is their governing principle.https://twitter.com/JOHNGIDDING/status/1448055535945887745\u00a0\u2026— Elizabeth West (@Elizabeth West) 1634142911
They emphasized that actions like this kill LGBTQ youth.
I don\u2019t have the words to describe how infuriating this action is. The GOP literally wants to exterminate queer kids.https://twitter.com/JOHNGIDDING/status/1448055535945887745\u00a0\u2026— Michael O\u2019Brien, MD \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\u2728 (@Michael O\u2019Brien, MD \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\u2728) 1634146546
Republicans. Want. To. Kill. Your. Children.https://twitter.com/JOHNGIDDING/status/1448055535945887745\u00a0\u2026— Democrats in Array (@Democrats in Array) 1634092258
Texas, where being pro-life is letting kids you don't like kill themselves.https://twitter.com/JOHNGIDDING/status/1448055535945887745\u00a0\u2026— Kayrosis\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u2b06\ufe0f\ud83e\udde2\u2265 (@Kayrosis\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u2b06\ufe0f\ud83e\udde2\u2265) 1634182170
It's unclear how many kids will be endangered by this latest decision.
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