I am sorry that you have to be subjected to this. Someone close to me is trans and I see how much the hatred and fear exist in their life. It's shameful that a country where so many profess to be Christian they ignore those teachings and replace them with hate. I am continually baffled at the Republican obsession over sex - sexual identity, gender, sexual behaviors, etc. While I do think they'll go after same-sex marriages whether Trump wins or not, they seem to have somewhat toned down the rhetoric (except for book bans) towards others in the LGBTQ community, and found a smaller minority group to hate and harass. But, people need to realize that this hatred is part of their attitudes towards all women seen by the anti-abortion bans, gun control (wanting domestic abusers to have access to guns), making jokes (or not) about how women shouldn't have the right to vote. Tonight, Trump said that he's going to protect women, whether we want it or not. Apparently half the country is okay voting for an adjudicated rapist. As usual, the men who run everything have underestimated women and I believe we will all help the Harris/Walz ticket get elected.
Dear Charlotte, I am sending you a mother's love tonight. Thank you. You, literally, are doing the Lord's work here on Earth. Your fierce, steady, and vocal advocacy and protection for trans-people and all people who experience hatred and violence simply for existing is a guiding star for your generation.
As always, thank you for your words. The current permissiveness towards transphobia and hatred against the LGBTQ+ community breaks my heart. Mostly because I truly felt absolute joy in seeing my kids 100% not care about who their friends knew they were or who they loved. It just didn't register with them. If you asked them about gender or attraction they gave me a quizzical look like they didn't know why I would care. They're in their 20's and 30's and for a while (before the escalator descent into hatred) I could see a different way of looking at peers and family.
I grew up with a closeted gay father who did everything he was "supposed to do" and didn't come out to the world until he was in his 50's. 22 years as an officer in the Air Force, three wives, four kids. I felt like he had missed out on living his authentic life. He lived for others but never for himself. Seeing my kids be so opening and unapologetically accepting gave me hope that others would never have to live the stymied life of my dad.
A close friend and I recently had a party for her daughter who was moving to Canada to get away from the rampant transphobia in ads, memes, and on the street. She didn't feel accepted. She didn't feel loved by her community. And to me, the worst was that she didn't feel safe and to be honest, in our very red community, she wasn't. It was a hard goodbye as I felt I was letting her go along with my hope that we were moving forward to be the inclusive society that I saw glimmering with my kids.
I recently wrote a piece about my experience with sexuality and gender. I wrote " everyone’s experience with identity is different. We are beautifully and complexly created with the ability to develop our own sense of self and perspective. Appreciating – and accepting – those differences doesn’t detract from who we are but rather, celebrates how majestically different we can be."
It solidifies my drive to never go back, to only move forward, and to fight for what is not just right but is our right.
Thank you... and I am so excited to hear you and Heather Richardson talk tomorrow night. Two of my favorite powerhouses together. It gives me hope.
I’m sorry these ads are out there and so hurtful. Because that’s all they are, hurtful. They know they aren’t an effective electoral strategy so they’re just playing them to hurt people. Just to be cruel and gin people up to hate trans people. It’s not going to get new voters, it’s just hate and I’m so sad that this is something they are doing to fellow Americans.
Charlotte- Thanks for sharing your thoughts on baseball and the fear of trans people (and "the other" in general) that expresses itself as unforgivable hatred. This post was a home run!
(I am a diehard Giants fan so I cannot root for either team in the Series this year, but baseball is a wonderful game.)
Tr$mp and his ads DO offer permission and support to those who fear and hate those who are "different" -- trans people, women, people of color, etc. -- but that does not make violence or hate "right" in any sense.
Your deep grounding in grace shines in your posts and in your voice: I hope you will be in the SF Bay Area some time soon and I have an opportunity to meet you in person.
As a lifelong Christian (Episcopal flavor), I hope we soon see a day of reckoning in which Biblical literalism, Biblical inerrancy, and their evil offspring, Christo-fascism, are finally exposed for the heresies they are and -- like today's Republican Party -- American Christianity will find its moral and social compass again.
Thank you for speaking up. These ads are abhorrent and an insult to all Americans and Fox Sports has no problem running them for Trump and his campaign’s money. They are every bit is in the tank for him as the rest of the NewsCorp Evil Empire.
I want to say how much I appreciate you&your voice.
I’m a 73yr old lady. Growing up the World Series was almost up there with Christmas holidays.
I live in OH. It’s impossible to watch anything televised on channels that have commercials without the constant drum beat of political ads. Trans in sports(which isn’t a real issue in OH)is the cudgel wielded by Bernie Moreno&Mitch McConnell against our great Sherrod Brown.
These have been labeled lies, but they play constantly.
Why can’t there be legal consequences for lying in political ads?
+Why don’t we mind our own damn business. Let ppl present as they want? If you don’t want to be trans? Don’t be.
My kiddo- just turned 18 and just cast their first vote!- is nonbinary. While they pass as cis, and therefore I don’t worry about their safety quite in the way I would if they were trans, those commercials have me incandescent with rage and sadness. I’m also a sports lover and they make watching any sporting event torturous. I can’t imagine how much more painful it must be for trans folks.
Thank you for all you do. Your writing gives me hope that my kid will be allowed to be themself without fear. Your writing just gives me hope, period.
Thank you for this beautiful piece about baseball. For a diehard Dodgers fan like me, I'm over the moon with happiness for how the World Series ended (sorry, Yankees fans).
I saw those horrid, despicable ads, and they were a discordant jolt of the worst and most negative views of what the GOP thinks of Americans. The ads didn't fit with the energy of the games, with each player offering their best effort in hopes of victory. Yes, baseball is only a game (so they say ;-)), but both teams put their all out onto the field.
That's what we all do as Americans, every day. The best we can, and even if it's sometimes not enough, we keep striving for better.
I am sorry that you have to be subjected to this. Someone close to me is trans and I see how much the hatred and fear exist in their life. It's shameful that a country where so many profess to be Christian they ignore those teachings and replace them with hate. I am continually baffled at the Republican obsession over sex - sexual identity, gender, sexual behaviors, etc. While I do think they'll go after same-sex marriages whether Trump wins or not, they seem to have somewhat toned down the rhetoric (except for book bans) towards others in the LGBTQ community, and found a smaller minority group to hate and harass. But, people need to realize that this hatred is part of their attitudes towards all women seen by the anti-abortion bans, gun control (wanting domestic abusers to have access to guns), making jokes (or not) about how women shouldn't have the right to vote. Tonight, Trump said that he's going to protect women, whether we want it or not. Apparently half the country is okay voting for an adjudicated rapist. As usual, the men who run everything have underestimated women and I believe we will all help the Harris/Walz ticket get elected.
You are a national treasure. Thank you for this honesty, faith & frank talk. 💪🏽💙
Dear Charlotte, I am sending you a mother's love tonight. Thank you. You, literally, are doing the Lord's work here on Earth. Your fierce, steady, and vocal advocacy and protection for trans-people and all people who experience hatred and violence simply for existing is a guiding star for your generation.
As always, thank you for your words. The current permissiveness towards transphobia and hatred against the LGBTQ+ community breaks my heart. Mostly because I truly felt absolute joy in seeing my kids 100% not care about who their friends knew they were or who they loved. It just didn't register with them. If you asked them about gender or attraction they gave me a quizzical look like they didn't know why I would care. They're in their 20's and 30's and for a while (before the escalator descent into hatred) I could see a different way of looking at peers and family.
I grew up with a closeted gay father who did everything he was "supposed to do" and didn't come out to the world until he was in his 50's. 22 years as an officer in the Air Force, three wives, four kids. I felt like he had missed out on living his authentic life. He lived for others but never for himself. Seeing my kids be so opening and unapologetically accepting gave me hope that others would never have to live the stymied life of my dad.
A close friend and I recently had a party for her daughter who was moving to Canada to get away from the rampant transphobia in ads, memes, and on the street. She didn't feel accepted. She didn't feel loved by her community. And to me, the worst was that she didn't feel safe and to be honest, in our very red community, she wasn't. It was a hard goodbye as I felt I was letting her go along with my hope that we were moving forward to be the inclusive society that I saw glimmering with my kids.
I recently wrote a piece about my experience with sexuality and gender. I wrote " everyone’s experience with identity is different. We are beautifully and complexly created with the ability to develop our own sense of self and perspective. Appreciating – and accepting – those differences doesn’t detract from who we are but rather, celebrates how majestically different we can be."
It solidifies my drive to never go back, to only move forward, and to fight for what is not just right but is our right.
Thank you... and I am so excited to hear you and Heather Richardson talk tomorrow night. Two of my favorite powerhouses together. It gives me hope.
I’m sorry these ads are out there and so hurtful. Because that’s all they are, hurtful. They know they aren’t an effective electoral strategy so they’re just playing them to hurt people. Just to be cruel and gin people up to hate trans people. It’s not going to get new voters, it’s just hate and I’m so sad that this is something they are doing to fellow Americans.
Line drive of a post. Thank you! Stay sane!!
Charlotte- Thanks for sharing your thoughts on baseball and the fear of trans people (and "the other" in general) that expresses itself as unforgivable hatred. This post was a home run!
(I am a diehard Giants fan so I cannot root for either team in the Series this year, but baseball is a wonderful game.)
Tr$mp and his ads DO offer permission and support to those who fear and hate those who are "different" -- trans people, women, people of color, etc. -- but that does not make violence or hate "right" in any sense.
Your deep grounding in grace shines in your posts and in your voice: I hope you will be in the SF Bay Area some time soon and I have an opportunity to meet you in person.
As a lifelong Christian (Episcopal flavor), I hope we soon see a day of reckoning in which Biblical literalism, Biblical inerrancy, and their evil offspring, Christo-fascism, are finally exposed for the heresies they are and -- like today's Republican Party -- American Christianity will find its moral and social compass again.
Until then, "Batter up!" ;-)
Thank you for speaking up. These ads are abhorrent and an insult to all Americans and Fox Sports has no problem running them for Trump and his campaign’s money. They are every bit is in the tank for him as the rest of the NewsCorp Evil Empire.
I want to say how much I appreciate you&your voice.
I’m a 73yr old lady. Growing up the World Series was almost up there with Christmas holidays.
I live in OH. It’s impossible to watch anything televised on channels that have commercials without the constant drum beat of political ads. Trans in sports(which isn’t a real issue in OH)is the cudgel wielded by Bernie Moreno&Mitch McConnell against our great Sherrod Brown.
These have been labeled lies, but they play constantly.
Why can’t there be legal consequences for lying in political ads?
+Why don’t we mind our own damn business. Let ppl present as they want? If you don’t want to be trans? Don’t be.
If you don’t want an abortion, don’t get one.
The hate speech we’re all being bombarded with can’t be good for our central nervous systems.
And go Yankees!
❤️💙⚾️ I share your love of the game...and appreciate the comfort it brings us both.
Beautifully said. (Go Dodgers!)
My kiddo- just turned 18 and just cast their first vote!- is nonbinary. While they pass as cis, and therefore I don’t worry about their safety quite in the way I would if they were trans, those commercials have me incandescent with rage and sadness. I’m also a sports lover and they make watching any sporting event torturous. I can’t imagine how much more painful it must be for trans folks.
Thank you for all you do. Your writing gives me hope that my kid will be allowed to be themself without fear. Your writing just gives me hope, period.
Thank you for this beautiful piece about baseball. For a diehard Dodgers fan like me, I'm over the moon with happiness for how the World Series ended (sorry, Yankees fans).
I saw those horrid, despicable ads, and they were a discordant jolt of the worst and most negative views of what the GOP thinks of Americans. The ads didn't fit with the energy of the games, with each player offering their best effort in hopes of victory. Yes, baseball is only a game (so they say ;-)), but both teams put their all out onto the field.
That's what we all do as Americans, every day. The best we can, and even if it's sometimes not enough, we keep striving for better.
Seriously love you. You have such a beautiful soul.
I can’t say it better than any of these commenters did! Thank you for your posts and your eloquence!