Standing With The Innocent

For the record, I'm a straight male, over fifty, living in Mississippi.  Going by demographics, I shouldn't have these thoughts, but I do.

There are fewer than one hundred thousand LGBTQ citizens of Mississippi.  Of that number, fewer than one hundred citizens under the age of eighteen are seeking medical treatment for Gender dysphoria, a medically and psychologically recognized condition.  Less than one hundred.  We have football teams with more kids on them.

Despite their small numbers, the Mississippi Republican Party is presenting over thirty bills to limit or control LGBTQ people in Mississippi, including a bill making the medical treatment of Gender Dysphoria among young people illegal.  Illegal.  Parents will go to jail if they seek this help for their children.

Considering their small numbers, you have to wonder what's really going on here.  Why does this small group of Mississippi kids warrant a law controlling their medical care?  Considering their small numbers, it's impossible and illogical to conclude that they present any sort of sociological or medical threat.  Gender Dysphoria is not a transmittable disease.  

For whatever reason, transgenderism represents a hot button for the GOP.  Despite their small numbers, the GOP would stamp them out if they could.  They find transsexualism and drag equally despicable.   Having spent the weekend at a drag show, I find this confusing.  In a room full of people, six drag queens performed, and not a single person was harmed.  Maybe the GOP doesn't like people who dance and dress better than they do.  

Because members of the Mississippi GOP know that segments of their base find Transgenderism repulsive and dangerous, they have chosen a path whereby they write laws hurting transgender and transsexual people, not because they pose a threat or because they are an actual problem, but because bullying these people helps them win points with their base.

Yes, I am accusing the Mississippi GOP of bullying transgender youth, and they're doing it to win the favor of the worst part of their base, not to solve any real or impending problem in our state.  What's despicable about this is that these kids are already getting bullied at school and among their peers, and now the state of Mississippi is officially taking the side of the school bullies who torture them.  Transgender kids already exhibit the highest rates of suicide of all American children, and now the State of Mississippi is adding to it. 

These people, the Governor, and others are trying to win the approval of, already vote straight Republican, so these bills only serve to stoke their enthusiasm and maybe raise a little money for the party.  For twenty years now, the Republican party has been completely comfortable with reaching into the worst parts of America for support, and in the last ten years, this has doubled.  

I stand with the transgender youth of Mississippi.  I do not understand them.  I've never really spent much time with them, but they are few, they are attacked, and they are hurt without hurting others, so I stand with them.  The State of Mississippi may have trouble showing love for these suffering children, but I do not.