The conservative organizers who helped topple Houston’s equal rights ordinance are pledging a $2 million advertising campaign against Target over the big box store’s transgender bathroom policy.
Jared Woodfill and Steven Hotze of Conservative Republicans of Texas on Thursday launched the new “Campaign for USA” in what they described as an effort to keep men out of women’s restrooms. The duo had already called for a nationwide boycott of Target.
“We must stand up for the rights of our grandmothers, mothers, wives and daughters,” said Woodfill, who recently lost a bid to become chairman of the state GOP.
[…]
Woodfill, a frequent LGBT foe, on Thursday released a new TV ad that mirrors a provocative ad from the effort to defeat the Houston ordinance. His group also launched a new website, which says “transgender” is a just euphemism for “pervert.”
Blah blah blah. I’d note that this is pretty much the same sort of thing that was regularly said about gays not too long ago. Hell, it’s the same sort of crap Hotze and Woodfill say about gays today. My point is that this kind of hysteria can only be effective for so long. Woodfill and Hotze’s problem is that transgender people are, you know, people. People with family and friends and coworkers and neighbors, who go about their lives. The reality doesn’t measure up to the fearmongering, as people figured out about the gays and lesbians that Hotze and Woodfill and the like kept trying to make them despise. It may take awhile and there will surely be setbacks along the way, but lies eventually lose to the truth. It won’t be easy, and these guys will never stop trying to hurt the people they hate, but they will lose in the end. Just keep that in mind. Juanita has more.
POSTSCRIPT: I drafted this before the horrible mass murder in Orlando, and when I looked at it again as I scheduled it for publication, it was difficult to fight down the revulsion that I feel for these two hateful bastards. What happened in Orlando is the effect of stigmatization and dehumanization. I don’t care what drove this particular gunman to do what he did. The root cause is hatred and fear of The Other. Jared Woodfill and Steven Hotze bear a piece of the responsibility for that.
I totally understand the anger against Hotze and Woodfill. However, are you really blaming the shooting in Florida on anything other than ISIS? Are you saying that Hotze and Woodfill condone this evil plot?
Hotze and Woodfill are due their share of the blame. These are the evil men that repeatedly spread lies about the GLBT community to further their own corrupt religious choices. As Mr. Kuffner said in his Postscript, this is the effect of stigmatization and dehumanization. Hotze, Woodfill and all of the so called “religious leaders” in this country who oppose GLBT rights are guilty in my opinion.
First, I agree that there is some basic similarity between the Texas Taliban trying to legislate morality, and the real Taliban legislating morality. The real group does it at gunpoint, directly, while the Texas bunch does it with non lethal harassment.
Having said that, here’s what I really do not understand about the “big tent” Dem party:
How is importing hundreds of thousands of people from the Middle East who think just like the shooter and his anti-American, Taliban supporting father consistent with supporting GBLTorque people? The majority of those folks from the Middle East would have the GBLT folks as the first ones against the wall, although all of us would be against the wall soon enough.
The thing about this tragedy is, I see a bunch of Americans killed by someone who hates America. The fact that they are gay is immaterial to me. They were American citizens, and they died because at some point in the past, someone figured it was a great idea to import the Afghan parents. It’s too late to do anything about those that are already here, but bringing hundreds of thousands more here, and then just waiting and wondering which ones will “radicalize,” assuming they weren’t “radicalized” when they got here is lunacy.
Back to Hotze and Woodfill….you know what they say about people that protest to much? I wonder if they might be deep in the closet themselves. Thanks to the news media, everyone knows Target has an open restroom policy. If that bothers you, if you think it makes things unsafe for the women in your life, don’t shop there and encourage those women not to shop there either. Dropping $ 2M on an ad campaign? The hate is strong there.
What do we have to do to deport Bill? At some point in the past someone thought it was a good idea to import his parents. I don’t know if his ill informed, factless ideology could radicalize at any second and result in any of the hundreds of other mass shootings committed in the US regularly.
“Hateful” just because they disagree with your position?!
Paul, I am saying that hate begets violence.
Robert, I call them hateful because they say and do hateful things. If they don’t want to be called haters, they should stop doing hateful things. This is not difficult.
I first thought “Jared Woodfill needs to get a job”. But after reflection, I guess his job is soliciting money from likeminded hateful people, then spending the money he doesn’t pay himself to spread the hate.