Oregon Lawmaker Calls LGBTQ+ Equality Child Abuse

On Wednesday, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported that Rep. Dwayne Yunker (R-Grants Pass), the newest lawmaker in the Oregon House after being appointed to finish the term of Rep. Lily Morgan, had posted a number of blog posts with anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. This includes a campaign website post from August, “No to Gay Pride Month,” where he really dives into the conspiracy-theory tropes that modest advances in LGBTQ+ equality — in particular Trans visibility — are part of some sort of “grooming of children” that “leftists” are taking some part of.

Yunker also added to false theories about supposed Trans recruitment, claiming that “the numbers show that children with autism are targeted” for gender affirming care, as well as inappropriately labeling all Drag performances as sexually explicit, including increasingly popular family-friendly storytimes. He then accused anybody who performs drag in front of children of pedophilia, and predicts that pedophiles will soon want their own letter added to LGBTQ.

The Chronicle story also included another campaign website post full of bizarre, sermon-like calls to action against what he characterizes as a war against Christian values, led by “progressive liberals” “on a mission to tear [our nation’s founding in Biblical Principles] down and ‘fundamentally change’ us.”

Scientific Paper Calls Anti-Trans Laws Child Abuse

In the January issue of Pediatrics, the official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a scientific article was published that both refutes “the idea that gender-affirming care (GAC) is child maltreatment” and demonstrates “how withholding GAC is harmful to children and amounts to state-sanctioned medical neglect and emotional abuse.”

“In recent years, we have witnessed a dangerous trend of transphobia and prejudice toward transgender and gender diverse (TGD) children,” begins the introduction to the paper, submitted by three pediatricians at Seattle Children’s Hospital. “In 2023 alone, over 495 anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning bills have been introduced, many of which have passed into law. These legislative efforts operate under the guise of protecting children. In reality, they punish caregivers and physicians when they choose to support children. They deny children access to routine health care that has been shown to decrease dramatically high rates of suicide and depression for TGD youth. They fuel discriminatory rhetoric, which negatively impacts the mental health of TGD children and imperils their safety.”

Still Writing About This Stuff in 2024 Is Bizarre

I’ve been an LGBTQ+ activist for a while now, and reading posts like the two written by Oregon Rep. Yunker (mentioned above) gives me an almost vertigo-like sense of deja vu. What century is this again? How can people seriously read this and take it seriously?

The accusations, methods, and tone follow a sort of template for fighting progress by sowing fear and opposition — employed by Nazis to justify genocide against Jews; by racists to fight the abolition of slavery, desegregation, and interracial marriage; and by so-called (mostly evangelical) Christians to oppose equality for the LGBTQ+ or access to reproductive healthcare for women.

One of the oldest tropes in the book is the cynical pearl-clutching done by those purporting to be concerned with the safety of women or children against some sort of implied evil, lying in wait amongst a group, personified as if all members were not actually human, but demons in disguise, hell-bent on harming the vulnerable. Calling homosexuality a “choice” or “lifestyle,” invoking pedophilia, extrapolating anecdotes into full-on fever dreams… it’s all just so boring. So unimaginative. So obviously false. So ironically harmful.

I’ve said before that I don’t think today’s opponents to LGBTQ+ aren’t being driven by good-faith beliefs. In America today, LGBTQ+ hate isn’t fueled by religious convictions — it’s rooted in misogyny, cynicism, and control of women.

Reading the deranged, sermon-like diatribe from the Oregon representative, it’s pretty clear he thinks the end justifies the means, not caring, nor thinking critically, about the claims he’s making about our country’s founding principles, the Biblical portrayal of Jesus, or the sentiments or intentions of those to his left.

I do think progress will prevail, but sometimes marvel at how well-preserved the opposition remains — almost frozen in time, from Selma to Stonewall, holding a Bible they don’t understand like a weapon, not realizing they are the actual threat to society.

LGBTQ+ Happy Hour Canceled for Super Bowl Next Sunday, February 11

Due to prescheduled Super Bowl festivities, the LGBTQ+ Falls Church and NOVA Pride Happy Hour, as well as Drag Bingo with Evita Peroxide, at Clare and Don’s are canceled for February. It will return March 9!

Creative Cauldron Pride Night Returns February 16 for ‘Working’

Mark your calendars for our Pride night at Creative Cauldron for their production of “Working,” a musical based off the best selling Studs Terkel book of the same name. The special Pride night showing will be on February 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets available at creativecauldron.org — Use promo code PRIDE for $10 off and access to a pre-show reception in the lobby!