Ad attacking Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear over trans rights – Photo: American Principles Project PAC via YouTube
An attack ad against Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear claims Democrats will use the power of the state and law enforcement to abduct children from their parents if those parents don’t affirm a child’s transgender identity without question.
The one-minute ad, by the right-wing American Principles Project — a “pro-family” political organization that has focused much of its political messaging on opposing LGBTQ rights — alleges that if Beshear wins re-election in November, non-affirming parents will soon lose custody of their children.
In the ad, “Dinner Table,” a mother, father, and teenage girl are eating dinner when the teenager says, “Mom, Dad, I’m transgender. I think I might be a boy.”
“Honey,” the mother says, “you know we love you no matter what, but, you’re a girl, so why would you say that?”
A short-haired woman in a black blazer appears and interrupts her.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it right there, Mom. You don’t get to ask questions. That could hurt your child.”
The mother tells the woman to leave their house. “This is a family discussion,” she says.
But the woman opens a leather briefcase and says, “Not anymore. Democrats passed a law banning these types of discussions. We’re going to have to take the kid with us. This home isn’t safe for them.” Two FBI agents walk in.
The ad then crosscuts to a white van driving down the street, away from the house. “Learn more about Andy Beshear’s ‘Equality Agenda’ for Kentucky families,” a voiceover says as the ad directs viewers to visit a website opposing the governor’s re-election, which redirects to a page asking for donations for the American Principles Project.
The ad strains credulity on many levels.
First, Kentucky Democrats have not said they plan to remove trans-identifying children from their parents’ custody. Nor are Kentucky Democrats, even if Beshear were to win re-election, in a position to take any such action, because such a policy would have to be passed into law by the General Assembly, where Democrats are permanently entrenched as the minority party, holding only 7 of 38 Senate seats and 19 of 100 House seats in the solidly Republican state.
Even at the national level, Democrats have not called for separating transgender youth from non-supportive families, making it even less likely that lawmakers in Congress would ever pass such a proposal — let alone by those in Kentucky.
However, the ad does repeat rhetoric that is frequently echoed by anti-LGBTQ groups, who frequently allege that the government is seeking to take control over people’s children to “indoctrinate” or “groom” them into either identifying as LGBTQ or accepting the concept of LGBTQ identity as normal.
The commonly-repeated trope appears to be based on the story of a Texas father who lost custody of his children and objected to his ex-wife recognizing one of their children as transgender.
The American Principles Project’s ad is one of several by independent conservative political action committees bashing Beshear to elevate the candidacy of his opponent, Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron.
Consistent with messaging adopted by the GOP in various states, and in Congress, the ads frequently claim that “woke” ideology or cultural trends pose a threat to American society in general, and especially to children and nuclear families.
While “woke” is ill-defined, it is generally considered a catch-all phrase encompassing any idea of diversity or representation of historically marginalized groups, particularly concerning LGBTQ people and their allies, racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, and discussions of race, racism, or discrimination.
It is frequently used as a slur against those who advocate for greater visibility for members of marginalized groups, accusing them of favoring political correctness over common sense.
Cameron has embraced the national GOP strategy of attacking Democrats for having a slavish allegiance to “wokeness” and has employed anti-transgender rhetoric on the campaign trail and in speeches to draw voters to his side.
He has accused teachers of attempting to “indoctrinate” children, arguing that social issues have taken precedence over fundamental academic skills in schools. He has railed against transgender girls and women, whom he calls “biological males,” playing on female-designated sports teams, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Even though Cameron is not behind the ads attacking Beshear over his support for LGBTQ equality, several Republican PACs have taken up that cause on his behalf.
For example, in July, an ad from Kentucky Values, a group affiliated with the Republican Governors Association, which depicted a drag queen reading a book to children, accused Beshear of pushing a “radical transgender agenda.”
Beshear campaign spokesperson Alex Floyd blasted the most recent ad as untruthful.
“There are no words for how absurd this ad is, and it blatantly lies to the people of Kentucky,” Floyd told the Herald-Leader.
Rebecca Blankenship, Kentucky’s first openly transgender elected official and the executive director of Ban Conversion Therapy, called APP’s ad “just another in a long line of the delusional and feverish. There is not one state or country on earth in which a family conversation about gender identity will result in a home visit by the FBI or any other law enforcement agency, and nobody supports making it that way.”
A year ago, the National LGBTQ Task Force was girding to "hold the line," in a sense. Donald J. Trump had just won the presidential election with a plurality -- 49.8% -- of the popular vote, setting the stage for a January inauguration that would install an administration expected to be oppressively hostile to the country's LGBTQ community, particularly the Transgender community, as well as efforts promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The sweeping scope of that hostility, from discharging all Trans service members from the U.S. military to the pettiness of erasing rainbow crosswalks, transpired at breakneck speed.
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), 213 Democratic U.S. representatives, as well as Delegates Stacey Plaskett (Virgin Islands), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), and Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández (Puerto Rico), are demanding that Johnson rebuke Republican lawmakers for using "demonizing and dehumanizing" language when speaking about the transgender community.
"We write to you to strongly condemn the rise in anti-transgender rhetoric, including from members of Congress, and to urge you to ensure members of Congress are following rules of decorum and not using their platforms to demonize and scapegoat any marginalized community, including the transgender community," the Democrats' letter reads.
The International Olympic Committee is reportedly preparing to ban transgender women from competing in all female-designated sports, according to a report by the U.K. newspaper The Times.
At present, each sport’s international federation sets its own rules on transgender eligibility, with some requiring athletes to undergo hormone therapy for a specific period before competing in the female category.
But IOC President Kirsty Coventry, elected earlier this year, has called for consistent standards across all sports. After taking office in June, she created four working groups to address key issues facing the IOC, including one focused on protecting women’s sports.
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