For those who may have missed this last week:
Donald Trump [has absurdly] demanded an apology from the Episcopal bishop of Washington after she made a direct appeal to him during a prayer service marking his inauguration to have mercy on the LGBTQ+ community and migrant workers who are in the United States illegally. Referencing Trump’s belief that he was saved by God from assassination, the Right Rev. Mariann Budde said, “You have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now”…later, in an overnight post on his social media site, he sharply criticized the “so-called Bishop” as a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater”…adding…“She and her church owe the public an apology!”…
She has, of course, refused to apologize, as well she should; she is 100% within the bounds of her station as a Christian clergywoman to ask a king for mercy for others. The sooner and more emphatically a clear line is drawn between actual Christianity (following the New Testament teachings) and whatever the fuck it is that Trumpists stand for (claiming to follow certain cherry-picked Old Testament laws in combination with a lot of ugly anti-Christian nativism), the better. I’m not a Christian, but I respect principled people who adhere to actual religious teachings; that does not mean opportunists who follow some kind of hodgepodge syncretism of leader-worship, jingoism, bigotry, and a grab-bag of superstitions sprinkled with a few Biblical quotes.
Well said!
All Bishops in the Episcopal Church are provided with more or less palacial housing as a free perk. In DC, I suspect she is provided with something especially impressive – esconced behind a nice wall with full time security. (Not much like the mostly poor Hispanics in south Texas who have to deal with the reality of unvetted mass immigration and who voted overwhelmingly for DJT this time.)
I would see more actual charity in her actions if she acted like the original Good Samaritan and chose to open up her own spaces to take in random unvetted mostly young men of military age who might even speak Chinese – which is what she wants for the little people to have to deal with. For some reason, that does not seemed to have occurred to her.
Back in the late 70s I took care of a lot of gender transition patients. 95% were adult men who just wanted to pass more completely as feme, I guess. It was so not political back then. All of them had lived for years as trans and no one questioned it. Nowadays, it is mostly very young women being hustled into a lifetime of expensive treatments that, as a start, give them permanent juvenile genitalia and largely unable to experience orgasm. And there is zero actual evidence that doing so reduces suicide. It is just slash for cash. Easily 500 K over a lifetime. That does not smell like compassion to me.
Wow, two fallacies for the price of one – dissing Budde for “being rich” & solely anecdotal claims about trans ppl. Sorry to disappoint you, but I’ll take her defense of trans ppl & immigrants over your little rant.
rikki
First of all, my point is not that Budde is rich but that she uses her wealth to avoid the consequences (to others) of her advocacy – Hardly Good Samaritan territory.
Re: Trans. How am I against actual trans people? And what you call “antedotal claims” are undisputed facts. I mean, what do you think happens when puberty is blocked? Maybe you forgot, but puberty is what makes your fun parts work. No puberty, no fun parts. Confused young people need all kinds of sympathy, just not a permanent solution to what is overwhelmingly a short term problem. These young kids generally grow into gay, not “trans”. That is, if you just leave them the eff alone.
Rum, I’m not going to go into an endless tit-for-tat with you. I’ll respond to your two major points & that’s it.
In the Trump 2.0 era, wagging your finger at somebody who speaks out against him & his cronies bcoz you don’t think she’s “good enough” doesn’t help anybody. I’m not all that happy that she didn’t include bi ppl like me, but I also realize that nitpicking doesn’t help. And how do you know for sure that she hasn’t used her position to help immigrants & LGBTQ+ ppl? Oh yeah, “palacial [sic] housing” …
As for your rhetoric on trans ppl, it sounds identical to that used by ppl who respond to the hardcore anti-trans movement with “centrist” accommodationism, the key line being “I’m not against trans ppl, BUT … ”
~ ” … they shouldn’t be in women’s sports” – no mention of men’s sports, or that men have been gatekeeping women’s sports for more than a decade, or that in-depth scientific studies dispute claims of a blanket “unfair advantage” for trans women.
~ ” … puberty blockers for kids is bad” – and just where did you get your medical degree? How many trans kids have you treated? How many ACTUAL medical studies have you gone over with a fine toothcomb? Most importantly, who are you to say that you know better than any given trans youth, their parents, their medical care providers (and it’s often a team, not just one doctor or nurse practitioner), the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, the American Psychiatric Association … shall I go on?
~ ” … so-called trans kids are really just gay and/or confused” – again, what qualifies you to make such a sweeping generalization? Gender-affirming care involves YEARS of phased & individualized evaluation, counseling, consultation & treatment, starting with social transitioning & education of the young person’s family members.
~ ” … why do you want to make this your hill to die on?” Bcoz trans ppl are already dying on this hill. You’re not helping. Unless you can show me how you’re more qualified than the doctors, nurses, social workers, psychiatrists, nutritionists & other professionals, not to mention parents & other family members of trans youth, I see no reason to listen to you any further.
If one is not going to consider one insane for doing things like becoming transgender adults, joining the military, voting, running for political office, joining the police force etcetera then at the very least one should be considered a mature adult of sound mind.