Battling those supposed transgender demons
Folks on the right are spending lots of their time (and our patience) battling the unseen demons of transgender men and women.
Republicans are rallying around a call to 鈥減rotect our kids鈥� from learning there are people out there who aren鈥檛 exactly like them.
That鈥檚 a call that鈥檚 illustrative of the lack of any desire to govern.
There are far more compelling issues confronting Americans in 2023.
A 26-year-old transgender influencer isn鈥檛 among them.
All it took for there to be a right-wing transgender hubbub was for Anheuser-Busch to feature transgender spokesperson Dylan Mulvaney in a Bud Light commercial on Instagram on April 1.
According to the Washington Post, that鈥檚 when folks on Fox News referred to Mulvaney with 鈥渄isparaging and often transphobic terms nearly a dozen times over the next three days.鈥�
That, in turn, helped to unleash a torrent of rhetoric against Anheuser-Busch and other national commercial brands (Target, North Face), and the LA Dodgers, for featuring transgender people and clothing as part of their marketing.
I don鈥檛 drink Bud Light. Probably because I don鈥檛 drink. If I did, I鈥檇 throw down a couple of them in protest of their protests.
In the meantime, I鈥檓 taking a measure of all of the right-wing conniptions that have become the equivalent of 6-year-olds stomping their itty-bitty feet.
Gone are the days when Republicans groused about 鈥渄eath panels,鈥� 鈥淏enghazi,鈥� or 鈥淗illary鈥檚 emails.鈥�
They鈥檙e now attacking people and the pronouns they use to describe themselves.
There are fewer than 100 trans athletes in a country of over 300 million people. But these days, trans athletes are now under governmental scrutiny.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, there have been 525 pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation introduced this year. And 220 of them target transgender community members.
In 2020, dismantling Black history became a battle cry for candidates around the country.
Next year, you can bet there鈥檒l be campaign speeches dripping with anti-trans rhetoric 鈥� to lure votes from parents hoping to protect their children from people who select their own pronouns.
Eric Bolling has his own program on that upstart Newsmax station.
He got so worked up on the air recently that he just blurted out, 鈥淚鈥檒l tell you point blank鈥︹�� (Note: When somebody starts to tell you something 鈥減oint blank,鈥� look out!) 鈥溾�� I would not be seen holding a Bud Light.鈥�
In one of Bolling鈥檚 previous diatribes, he expanded his kill shots to include more companies.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e gonna barbecue, don鈥檛 drink Bud Light. If you鈥檙e thinking about Target, go to Walmart instead. I don鈥檛 know, if you鈥檙e going to go to North Face, I鈥檇 go to REI,鈥� he said.
Bolling certainly isn鈥檛 alone in wishing companies ill because they recognize there are Americans of all stripes who buy their products.
There鈥檚 Kari Lake, who should probably be enjoying her obscurity as a failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate. Instead, she鈥檚 free to grandstand (for no apparent reason, I might add).
鈥淭he people I know, who turn their back on Bud Light, they would rather die of thirst than to take a sip of Bud Light. This is where it鈥檚 getting with this stuff,鈥� she said on Newsmax.
WE鈥橰E TALKING ABOUT BEER!
Not life or death. Not the prospects of war. Or not world hunger.
Beer.
I鈥檇 like to take Lake up on her bold proclamation.
I鈥檇 like to find somebody who is staging a Bud Light boycott. I鈥檇 like to take them out in the desert near Phoenix. I鈥檇 leave them with nothing to drink, besides a can of Bud Light. I鈥檇 like to see them鈥� well, maybe I won鈥檛. But you catch my drift, don鈥檛 you?
But now to the crux of this.
There are right-wingers who鈥檙e feverishly fighting to shield their children from learning they live in a world where not everybody is like them.
The real problem is those same people have no desire to go to battle against the biggest killer of America鈥檚 children 鈥� guns.
For that, they remain silent.
Maybe they should boycott gunmakers.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.