Mean People Suck, Part Troix- Marsha, Marsha, Marsha
Marsha Blackburn, ignorance, and gratuitous cruelty go together like peanut butter and jelly
Caius was one of those who gloried in his ignorance, called his lack of letters purity, scorned any subtlety of thought or expression. A man for his time, indeed.
Iain Pears, The Dream of Scipio
It’s a bill titled the “Kids Online Safety Act” (KOSA), a title so innocent, so innocuous, that even President Biden has gotten behind it: “Pass it. Pass it. Pass it.” One has to wonder if he’s read the bill.
The aims of the bill, at least so far as have been made known, seem laudable enough:
limiting the access of minors to social media
controlling the social media content minors see
beefing up privacy and parental supervision features on social media platforms
There are, however, aspects of KOSA that have members of the LGBTQ community alarmed.
[C]ertain provisions of the bill have alarmed LGBTQ+ advocates, who worry they could be exploited to censor LGBTQ+ material online. This concern has gradually been validated, as several key supporters of the bill have explicitly stated their intention to use its provisions to target such content. Those concerns materialized this weekend, when the bill's chief sponsor, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, alarmingly made a candid statement about her goals for the legislation, stating it would be used to "protect minor children from the transgender [sic] in our culture."
Oops…, it looks like someone said the quiet part out loud, eh?
That a GOP Senator has introduced legislation that would negatively impact the transgender community is hardly surprising. What IS alarming is that MarshaMarshaMarsha is saying the quiet part out loud. ‘Course, Sen. Blackburn has never been the sharpest tool in the Senate, and playing dirty pool probably doesn’t come naturally to her. After all, she was a Home Economics major at Mississippi State University and probably never had to stretch her brain cells all that much.
Still, it’s a stunning admission and one that isn’t going to help her cause.
[S]ome of the bill's provisions could easily have been penned by the most fervent anti-LGBTQ+ advocates who are pushing targeted legislation against transgender individuals in the U.S. this year. While many aspects of KOSA are commendable—such as incentivizing social media platforms to curb compulsive usage among minors and bolstering privacy protections—certain elements are ripe for exploitation against transgender content.
The section raising the most eyebrows is dubbed the "duty of care." According to the bill, social media companies are required to implement measures to prevent and mitigate issues like "anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and suicidal behaviors."….
Although transition has been proven to improve mental health among transgender people and reduce the risk of suicide, Republicans in state legislatures across the United States this year have issued faulty arguments that being transgender “harms minors mental health” and that exposure to transgender content and people is dangerous. Later, the bill empowers state attorneys general to file suit to force compliance with the bill.
For those who have been monitoring the actions of state attorneys general in states with anti-transgender agendas this year, the potential weaponization of such legislation against transgender people is abundantly clear. In 2022, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made headlines by issuing a directive to investigate all parents of transgender youth for child abuse, an action that nearly resulted in these children being removed from their families. Fortunately, the courts blocked this directive. This year, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey criminalized access to healthcare for transgender minors and many adults by decree, though many parts were blocked by the courts there as well. Recently, seven state attorneys general co-signed a letter arguing that LGBTQ+ merchandise could be classified as obscene and detrimental to minors. In Montana, a bill was nearly amended to ban “acts of transgenderism” on the internet as harmful to minors. Given this context, it's easy to foresee how they might wield the new bill to target transgender content online.
Despite the research showing that transitioning can lower risks of suicide and other mental health crises among teens, Republicans have consistently opposed gender-affirming care (“God doesn’t make mistakes!”).
But this isn’t about “God making a mistake.” This isn’t about anyone’s religion; it’s about a person’s choice to be who they believe themselves to truly be. And why should another person have veto power over that?
That the Texas Attorney General almost succeeded in investigating all parents of transgender children for child abuse is a stunning misuse of government power, but sadly, one that red states see as legitimate. To posit that red states are waging a symbolic war against transgender kids in particular and the transgender community in general hardly seems an overstatement.
Because it’s precisely what’s happening.
Indeed, the policy of red-state Republicans seems driven primarily by nothing so much as wanton, gratuitous cruelty. There’s no compelling reason for a state to be so committed to anti-transgender policies; no harm accrues to any state government or its people. These decisions occur between a child, their parents, and the child’s doctor. There is no compelling state interest and no reason for the government to insert itself into that process save for a sick desire to create as much wanton, gratuitous cruelty as possible.
The reason red-state Republicans can focus so much of their energy and attention on this “issue” is that they have nothing else to offer their constituents. Outside of hot-button culture war issues, Republicans have nothing- no ideas, proposals, or programs. They lack even the most basic concepts to improve their constituents' lives- hence, their emotional and passionate pursuit of the culture war.
Transgender children pose no threat to anyone. They’re simply trying to figure out life- what it means, where they fit, and how they can become the person they feel they were meant to be. Growing up today is difficult enough without the challenge of transitioning (and Republicans trying to make their lives as miserable as possible).
Here’s MarshaMarshaMarsha proudly displaying her transphobia:
Even without targeted measures, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) could have severely detrimental consequences for LGBTQ+ online content. Social media platforms are already known for self-censoring such content. Reports from GLAAD indicate that LGBTQ+ material often faces demonetization, removal, or shadow-banning. Further complicating the issue, some content moderators work in social or cultural contexts where LGBTQ+ activities are either illegal or socially stigmatized. This situation frequently leads to insufficient training, resulting in the unwarranted suppression of legitimate LGBTQ+ content. KOSA would institutionalize such practices, increasing the likelihood of such censorship. Given the risks of legal action from state attorneys general, platforms would likely engage in preemptive self-censorship of LGBTQ+ material.
Despite these alarming implications, opposition to KOSA has been surprisingly tepid, even among groups typically considered stalwart allies of the LGBTQ+ community. While several LGBTQ+ organizations did sign a letter opposing KOSA in 2022, opposition has largely waned since from these groups. Internal sources at multiple LGBTQ+ organizations have informed me that their stances have moved to organizational neutrality. Moreover, a recent report from the LA Blade disclosed that in private discussions with key stakeholders, significant LGBTQ+ organizations such as GLAAD, GLSEN, and PFLAG have quietly withdrawn their opposition to the bill, citing "meaningful conversations from key allies."
It’s surprising that KOSA has garnered the support it has. Still, politicians on Capitol Hill (and in the White House) are inundated with voluminous legislation that rarely gets read cover to cover. Hidden line items getting missed aren’t a great shock. Now and again, situations such as KOSA arise, where items are hidden away in a bill that turn out to be rather objectionable once they become widely known.
Republicans would be thrilled with any legislation that makes life more difficult for the LGBTQ population. They’d like nothing better than to stop and roll back progress made over the years, but what they don’t realize is turning back the clock may cost people their lives.
Then again, when you don’t believe that particular lives have much value, that probably doesn’t seem like a deal-breaker.
What’s particularly alarming is KOSA’s broad bipartisan support. This may be because Senators and Congressmen haven’t had an opportunity to read and scrutinize the bill. They may not fully understand what the bill they’re supporting would do. That’s not unusual for a bill before Congress. Still, this case could prove dangerous for the LGBTQ community, in which ordinarily well-meaning people may unwittingly do a great deal of harm.
How sad is it that people with the power to do so much good instead use that power to inflict so much gratuitous cruelty?
Man, MEAN PEOPLE SUCK, don’t they?
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