solarbird | Fascism Watch for January 5, 2024: Republicans vs. LGBTQ children

Republicans are lining up in opposition to a proposed Biden administration rule aimed at protecting LGBTQ foster children from abuse. Yes, you’re reading that right. The specifics are that they don’t want a rule requiring that LGBTQ kids be put in supportive households, vs. ones that will abuse them, because of “religious liberty,” as always.

Let’s try to understand something about this story:

This is happening because they want queer kids to be abused.

It’s that simple. They say so, in actions; in the past, they used to say so in very clear words, that it was about beating the queer out of the kid. In the past, they opposed anti-bullying programmes unless targeting of LGBTQ kids was excluded. It was a “religious liberty” issue then, of course, just as now.

And all of that is, again, because they want queer kids to be abused. Abusing queer kids is, and has always been, the goal. The idea is kindasorta that if you abuse the queer kid enough, they’ll desist being queer; that’s what Beverly LaHaye of Concerned Women for America used to tell her followers when she told them to throw their gay and lesbian kids into the street, make them homeless, make them hopeless, make them as destitute as possible, prevent any and all aid from reaching them. It was, you see, to force them to “repent of their homosexuality” by any means possible.

And to warn others to keep their goddamn mouths shut and stay in the fucking closet, of course. That’s always a goal.

The theoretical stated objective is a lie, of course. It doesn’t work and it never has, but they don’t care: what they care about is abusing queer kids. What normal people miss is that the abuse is the actual goal – it demonstrates power over queer kids, impunity for actions against them, and serves as a warning to others of their strength… to abuse children, and to force compliance with their will.

Sound familiar? It should. It’s what Trump wants, it’s what his movement wants, it’s what all of them want, writ small, and aimed at kids.

Remember this whenever they say anything about queer kids in general and trans kids in particular. Especially remember it when they say they want to protect children, because protecting children is never the point. Abusing queer kids is always the goal.

And they’ll say literally anything, no matter how false, base, or despicable, to make it happen, and we know this because it’s what they’ve always done.