10 Comments

I don't get the hatred of the trans community. I really don't. Why is this so damned popular with Republicans??????

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Because public opinion has swung so far in favor of same-sex marriage that going after gay & lesbian folks is no longer a "safe" strategy -- so they're going after a minority that public opinion is still more "on the fence" about (or even negative).

It's something to get their base worked up about -- "men in dresses" (note that they don't make a fuss about "women in pants" -- so this is all about demonizing transwomen and mostly ignoring transmen). And these are wedge issues that they can get into the legislation and then broaden the reach of to include more and more people they "don't like".

It's the same with all the anti-drag bills that they're trying to pass.

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And they’re supposed to be the ones who want government to leave people alone.

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Would you mind explaining the major questions doctrine as it applies here a little more? I don’t have any background in law and I didn’t totally understand. Or maybe I do and it’s such a lame argument I can’t believe it. Is it basically I don’t like it therefore it’s unconstitutional?

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Check out the “major questions” subsection here in a piece I wrote last year after the OSHA/HHS vaccine-related arguments for a lot more background on how this has been developing and why it matters: https://www.grid.news/story/politics/2022/01/12/a-new-era-of-legal-instability/

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Thanks!

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Iowa Republican lawmakers have introduced a record number of bills targeting LGBTQ people, especially transgender youth. They are also advancing a record number of those bills out of committees.

Tate Reeves may have kicked all of this off when he signed the first transgender sports ban, which Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds was determined to copy.

https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2023/03/01/iowa-republicans-didnt-always-push-anti-lgbtq-bills-what-changed/

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There’s plenty of blame to go around, but it’s certainly clear that lawmakers and statewide officials seeking to establish GOP bona fides are looking to what others are doing to see where they should go next.

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Some of the anti-trans bills being fast-tracked in the Iowa legislature right now went nowhere as recently as two years ago. A toxic blend of animus and political opportunism.

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Iowa's governor has acknowledged that Republican governors are "very competitive" with one another. She never expressed any interest in a transgender sports ban until she was on a Fox News show in April 2021 and Reeves and DeSantis were bragging about their state laws.

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