“Run, don’t walk, to your trusty google machine and search for ‘The End of Men,’ Tucker Carlson’s ‘documentary’ about the loss of testosterone in recent years. Carlson’s low-T remedy seems to be an infrared laser system that men can aim at their nether regions to restore masculine energy…”
THE NEXT COPYCAT STATE
This year and last year, we have seen waves of anti-trans and anti-gay bills wash through Red State legislatures, beginning with all those sports bans for transgender women and girls and now moving through various “don’t say gay” bans on referring to sexual orientation or gender in grade school. Along the way, we have seen a whole range of bills that would discourage or even criminalize medical and psychiatric care for transgender youth.
Unlike previous years, where anti-GLBT bills were mostly used as right wing fund raising vehicles and eventually sent to die in obscure committees, many of these bills are passing into law. And it feels as if each success propels the next copycat state.
I was struck just now to read an article about GLBT activists in the UK, who are bent out of shape because Prime Minister Boris Johnson has not included transgendered men and women under a proposed ban on conversion therapy. As such, community leaders are urging everyone to boycott a global GLBT conference that the government has planned for June. Hey. I agree that conversion therapy should be against the law for everyone in our big tent, but it’s discouraging to watch our British friends argue over who gets to lead the pack across the finish line while we continue to lose ground on our side of the pond.
GET YOUR T UP, GUYS
I was recently talking about the Trumpian Right’s larger worldview, not just anti-gay, but a vision of a macho patriarchal America where the tough guys rule while the gals take care of the home and the kids. The irony is that there’s a deep homoeroticism in the avatars of the American male; the cowboy, the soldier, the farmer, the rugged outdoorsman. But since Trumpians only recognize the effeminate gay male stereotype, they remain seemingly blind to the obvious gay iconography that the rest of us know and love (in our own special ways of course!).
I’m referring here to the Tucker Carlson movie trailer that I trust most of you have seen by the time you read this issue. If not, run, don’t walk, to your trusty google machine and search for “The End of Men,” Carlson’s “documentary” about the loss of testosterone in recent years. Carlson’s low-T remedy seems to be an infrared laser system that men can aim at their nether regions to restore masculine energy, and the trailer features a naked man, posed on a giant rock having his junk irradiated with a red glow. Other half-dressed hunky guys are pictured doing manly things, including one fellow who is oddly milking a cow without a bucket. As Steven Colbert noted, if you’re milking a cow without a bucket, you’re not milking a cow…you’re cow fondling.
I should add that testosterone has been dropping by about one percent per year around the globe over the last two decades. Scientists believe plastics pollution, inaction and obesity are three key factors, but it’s basically still a disturbing mystery.
COACH K HITS THE COURT
In High Court news, the justices just heard oral arguments in the case of an assistant high school football coach in Washington who refused to stop conducting public prayer sessions on the fifty-yard line after football games. Joe Kennedy was told to cease and desist by the Bremerton School District authorities back in 2015. Given that he coached at a public school, Kennedy was a state employee and not allowed to manifest a preference for this or that religion. Not only that, but by praying in such a conspicuous manner while surrounded by the team and a stadium crowd, Kennedy’s activity was coercive. Kids might not be forced to join the prayer fest, but some of them presumably felt they’d be better off making a good impression on the coach if they wanted playing time.
In 2016, Kennedy declined to renew his contract, although he sued the school, claiming that the fight over praying had forced him out of his job. The case landed briefly before the Supreme Court in 2019, but with an incomplete lower court record, the justices refused review. Still, four conservatives (Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh) indicated the the case brought up “troubling” issues.
Really? What exactly is “troubling” about a public school telling a staff member in authority not to conduct Christian prayers aloud? Several Supreme Court precedents seem to state clearly that public schools cannot endorse a particular faith by conducting school prayers, nor can they allow overt religious demonstrations that may be coercive or divisive. Now that the case has returned to the High Court docket, and now that the troubled foursome have been joined by Amy Coney Barrett, are they really prepared to reverse settled law? Keep in mind that Kennedy has every right to say a prayer or bow his head after a game or perform whatever devotion he wants on his own. As the Ninth Circuit agreed, he just cannot prance around mid-field and effectively put the school’s imprimatur on thanking Jesus for a good game.
Why do we care, you wonder? Because if Coach Kennedy can pray after the game, then Mrs. Baker can pray before math class, and Mr. Jones can launch into a five minute grace at the lunch table. And given that anyone who insists on evangelizing their faith is probably not a friend to our community, a ruling in favor of Kennedy is yet another chink in the constitutional armor that protects GLBT kids in public schools.
ALL THINGS FLORIDA
I really hate Ron DeSantis and all things Florida at this moment in time, and I don’t feel like writing about any of it. Perhaps you saw that the state legislature just revoked Disney’s special tax status that governs the 25,000-acre theme park complex. Disney has operated under this system for half a century, but is now being symbolically punished for the corporation’s opposition to the “Don’t Say Gay” law that ends any discussion of sexual orientation and gender in grade school (with the tacitly understood exception of heterosexuality and cis-genders).
I write “symbolically” because Florida law requires a local vote in order to dissolve a special tax district, and since Disney is the majority local land owner, that vote is not likely to pass. So yet again, it’s all smoke and mirrors. Which seems to satisfy half the country.
