Senator Mike Braun: “I’m against discrimination, and that includes discrimination against those of us who hold traditional views about marriage and accept the reality of biological sex.”
In explaining opposition to Equality Act, Braun tweeted anti-trans rhetoric more than six times
The 19th: 73 percent of people support trans kids in sports, new poll finds
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Democratic Party, the organization that advocates for the future of Indiana and its families, today slammed U.S. Senator Mike Braun for deploying misinformation about the transgender community in order to stoke fear among Indiana Republican Party voters. In an op-ed published yesterday, Braun used these tactics to justify his opposition to the Equality Act and discrimination against the LGBTQ community – primarily Indiana’s transgender community and transgender athletes. About 28,000 Hoosiers identify as transgender, and Braun’s op-ed was a direct attack against their well-being and the safety of many LGBTQ youth across Indiana.
It’s worth noting: Mike Braun now joins his senate colleague Todd Young and many Republicans in the state’s congressional delegation in using debunked and defamatory rhetoric to describe the transgender community. It’s a wedge strategy the Indiana Republican Party will use to scare voters in upcoming elections. Luckily though, they are fighting a losing battle, because about 73-percent of Americans support transgender kids in sports and about 65-percent of Hoosiers opposed anti-LGBTQ discrimination of any kind.
“When U.S. Senators Mike Braun and Todd Young deploy stigmatizing and misleading rhetoric about the lived reality of transgender people, they promote discrimination against Hoosiers like me. This fake outrage is not taught in our Indiana cities and towns, and it is not rooted in Indiana values,” said Veronica Pejril, Greencastle City Councillor and Indiana’s first openly transgender elected official. “After all we’ve been through as a state over the last year, we should be focused on building a brighter future for all our neighbors and family members, not dividing us with misinformation.”
Here’s a look at some of the anti-trans rhetoric the Indiana Republican Party has used over the last couple weeks alone:
Senator Mike Braun: “I’m against discrimination, and that includes discrimination against those of us who hold traditional views about marriage and accept the reality of biological sex.”
Senator Todd Young: “Insightful perspective from my colleague and excellent softball player
@SenCapito” [Links to anti-trans op-ed: “Sen. Shelley Moore Capito: Protect women’s sports – take these steps to ensure fair and equal competition”]
Congresswoman Victoria Spartz: “This bill can be taken advantage of by criminals and sex predators…It would force [women] to share traditionally women spaces with biological men.”
Congressman Jim Banks: “Republican Study Committee (RSC) chief Rep. Jim Banks is leading a group of Republicans demanding answers from Amazon after the removal of conservative scholar Ryan T. Anderson’s book on transgenderism titled ‘When Harry Became Sally.’”
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