The Hate Bus

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They're calling it a "Free Speech Bus." By "they,' I mean The National Organization for Marriage, the International Organization for the Family, and a new hate group called CitizenGO. The latter is a Madrid-based organization with ties to the Church. The leading figure in all these organization is, of course, Brian S. Brown.

The Bus is an example of mobile hate speech. It is "decorated with the following words:

It's biology.
Boys are boys...and always will be.
Girls are girls...and always will be.
You can't change sex. Respect all.
Sign now to Defend Freedom of Speech
www.FreespeechBus.com

The bus parked in front to the UN and Trump Tower while in New York. It also plans to visit Yale University, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.

As always is the case, their definition of the word "all" excludes transgender and gender non-conforming people.

Madrid banned the bus from the Spanish capitol, calling it discriminatory and saying it could incite hate crimes.

NOM seems to be transitioning — to a full-blown anti-LGBT hate group. As I wrote about Monday, National Organization for Marriage has a new toy. It is a bus that serves as mobile signage promoting the Catholic Church's teaching regarding transgender people. We have some additional information from NOM Tuesday via a post promoting Brian S. Brown's “press conference” on behalf of NOM, International Organization for the Family and CitizenGO. CitizenGo is a Madrid organization with close ties to the Church. Brown is on the organization's board.

--David Cary Hart, The Slowly Boiled Frog

It’s biology, not bigotry.

Men and women were created equally, each given a gender that is fixed, immutable and complementary. Rather than perpetuate a lie that gender can be changed based on emotions and feelings, we should encourage people to embrace and love who they were made to be.

We call on all Americans to respect the free speech rights of citizens to debate these issues without fear of being demeaned, harassed, or threatened with retaliation.

--Brown

Debate? Transgender issues and those regarding gender dysphoria are not up for debate. There is overwhelming consensus in the medical and scientific communities. Disagreement can be voiced via a peer-reviewed paper published to a double-blind scholarly journal. That is how medical issues are debated and these are medical issues. Perhaps Mr. Brown can cite something in the literature to support his hypotheses. Probably not.

It is bigotry cloaked in catechism. Brown has confused sex and gender in order to conform his world to the teachings of the Catholic Church. He has then used the confusion to create a straw man argument.

--Hart

Free speech is a constitutional right, but language has consequences that must be considered Trans youth already have an extremely high risk for violence, discrimination, and suicide. Broadcasting a message that erases and denies the reality that transgender and intersex children and youth exist is irresponsible, factually misleading, disrespectful and dangerous. This vehicle is part of the reason trans youth are driven to suicide.

--Jessica Stern, Outright Action International

One of the purposes of the bus tour is to have people speak up if they feel uncomfortable and let the business owner know. This can’t be considered transphobic or bigoted.

--Joseph Grabowski, NOM

Oh, Joseph...you seem to be so naive.

The push by LGBT extremists to redefine gender is the logical fallout of their successful effort to redefine (in the law) marriage. But while the law can be based on a lie, reality can never be so based. Gender cannot be redefined in reality any more than marriage can be redefined in reality. We were created male and female, in God's image, complementary beings made for each other. This very gender complementarity is at the heart of marriage, which brings together the two halves of humanity to create the environment from which new life can spring forth.

--Brown

What is it that Brown wants to debate? This isn't about accommodating a diverse society. It is akin to posturing for a civil debate about the effects of gravity or the speed of light. And we all know how this silliness ultimately concludes:

Donate Today!

--Hart

This isn’t biology–this is hatred rooted in an entirely false understanding of the human body. Being a girl or a boy isn’t about biology, it is about gender. The reality is that biological sex is on a spectrum, and no amount of argument will prove otherwise. Approximately 2% of children are born intersex, meaning they transcend typical notions of what the “FreeSpeechBus” says is “boy” and girl.” This bus attempts to erase the lived realities of the incredibly brave young people I work with every day who do not fit into this binary. In the same way that gender is not limited to strict male and female categories, neither is our biological sex.

--Kimberly Zieselman, interACT: advocates for intersex youth

Religion that denies the sacred being of trans and intersex children is no religion at all – it’s a gross abuse of power. We need to send the message to trans and intersex youth that they are cherished just as they are and that they don’t have to conform to pressure from hateful ideologies.

--Haven Herrin, Soulforce

There once was another hate bus:

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About that "free speech" thing: One does not debate one's existence. If the other side is asserting you don't exist, words are not going to be any aide to deflecting that assertion. All one really can do is just show up and exist, right in front of them...for everyone to see.

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Pricknick's picture

makes me laugh at the hypocrisy.

Rationality. CitizenGO differentiates itself from other groups in seeking truth by way of reason. It does not resort to ideological dogmas or formulas to communicate the causes on which it acts. Everything CitizenGO proposes has its basis in science, law, and anthropology. Interest groups should see that CitizenGO is a rational organization that acts and communicates reasonably.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Pricknick

Everything CitizenGO proposes has its basis in science, law, and anthropology. Interest groups should see that CitizenGO is a rational organization that acts and communicates reasonably.

ROTFLMAO!!

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Wink's picture

@Pricknick
Like most of them.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

boriscleto's picture

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

@boriscleto I am aware of that. I did not report it because I wouldn't put it past NOM to vandalize their own vehicle.

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boriscleto's picture

@Robyn

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

thanatokephaloides's picture

@boriscleto

Be careful what you ask for. You just may well get it.

-- ancient American folk proverb (probably Chinese too)

The religiofascists cast a spell summoning, stirring, and calling forth free speech.

Courtesy of some New York City taggers, they got it!

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

enhydra lutris's picture

play victim, but for the church to get all sanctimonious about free speech is ludicrous.
bruno4

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

thanatokephaloides's picture

@enhydra lutris

Thanks Robyn. The theofascist/religiofascist crowd sure like to
play victim, but for the church to get all sanctimonious about free speech is ludicrous.

This isn't "the church". You had it right the first time: it's the theofascist/religiofascist crowd within the church. Pope Francis himself has at least admitted that the gender-nonconforming exist. (He still doesn't dare broach equality for them, but it's a start.)

This is clean through the church onwards -- by a long way -- into straight, garden-variety, good old fashioned fascism. We've left Pius XII behind and are now in Mussolini/Hitler/Franco territory now.

In other words, plain, simple evil.

Sad

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

thanatokephaloides's picture

It attempts to load "www.freepeech.com", which doesn't exist.

Replacing the missing "s" brings the disgusting website up in all its evil glory.

If the link had worked earlier (16:22 MDT Fri 03-24-2017) we need to let JtC know right away as c99p may have itself been vandalized. If it's just a mistake, you can fix it yourself by replacing the missing "s" in the link's URL and text fields.

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@thanatokephaloides Fixed.

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SnappleBC's picture

About that "free speech" thing: One does not debate one's existence. If the other side is asserting you don't exist, words are not going to be any aide to deflecting that assertion. All one really can do is just show up and exist, right in front of them...for everyone to see.

On a side note, a long time ago on GOS you made a post saying you're posts had no impact because they weren't rec listing. I replied that they had made a difference for me. So you'll be happy to hear that tonight I spent quite a bit of time on a discussion board being bent out of shape about the need to tell others what their own "self" is. You've made me pretty militant on this issue. Good job and thanks.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard