#1479 Torturing Children and Families in the Name of Protecting Them (Trans Rights)
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2022
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we take a look at the current iteration of the cynical culture wars being waged by conservative Republicans against LGBTQ kids for political gain. The current wave of anti-trans and anti-gay legislation sprouting across the country is not about protecting kids and is absolutely nothing new.
Leave us a message at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com
BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Get AD FREE Shows and Bonus Content)
Check out Democracy Decoded!
SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: Protecting Women and Children Is a Shield for Transphobia - At Liberty - Air Date 3-17-22
This weaponization of white womanhood and femininity has deep roots in this country’s history, and is prompting unprecedented consequences for the trans community. Nikita Shepard joins to discuss the history and what we can do about it.
Ch. 2: Andy Marra on Trans Youth Rights - CounterSpin - Air Date 3-4-22
Texas state leadership is staking a position on that, but humans everywhere are pushing back, and we talk about that with Andy Marra.
Ch. 3: The Anti-Trans Agenda (w/ Gillian Branstetter) - Know Your Enemy - Air Date 3-20-22
Matt and Sam talk to Gillian Branstetter, press secretary for the National Women’s Law Center, about the spate of anti-trans laws sweeping the country.
We speak with Chase Strangio of the ACLU about recent anti-LGBTQ legislation in Florida, Texas, and Idaho, and pending bills in other states.
Ch. 5: Protecting Women and Children Is a Shield for Transphobia Part 2 - At Liberty - Air Date 3-17-22
Ch. 6: Don't Say Gay - Today, Explained - Air Date 3-17-22
The furor over Florida’s latest culture-war legislation has Disney, among the state’s largest employers, turning red.
Journalist Steven Monacelli joins to discuss how he actually debated Steven Crowder earlier in the day on a college campus in Texas. Why was Crowder there? Because trans people are playing sports.
Ch. 8: Protecting Women and Children Is a Shield for Transphobia Part 3 - At Liberty - Air Date 3-17-22
Ch. 10: Andy Marra on Trans Youth Rights Part 2 - CounterSpin - Air Date 3-4-22
MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)
Ch. 11: Protecting Women and Children Is a Shield for Transphobia Part 4 - At Liberty - Air Date 3-17-22
Ch. 12: The Anti-Trans Agenda (w/ Gillian Branstetter) Part 2 - Know Your Enemy - Air Date 3-20-22
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 13: Dynamics of our political parties - Craig from Ohio
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 14: Final comments on the divides within American political parties
TAKE ACTION!
Contact your Senators to pass the Equality Act via passtheequalityact.com/act
Join Lambda Legal's #DontEraseUs campaign to fight anti-LGBTQ+ curriculum (especially if you’re a student or teacher).
EDUCATE YOURSELF
Read BOTL’s activism segment on the Equality Act from last March (*2021*) for more context
Lambda Legal Transgender Rights Toolkit (Lambda Legal)
Curated by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman
Image Description: A white protest sign is held in the air with the words “YOU WILL NOT ERASE OUR KIDS” drawn on it. The word “NOT” is underlined and colored in red. Each letter in the word “KIDS” is colored in with red, blue, yellow, and orange, respectively. A small blue sticker in the top right corner says “I [heart sign] My Trans Child”.
Credit: “2018.10.22 We Won't Be Erased - Rally for Trans Rights, Washington, DC USA 06817” by Ted Eytan, Flickr | CC BY-SA 2.0 License | Changes: Cropped, slightly increased brightness, contrast, and saturation
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left podcast in which we shall |
| 0:07.0 | take a look at the current iteration of the cynical culture wars being waged by conservative |
| 0:12.3 | Republicans against LGBTQ kids for political gain. |
| 0:17.7 | The current wave of anti-trans and anti-gay legislation sprouting across the country is not |
| 0:22.8 | about protecting kids, and it is absolutely nothing new. |
| 0:27.2 | Clips today are from At Liberty, Counter-Spin, Know Your Enemy, Democracy Now, Today Explained, |
| 0:35.2 | Duned with Matt Bender, and with Additional Members Only Clips from At Liberty and Know Your |
| 0:40.9 | Enemy. |
| 0:47.6 | To get us started, Nikita, what do you make of this surge in anti-trans legislation across |
| 0:52.6 | the country and where is it coming from? |
| 0:55.3 | Yeah, so as most of the listeners will know, this is a truly horrifying surge of legislation |
| 1:03.7 | across the entire country that is targeting some of the most vulnerable people in this |
| 1:08.7 | country, even in places like New Hampshire and Michigan that have, in other situations, |
| 1:15.6 | been understood as more LGBTQ-friendly. |
| 1:19.4 | And a particularly odd feature of them is that while some of them are more broadly targeting |
| 1:24.6 | the LGBTQ plus community, most of them are really honing in on trans people and specifically |
| 1:31.6 | trans youth. |
| 1:32.6 | So, yeah, the questions that we have to be asking now are like, why trans people and trans |
| 1:37.8 | kids in particular, and why now? |
| 1:41.1 | What's going on now? |
| 1:42.3 | The place that I would kind of locate the start of this particular anti-trans surge is |
| 1:47.5 | in 2015 in Houston when there was a local ordinance that would have provided anti-discrimination |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jay Tomlinson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Jay Tomlinson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.