OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ripped Republicans in states where they are working to protect female sports competitions, calling them “losers.”
Those GOP efforts in several states include new laws that forbid biological males from competing in all-female sporting events, but Democrats — who for decades campaigned on being champions of “women’s rights” — have taken the side of transgender athletes despite the unfair physical advantages most of them have in such competition.
LGBTQ news site The Advocate on Monday published an “edited and condensed version” of a conversation during which the writer appeared to tee up Pelosi, telling her that “so many members of our community are scared right now given all the hateful legislation in state Houses all over the country and all the dangerous rhetoric by Republicans.”
“Here’s what I think. I think they’re losers. They’re losers,” Pelosi responded before going on to address gun rights and abortion issues.
“They’re losing on guns. You know, we still don’t have the legislation we want, but the public is not really with them with all these mass shootings going on. People have had enough,” the California Democrat said. “Young people are taking that issue on more and more each day. They’re growing more tired of all the inaction. They’re losing on women’s right to choose, which is a losing issue for them and was during the last midterm election.”
After asking rhetorically, “So, what do they have?” Pelosi continued: “So now they turn to the trans and drag communities because they think that that has some salience. I don’t know, does anybody really think that the drag issue is a threat? Of course not, so they’re going to lose on that too.”
Republican-controlled states across the country have introduced laws and policies that restrict sex-change-related treatment for minors, the Daily Wire noted. Supporters of these measures say they aim to protect children, while critics argue that they prevent access to “gender-affirming” care.
Additionally, GOP-led states have taken steps to prevent transgender athletes from participating in female sports and prohibit minors from attending drag performances due to concerns about sexually explicit content.
In Washington, D.C., the Republican-controlled House voted to ban biologically male athletes who identify as females from competing on girls’ and women’s school sports teams. However, without any support from Democrats, the proposed ban is unlikely to be enacted as the Senate and White House are currently controlled by Democrats.
The ban would apply to federally-funded educational institutions.
Pelosi, who has caused a stir in recent years for appearing on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” show, went on to say she agreed that what Republicans are doing is “frightening.”
“It is frightening. Because it’s about hate. When we did the hate crimes legislation, now this was a number of years ago, and we had the majority, we couldn’t get the bills to come to the floor, and to be able to vote on it on the floor,” Pelosi said.
“And so, people came to me and said, If you take out trans, you can pass the bill in one minute,” Pelosi continued. “I said, if we take out trans, we’re not passing the bill, because I’m not taking out trans. That’s just the way it is. Now this was probably like 2008 and 2009, so it’s a while ago, but here we are again today. We just must be really forceful in speaking out,” she said.
In late March, during a heated speech at the Texas State Capitol, transgender activist Loren Perkins expressed support for drag performances, which culminated in a physical altercation.
Fox News reported that the incident “quickly went viral on TikTok, picking up more than 1 million views on the platform.”
In her speech, Perkins compared Texas Republicans to Nazis, expressing her opposition to legislation that would prevent public libraries and other venues from receiving state funding if they host drag shows, the outlet reported.
“By manipulating the words of an ancient text and shoehorning it into legislation aimed at an at-risk minority population, you liken yourself to another group that gained popularity in Germany in the 1930s,” Perkins said.
and proclaimed himself superior to others — I see you here doing the same,” Perkins continued, making the comparison to Nazi leader Adolph Hitler.
As Perkins began to exceed the allotted time for her speech and was approached by a security guard, an individual whose identity remains unknown dashed in front of the officer, leading to a physical altercation between the two. The brief scuffle temporarily disrupted Perkins’ address.
No one in the Texas legislature proposed punishing people just because of their trans or sexual orientation. The legislation in question aims to protect children from being exposed to sexually inappropriate behavior and content for their age.
