Remember the good old days when we were the bitter clingers? It seems like just yesterday when Barack Obama scolded us for our Bibles and guns. Of course, I'm talking mainly to the straight, white men here, but don't worry, any ladies or black or brown people who held similar ideas got lumped in there with the rest of us. We really should have had club jackets made.
These days, the progressives are the bitter clingers, refusing to acknowledge change and standing more or less as what might pass for resolute in the face of a new age. Granted, most of these people are doing so in small groups, doing things like singing outdated protest songs, but many blue states are still hanging in there, and they intend to fight until the last pronoun. Like Colorado.
The National Pulse reports that Democrat state Reps. Karen McCormick and Kyle Brown, along with state Sen. Mike Weissman, have introduced a bill demanding compliance with a person's preferred gender on death certificates. That's either some serious attention to detail or TDS that has degenerated beyond the textbook stage.
According to the bill, if a deceased person's chosen gender has been documented, it must be recorded on the death certificate along with any changes to the deceased's legal name. If there is no official record, whoever is in charge of managing the dearly departed's affairs can change the gender and name before everything is finalized. Those who “knowingly and willfully" fail to comply could face a $750 fine and/or a 120-day stretch in the local clink. The Pulse reported:
Critics argue this measure compels speech, with Dr. Travis Morrell, a Colorado physician affiliated with the conservative coalition Do No Harm, describing it as an unprecedented action against scientific truth. Morrell plans to testify at the bill’s hearing, expressing concerns over the inclusion of a misdemeanor penalty.
My guess is that this is a "message bill" aimed squarely at the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and anyone who dares to go against the will of the cultural overlords.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, a Pride parade took place in Auckland, New Zealand. A group made up of primarily Māori men from Destiny Church was there to protest it with a haka:
According to the Daily Mail, church members have run afoul of not just the LGBTQ community and its supporters but also the local authorities. Church members have been accused of storming a drag event for children at which a "drag king" was featured. The Mail is unclear if this was a separate event from an incident earlier in the day in which church members reportedly stormed into a drag event at a cultural center, allegedly punching and pushing their way inside. Obviously, I wasn't there, so I can't speak to the veracity of the allegations.
On the one hand, if the members of Destiny Church are getting violent, that certainly is not going to help their cause or generate much sympathy. There is enough violence in the world as it is, and it is better to leave the craziness to the progressives. If church members did go on the rampages of which they are accused, they likely only succeeded in scaring the hell out of some little kids and cementing the idea in people's minds that those opposed to transing children are backward, potentially violent Neanderthals. And yes, I am aware of the Left's double standard when it comes to such things.
On the other hand, across the globe, the Left has decided that only it has the right to determine what constitutes violence and the right to tell people what, how, where, and when to think. Here at home, anyone remotely critical of the trans movement is accused of attempted genocide. If violence is whatever the Left says it is at the moment, like gender, racism, or any other random word, no dissenter is safe. Anyone with an opposing view can be considered violent. He who controls words controls the debate and has the power to shut it down. Just look at the UK.
At PJ Media, we do not advocate violence, but we do stand for free speech — ours and yours. Freedom of expression should never be violent, but it can be messy, and it can and should make people think. I've written things here that readers have vehemently disagreed with and had no problem telling me. That is the point of free expression.
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