The thing where we sit quietly as someone drops words like “the left” or “woke” or “groomers” as if they’re still speaking as safe, responsible, and self-respecting adults is a thing people like me need to stop doing immediately. Silence, in these instances, is complicity.
Please read Heidi Beedle’s on the ground reporting concerning what appears to have been a domestic terror attack in Colorado Springs.
In Tennessee, words like “the left” and “woke” and “groomer” function as a form of social capital (at least for now). We become what we normalize. More on that here.
And here.
There are no unrelated phenomena.
How we divide determines what we see.
Stay safe, everyone.
Thank you for sharing that piece about Heidi. At the end it linked to a piece she had written in September--Lord have mercy: https://coloradotimesrecorder.com/2022/09/god-is-with-those-fighting-against-lgbtq-people-says-keynote-speaker-at-christian-fundamentalist-gathering/48718/
Thank you for this, David. We need more allies to stand up and call out the dog whistles of homophobia and transphobia.