Do the unholy trilogy of Senators — Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Marco Rubio — believe in child torture? They wrote a letter to Jeff Bezos in support of a transphobic book called “When Harry Became Sally” by Ryan T. Anderson, which Amazon had stopped selling along with other transphobic and homophobic books.
The author of the book, Ryan T. Anderson, has written about his opposition to marriage equality, his opposition to trans children, and oh yes, religious liberty. He used to work at the ultra conservative think tank Heritage Foundation.
Transphobia, specifically trans girls in sports, has become the distraction issue du jour for Republicans. They don’t want people to focus on the Big Lie. They don’t want people to focus on the country battling back from COVID. They want to continue the culture war which got them elected.
But of course, let’s never forget that Cruz, Hawley and Rubio all supported the Big Lie. They damaged our democracy forever by lying about the legitimacy of Biden’s victory. And they helped foment the riot of January 6th. This is the one thing we need to make sure these men are remembered for.
Back to the transphobic book. Here’s what the author, Anderson, states: “a more radical movement is seeking to make it illegal to use a psychological approach to help these children rather than a hormonal and surgical one. An increasing number of jurisdictions — both in the US and in other countries — are banning therapy that aims to help minors with gender dysphoria feel comfortable about their own bodies without transforming their bodies. Federal legislation has been introduced that would create nationwide censorship of such therapy, and the UN has claimed that such therapy violates human rights.”
Note the therapy he is referring to is conversion therapy. Why is Ryan T. Anderson so ashamed to say it?
Maybe because conversion therapy is the same as child abuse or child torture. It is almost always forced upon a child by parents in order to make the child conform to what they believe to be customary for a boy or girl. It sounds an outdated, dangerous practice of the 1950’s. And it is, since medical and psychiatric science has come out against this form of torture. Many countries and states have outlawed it. But it seems Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and Marco Rubio haven’t.
When I went to the heritage foundation to read Anderson’s “work” I was met with the following: Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., researched and wrote about marriage, bioethics, religious liberty and political philosophy. This expert is no longer a staff member at the Heritage Foundation.
Is it possible that he’s too radical right wing and extreme for even the Heritage Foundation?
In that case, it makes complete sense why Cruz, Hawley, and Rubio are supporting him. They have to lean further and further into religious right to get elected. They have literally no other path forward, because they’re not brave enough to try.