Vote. And Vote Blue. Here's Why ...

I’m still hearing in my head those GOP voices from last Fall who wanted your votes because of the border crisis and the fentanyl crisis and inflation and eggs and … and … then they won a slim majority in the house and suddenly all their care about legislating is drag queens, women, and guns.

SOUTH CAROLINA

A new bill has been introduced that suggests any woman who has an abortion get the death penalty. House Bill 3549 defines ‘person’ as an unborn child at any stage of development so any woman who chooses an abortion, making her own healthcare decisions, could be put to death in South Carolina.

TEXAS

Republican Representative Tony Gonzales is facing a censure vote from the state GOP for voting in favor of a bipartisan gun-control bill after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, in his district.

Gonzales wanted to stop these mass shootings—which occur every single day, often more than once each day, in the United Sates of Guns—that take the lives of children, and his own party condemns him.

TENNESSEE

Lawmakers passed legislation, which Governor Bill Lee signed into law, that limits where and when drag shows can take place. Drag shows will not be allowed to take place in public or in front of children.

Cuz drag queens read to children.

SOUTH CAROLINA

A Greenville woman was arrested and charged with performing or soliciting an abortion after telling medical personnel at St. Francis Hospital that she had taken abortion pills to end a pregnancy; South Carolina state law prohibits self-medication to abort a pregnancy.

Yes, again, making her own healthcare decisions resulted in a woman being arrested.

TENNESSEE

State Representative, and Republican, because, of course, Paul Sherrell  is apologizing after suggesting the state’s death row inmates be executed by “hanging by a tree” … lynching.

Never mind Tennessee’s long history of lynching …

TEXAS

GOP state Representative Nate Schatzline, author of a bill to restrict drag performances, dressed in drag himself while a student in a video that shows him skipping, running and dancing in a black sequined dress and red eye mask.

The hypocrisy does not go unnoticed.

WASHINGTON DC

Republicans spent the last few weeks bashing the Biden administration for what they call a slow response to the Ohio rail disaster, and yet last week some GOP lawmakers urged their colleagues not to rush out laws putting new strictures on freight rail.

Like mass shootings, these toxic spills are not the time to talk about restrictions.

FLORIDA

A proposed bill restricts usage of single-sex facilities to genders assigned at birth. Proposed by Republican, because, of course, Erin Grall, the bill would ban people from “willfully entering” such a facility designated for “the opposite sex.” Violators could face second-degree misdemeanor charges and fines of up to $10,000.

For wanting to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender.

MISSOURI

The state’s GOP-led House has voted against banning minors … children … from openly carrying firearms on public land without adult supervision by a 104-39 vote.

Children allowed to openly carry weapons! What could possibly go wrong …

On the Other Hand …

GEORGIA

A watered-down version of a “Don’t Say Gay” bill has failed in a crucial Senate committee. While the first version restricted schools, camp counselors and other authority figures from answering children’s questions about gender identity or sexual orientation, the newest version required all private schools or camps that planned to instruct children on issues of gender identity to get parental signatures first.

A small step in the right direction.

MICHIGAN

The state’s newly passed anti-discrimination law will continue to protect LGBTQ+ people; efforts to amend the legislation to add religious orientation, religious identity and religious expression as additional protected classes failed.

Another step forward … yet the march goes on.

If you don’t vote, this will be America, where women will be jailed or put to death for having an abortion; where drag shows are more dangerous to children than guns; where children will carry weapons; where our trans brothers and sisters will be charged and fined for using a bathroom that aligns with their gender; where toxic spills and chemical dumps that ravage whole towns will be the norm; where people will once again hang from trees.

If this is not the America you want, then do something.

Speak up when someone suggests trans is a crime.

Speak up when people say killing women is a solution to abortion.

Speaks up when poisoning our environment is business as usual.

Speak up when a state says children can, and should, be allowed to carry weapons.

Speak up and …